Italian media are reporting that Claudio del Monaco, son of the great tenor Mario del Monaco, is in critical condition in a Treviso hospital after what appears to be a domestic attack. Claudio, who is 64, was on holiday near Venice with his German wife, opera singer Daniela, 35,
when he was stabbed four times in the chest, reportedly with a bread knife. He underwent surgery and remains in critical condition. The couple are based in Belgrade, where Claudio is a former head of opera at the National Theatre.
NB Claudio del Monaco is not to be confused with his more successful brother Giancarlo.
Not long after Val came crowding the Dude on the rush back to black vinyl, up popped Paavo Järvi to say that he’s had a whole Beethoven cycle pressed on vinyl to demonstrate the refined qualities of his super orchestra and his preference for LPs.
Paavo Jarvi/ Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen – Beethoven Symphonies 1-9
£200.00
Limited to Only 999 Numbered Copies!
This Numbered, Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set features 9 LPs pressed on 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl!
Cut by Hendrik Pauler and Pressed at Pallas in Germany
ORDER TODAY FOR CHRISTMAS DELIVERY! VERY LIMITED STOCK!
This is really like the good old days – a new complete Beethoven cycle on records!
Of course, Andreas Spreer also had several Beethoven symphonies pressed on LP for Tacet (each of which is also worth recommending), but now all nine are available in a high-quality box with a sturdy plastic slipcase. Inside are LPs which have been impeccably pressed by Pallas on 180-gram vinyl and a lavish, large-format 32-page booklet. In other respects as well, everything is of the very best quality. The distinguished Polyhymnia team around Jean-Marie Geijsen did the original ighresolution digital multichannel recordings and the editing. The stereo SACD mix –
outstanding, by the way – was not simply used for the analog master, however.
Instead, Ralf Koschnicke of the Duisberg audiophile label Acousence remixed the multitracks on the analog level. The press matrices were made by none other than Hendrik Pauler at Pauler Acoustics, in the studios of his father, Günter, also committed to absolutely superb sound. It was worth the expenditure. The awardwinning recordings, dating from 2004 to 2008, sound overwhelmingly good. Only the best SACD players (if any) can produce such a colorful sound – both consistently harmonic and discriminatingly dispersed. Such bounding dynamics, dazzling
precision, touching charm, radiant brilliance – even vinyl skeptics get teary-eyed here. The fact that Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi is also a trained percussionist is clearly audible in several rapidly pulsating, brisk movements. The fact that he has inherited a feeling for effects without sensationalism from his father, Neeme, is obvious from several thrilling sforzati and electrifying climaxes. And finally, the fact
that, in addition to all of that, he also has a fine sense for subtle nuances is impressively demonstrated, not only in the softest passages of the slow movements. Every bar makes clear how outstanding the 40 musicians of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen are. All in all, sensational!
Unlike the general run of journa-lists, the annual tally on Slipped Disc is not a subjective crawl through the cuttings file but a verified chart of the stories that were most read on this site since January 2011. Many are hard news items that were broken here or post by artists that we published first. Interestingly most of the stories continue to be read every day, months after publication, giving them an unforseen online afterlife.
Enough of the preamble. Here’s the chart in ascending order of popularity.
The Proms attack – a reflection by a leading British cellist
September 4, 2011
The distinguished cellist Steven Isserlis sent the following letter to the Guardian newspaper after the attack on the Israel Philharmonic at the Proms. It was not published there for almost a week, so we are giving it first airing here:
The editor of Gramophone has resigned. … More alarming is the continued practice at the US classical record magazine Fanfare of offering reviews for cash.
Just in: London Philharmonic disrupter comes out to face the music
November 18, 2011
The following letter has been received at Slipped Disc from the apparent perpetrator of the LPO Bruckner disturbance. I could not possibly comment. But you can.
Gidon Kremer’s rebellion – a leading maestro voices his support
July 28, 2011
The conductor Fabio Luisi, music director at Zurich Opera and principal guest at the Met, has issued a personal endorsement of Gidon Kremer’s attack on the machinations of the classical music industry and its manufacture of fake stars.
