Archives
Spring 2013
March 12 | Pop and Classical
– a montage of four artists, two who were lifelong pop singers and two who were reigning sopranos at the Metropolitan; you are invited to try to guess which is which!
March 19 | Rachmaninov as Pianist and Songwriter
“Lilacs” sung by Nicolai Gedda with Alexis Weissenberg, and then repeated in the composer’s own performance as a piano solo.
April 2 | Schumann’s Dreamscape
The mysterious final movement of Kreisleriana as interpreted by Alfred Cortot, Josef Hoffmann and Vladimir Horowitz.
April 9 | Taking Stock of the Lepage Ring
Just to kick off the discussion with a contrasting “look” for Wagner, here is a short video clip from Die Walküre, on a studio imitation of the Metropolitan’s scenery, circa 1938.
April 16 | Julius Caesar Comes to Town
Handel’s opera was introduced to New York by Beverly Sills as Cleopatra in 1966. Her Caesar was Norman Treigle, whose opening phrases are heard here, followed by a much more recent, and very different, interpretation.
April 23 | Mussorgsky’s Exhibition and its Exhibitionists
A colorful fragment from Mussorgsky’s suite – the opening page of “The Gnome” – is heard first in the composer’s original score (played by Alfred Brendel), then in Horowitz’s augmented piano version, then in orchestral versions by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Leopold Stokowski, Lucien Caillet and Maurice Ravel.
April 30 | Poulenc the Conservative and his Radical Opera
This is the finale of Poulenc’s opera, a beautiful, almost lush setting of the Latin prayer “Salve, Regina,” stately and sensual at the same time, with one startling embellishment – the sound of the guillotine that falls on each singer until the song is silenced.
May 7 | Schubert’s Farewell and Levine’s Return
The very end of the first movement of Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony, as interpreted by Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler.
May 28 | Lend me a Tenor
Again a discussion-starter – one of the most remarkable tenors of the current generation, Michael Spyres, as seen on Italian television from the Pesaro Rossini Festival last summer.
June 4 | Season finale: The Songs of Verdi
From one of Carlo Bergonzi’s late-career Carnegie Hall recitals, a charmer of a song – one among many in this overlooked repertory.
– a montage of four artists, two who were lifelong pop singers and two who were reigning sopranos at the Metropolitan; you are invited to try to guess which is which!
March 19 | Rachmaninov as Pianist and Songwriter
“Lilacs” sung by Nicolai Gedda with Alexis Weissenberg, and then repeated in the composer’s own performance as a piano solo.
April 2 | Schumann’s Dreamscape
The mysterious final movement of Kreisleriana as interpreted by Alfred Cortot, Josef Hoffmann and Vladimir Horowitz.
April 9 | Taking Stock of the Lepage Ring
Just to kick off the discussion with a contrasting “look” for Wagner, here is a short video clip from Die Walküre, on a studio imitation of the Metropolitan’s scenery, circa 1938.
April 16 | Julius Caesar Comes to Town
Handel’s opera was introduced to New York by Beverly Sills as Cleopatra in 1966. Her Caesar was Norman Treigle, whose opening phrases are heard here, followed by a much more recent, and very different, interpretation.
April 23 | Mussorgsky’s Exhibition and its Exhibitionists
A colorful fragment from Mussorgsky’s suite – the opening page of “The Gnome” – is heard first in the composer’s original score (played by Alfred Brendel), then in Horowitz’s augmented piano version, then in orchestral versions by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Leopold Stokowski, Lucien Caillet and Maurice Ravel.
April 30 | Poulenc the Conservative and his Radical Opera
This is the finale of Poulenc’s opera, a beautiful, almost lush setting of the Latin prayer “Salve, Regina,” stately and sensual at the same time, with one startling embellishment – the sound of the guillotine that falls on each singer until the song is silenced.
May 7 | Schubert’s Farewell and Levine’s Return
The very end of the first movement of Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony, as interpreted by Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler.
May 28 | Lend me a Tenor
Again a discussion-starter – one of the most remarkable tenors of the current generation, Michael Spyres, as seen on Italian television from the Pesaro Rossini Festival last summer.
June 4 | Season finale: The Songs of Verdi
From one of Carlo Bergonzi’s late-career Carnegie Hall recitals, a charmer of a song – one among many in this overlooked repertory.