Beyond words.
We’ve just been made aware of this phenomenal performance of a Mozart symphony led by Patricia Kopatchinskaya from the violin, a couple of weeks before lockdown.
Watch here.
You will either love or hate it.
Compare and contrast:
Almost the entire ensemble of the Nuremberg Sattstheater have been out back in quarantine after one member tested positive for Covid-19.
No messing about in Bavaria.
Read here.
The formidable Erik, uncle of the composer Ollie Knussen and brother of the LSO’s Stuart, has died at a great age.
He was a stalwart of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for 40 years, as a tuba player, double bass and administrator.
News has been shared of the death of David Bowerman, founder of Champs Hill Records and the fabulous Music Room at Champs Hill. David was 84. Many young artists benefitted from his generosity.
David Bowerman was born in 1936 and took a BSc degree before a long career in farming. Family duties did not allow any form of musical training and his knowledge of musical matters is largely self-taught. It was only after retirement that he and his wife built “The Music Room” at their home, Champs Hill, and musical interest was re-kindled. This has opened vast opportunities to present classical music to the people of Sussex, to give young artists the chance to play in public and to make recordings.
Ittai Shapira writes: RIP David Bowerman; Thank You for taking a chance on me as a recent Juilliard Graduate in my early 20’s, supporting and guiding me through my first solo recording with orchestra, European tours and special projects coming to fruition internationally. Your invaluable guidance made the difference between a flash in the pan debut to building relationships with musicians for over two decades. Your wisdom and curiosity always lead to a generous and concrete act of kindenss for others- from green energy to creative solutions and support for the societal challenges we face today. You asked me not to thank you, but to always strive for more instead. Well, I will never stop thanking you..
and together with the hundreds of musicians and thousands of young people you have impacted, we will continue to honor your mission of bringing people together through the Arts, striving to do our best for the world around us. Thank You for introducing me to the rich, warm sound of romantic and contemporary British composers, and for writing a piece for me, which I had the pleasure of recording in 2004 with Julian Milford and Alexander Van Ingen for Champs Hill Records, thus encouraging a circle of young artists. My sincere condolences to his devoted and incredible family. He was like a father to us all.
A number of violinists are flying into Denver, Colorado, this weekend to protest the death of a friend in police custody 10 months ago. The police officers involved have been reassigned but not charged.
Elijah McClain, 23, died after being put into a chokehold for alleged suspicious behaviour.
He was a trained massage therapist and violinist.
The case may now be reopened.
BBC report here.
Friends are reporting the death of Kenneth Goldsmith, professor of violin at the Shepherd School of Music until his retirement less than two months ago. He was described then as ‘one of our country’s most respected practitioners and pedagogues for more than half a century’.
Houston Symphony principal cellist Brinton Smith writes: ‘Really crushed to hear of the death of Ken Goldsmith. We shared a studio at Rice these last two years and I loved living among the walls decorated with his memories and memorabilia of the greatest musicians of history. We were living in his world and we loved it. Such a kind, decent man- really the epitome of a mensch. The world is a lesser place without him in it…’
Ken Goldsmith became the youngest member of the Detroit Symphony at 19, before serving as concertmaster of the Nashville Symphony, among others. He taught at Stanford University (1966-71), CalState Fullerton (1971-75), Pomona College (1974-75), CalState Irvine (1974-75), Grinnell College (1975-87), University of Houston (1987-1991), and from 1991 at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
His students can be found in most major US orchestras – Chicago, Boston, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, Seattle, Pittsburgh and the Met.
At her Hamburg recital last week, the pianist, 79 this month, played Schubert’s ‘The Shepherd on the Rock’ for the first time in her life.
Tonight, we hear, she’s doing Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death with the baritone Michael Volle.
Listen here at 6pm London time, 1pm New York. Or watch direct here.
We’ll put up video later.
Our Czech partners, operaplus.cz, report that the Strunal Schönbach instrument-making firm has declared insolvency.
Covid is blamed for its latest difficulties.
The firm employed 59 people.
Members of The Kings Consort have been documenting their displacement activities in the heart of England’s green and pleasant.
As of this week, Lebrecht Album of the Week will appear on two additional outlets. For that reason, among others, I decided to give some indication of how a reviewer’s mind works. Here goes:
Let me take you into the process by which new releases get selected for review – at least by me who for years has reviewed just one album a week. The process is not scientific, but I’ll describe it as best I can. Monday morning, I face two towering piles of CDs.
First, I reject the known knowns — famous artists recording familiar repertoire, and probably not for the first time. They won’t have much to say that changes the state of my world.
Then it’s the turn of the unknown unknowns, where both the composer and artist are extremely obscure and neither has the weight to advocate for the other. Sorry, but no.
Next to go are artists who have failed to impress me in the past. I don’t see the point of wasting my platform on dismissive reviews, so listening to a voice that I have previously found unappealing does no good either to me or to the performer.
Finally, there are whatever boundaries I have set myself within a particular time frame. In the three months of COVID, I decided to review only music from the late-20th and early 21st century, not out of masochism but because this is a marvellous opportunity to expose myself and my readers to repertoire that lies outside the regular concert tramlines.
That said, this week, I am breaking two of my rules….
Read on here.
And here.
And here.