And at number 1, the most read story of 2011 on Slipped Disc is, by a huge margin:
Gidon Kremer: why I quit the celebrity ratrace
July 22, 2011
The great violinist has sent me the original, private letter that he sent to the Verbier Festival, announcing his withdrawal. I publish it with his permission and with that of Martin Engstroem, the Verbier director to whom it was addressed.
The repercussions of Gidon’s attack on the festival industry will continue to resonate through 2012 and beyond – to the benefit of artists and audiences and the discomfiture of old-fashioned managements.
Happy New Year to you all.
Norman
No sooner do we break news of Dude’s plans to issue his next Vienna release on vinyl for da yoof of today than others come crowding in on the scene.
Valentina Lisitsa, Youtube’s fave pianist of all time, has just laid down a super-analogue Liszt that’s coming out soon on LP. Here’s how:
And Brooklyn Rider string quartet are coming up fast behind. See here. As someone said earlier, it’s back to the future.
Rub your eyes, gals and guys. We are switching the clocks back to 1987.
It is that long since Deutsche Grammophon last released a new recording on vinyl. But my mole at the heart of the label has just whispered that the first classical vinyl in quarter of a century will come rolling off the presses in May.
It’s the next Gustavo Dudamel recording, and it’s all his own idea. Seeing that some of the people who come to his concerts are also the gals and guys he sees when he heads down to the clubs, the Dude thought he might do a favour to his DJ friends and get them putting classical back on their racks.
The first vinyl release will be Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, and the orchestra is the Vienna Philharmonic. Feast your eyes on this memory-lane DG vinyl cover. Cool, or what?
Proceeds from the record will benefit the San Vicente núcleo of El Sistema in the Aragua State of Venezuela.
It’s Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort today, folks.
The opening track – please refer back for visual coherence to free classical download #2 – is called ‘Drop, Drop, Slow Tears’ and it’s by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), arranged Percy Dearmer (1867-1936).
It from a forthcoming album ‘A Song of Farewell: Music of Mourning & Consolation’, due for release on Winged Lion (distributed by Signum) in March 2012. If you’re worried it’s a bit of a downer, listen up. Download here.
It appears she was airlifted – should that be hairlifted? – out of a Glyndebourne rehearsal by the multitasking director Trevor Nunn and dispatched to create a role in his West End musical. There ought to be a lesson in this somewhere. See if you can find it.
Meantime, enjoy Rebecca’s verve and wit here – we ought to see and hear much more of her at the opera.
He’s head of the Staatsoper in Berlin and music director at La Scala, not to mention musical peacemaker of the Middle East.
As of today, Daniel Barenboim is also director of the Conservatory of Music in Madrid, according to Spanish websites.
Er, apparently not quite. This is the day for Iberian leg-pulls.
28/12/2011.- El pianista y director judeo argentino español ha aceptado ponerse al frente del Conservatorio de la capital de España tras unas breves negociaciones, según han anunciado fuentes responsables del sector educativo de la Comunidad de Madrid.
Barenboim es uno de los más prestigiosos músicos del panorama mundial. Como director de orquesta y pianista ha alcanzado ya los puestos más elevados del circuito occidental y había comenzado a dedicar su inmensa popularidad a favorecer causas relacionadas con la paz y entendimiento entre los pueblos, destacando su militancia a favor del diálogo entre palestinos e israelita.En España, aparte de sus frecuentes apariciones artísticas, ha dedicado una intensa energía a la Fundación que lleva su nombre, junto con el del pensador palestino Edward Said, una iniciativa que junta a jóvenes de diversos países para hacer de la música un lenguaje de fraternidad y tiene su sede en Sevilla.
El nombramiento del Barenboim como cabeza del Conservatorio Superior madrileño ha sorprendido a propios y extraños. El maestro, no obstante, lo ha razonado como una aportación trascendental a la pacificación de un sector como es el de la educación musical que tiene en Madrid una beligerancia que nada tiene que envidiar a los conflictos internacionales más señalados. Si Barenboim se ha enfrentado a sus propios hermanos judíos para que vuelvan a escuchar a Wagner y ha hecho del diálogo permanente entre enemigos una estrategia de enorme esperanza, ¿por qué no aplicar el mismo bálsamo a una madeja tan enredada como es el Conservatorio Superior madrileño?
El único punto polémico del acuerdo podría haber sido el del sueldo tal y como están las finanzas, pero el gran artista ha zanjado el asunto proponiendo cobrar un simbólico euro al año por su gestión. Exigiendo, eso sí, una flexibilidad de horarios y presencia física en el centro que le permita seguir atendiendo a todas sus obligaciones.
Este nombramiento, en suma, añade excelencia artística al ahorro económico y permite que el arisco y permanentemente enrabietado sector de la educación musical superior se sitúe a la altura de los grandes desafíos que la Comunidad de Madrid se plantea, como es el caso del gran macrocentro de apuestas y juegos de azar con el que se quiere poner el nombre de Madrid en lo más alto del circuito mundial de brillantes capitales. Por una vez, bien está lo que bien acaba.
Never one to miss his timing, the ultimate minimalist has just announced the program for his 75th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall on January 31. It includes the US premiere of his ninth symphony which, according to this recent video interview, he only finished last week.
Press release follows.
AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA CELEBRATES
PHILIP GLASS’S 75TH BIRTHDAY
WITH CONDUCTOR LAUREATE DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES
IN STERN AUDITORIUM/PERELMAN STAGE ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 31Concert Features the US Premiere of Glass’s Ninth Symphony plus
New York Premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Lamentate
ACO Returns to Zankel Hall in March with Music Director George Manahan for World Premieres by Gabriel Kahane and Ian Williams
On composer Philip Glass’s 75th birthday, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 8:00 p.m., Conductor Laureate and American Composers Orchestra (ACO) co-founder Dennis Russell Davies returns to lead the orchestra in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The celebratory program includes the US premiere of Glass’s Symphony No. 9 (co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Bruckner Orchester Linz) and the New York premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Lamentate, with pianist Maki Namekawa.
The program notes describe Glass’s Symphony No. 9 as “a large scale, three movement work for orchestra, and while direct in form, it will be formidable in performance with piccolos doubled, horn section fortified, and with bass brass, and timpani doubled. The Ninth promises to be, in the composer’s words ‘big and unrelenting,’ with an avoidance of solo passagework, this piece will be a real team effort throughout. Each movement follows a similar plan: an opening theme broadly stated a contrasting highly energized middle section, and a slower ending with a newer version of the opening theme. Throughout the work becomes increasingly dense and contrapuntal thereby giving the whole work its overall dramatic shape.”
Philip Glass wrote his first purely orchestral work—his Violin Concerto—on a commission from ACO in 1987. He and Davies (who has been involved in the commission and/or recording of all of Glass’ symphonic works) have been musical collaborators for over 40 years.
The third and final performance of ACO’s Carnegie Hall season, titled Orchestra Underground: American Accounts, is conducted by George Manahan on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.and features world premieres by Ian Williams and Gabriel Kahane, the New York premiere of Trail of Tears by Michael Daugherty, Milton Babbitt’s From the Psalter, and Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with clarinetist Derek Bermel. The program also features soprano Judith Bettina and flutistAmy Porter.
I’ve linked up a few tracks and videos with the late lamented Martin Isepp at the piano, or harpsichord. Unassuming to a fault, you can hear how immaculately he shaped the architecture of a song. First up: with Frederica von Stade in early French songs at the 1976 Edinburgh Festival.
Next, Paul Austin Kelly sings Strauss
Finally, fittingly, Martin on the harpsichord accompanying Alexander Young in the Thomas Arne song, Come Away Death. RIP.
Adrienne Cooper, one of the leaders of the klezmer revival, has died in New York of cancer, aged 65.
Adrienne, a fourth-generation yiddish singer, worked with a host of groups – The Klezmatics, Frank London’s Klezmer Brass AllStars, David Krakauer, Zalmen Mlotek, So-Called, The Three Yiddish Divas, Marilyn Lerner, Michael Winograd, Alicia Svigals and Mikveh, Greg Wall’s Unity Orchestra, Joyce Rosenzweig,The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, Kapelye, and more.
She is survived by her daughter, Sarah Gordon, also a singer, and her partner, pianist Marilyn Lerner.
And here she is singing that immortal hit, Gefilte Fish
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* yiddish for passed away, poor thing. BDA (Hebrew for RIP).
