Raum und Zeit: Orgelfeierstunden im Kölner Dom

Cologne Cathedral

Betrachtet man die Situation nüchtern und als Aussenstehender, so sollte man als Musikbegeisterter die sommerlichen Orgelfeierstunden im Kölner Dom aus rein musikalischen Gründen meiden. Die Akustik in der riesigen Kathedrale des 13. Jahrhunderts ist einem differenzierten Musikgenuss ebenso abträglich, wie ein komplett verdunkeltes Museum dem Betrachten von Gemälden. Der exzessive Nachhall verwischt jeden Klang [...]

Mantra at Harvard

Yesterday we heard Stockhausen’s Mantra at Harvard. Frank Gutschmidt and Benjamin Kobler captivated their audience in a late-night performance that was colorful, precise, groovy, and overwhelmingly lucid. What I liked most about their interpretation was the sense of unity that they created; at times one had the feeling that all the music came from one [...]

Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Metha and the Staatskapelle Berlin

Barenboim and Mehta

I am an American artist living part-time in Berlin. I have never written anything about a classical music concert, I do not have a sophisticated ear for music, and, in fact, I do not literally hear very well. But, I do know what I like and do not like, and what I [...]

Schubert and Brahms on David Lewin’s Piano

Yesterday night, Seda played a short concert with Schubert’s Sonate in a-moll D. 784 and Brahm’s Sechs Klavierstücke op. 118 in the Lowell House library at Harvard University. I love this pensive program. It is full of deep emotions, thorough thinking, and rhythmic complexities.Seda played on the piano that once belonged to David Lewin, the [...]

Exploring the Boston Scene

The Boston Scene

After a couple of weeks without concerts and opera I am finally starting to explore the Boston music scene (again). So far, most of the non-campus events were disappointing:
1) Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine played Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto (with Christian Tetzlaff) and Mahler’s 9th Symphony. This concert was a let-down: the [...]

Salzburg Wrap-up

Salzburger Festspiele

Ok, this year’s festival was a short one for me. I saw only a couple of performances but some of these were really excellent!
1) Grisey: Les Espaces Acoustiques. I’ve already written about that one on this blog.

Marc Ribot

2) Then there was this other concert from the Kontinent Scelsi series. An evening with the Ensemble [...]

Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques in Salzburg

This was an amazing concert. The Basel Sinfonietta under Stefan Asbury and Geneviève Strosser (viola) performed Gérard Grisey’s Les Espaces Acoustiques at the Salzburg Festival. Having thought a lot about an aethetics of spacial music listening I found yesterday’s concert to be a perfect stimulus. It was incredible to hear this piece in its entirety [...]

A Flowering Tree in Berlin

For those of you who live in Berlin: rush over to the Berliner Philharmoniker website and buy a ticket for today’s (December 22) performance of John Adams’ newest opera “A flowering tree”. For those of you who cannot make it in time: read on …

Munich Opera House

Last night, Seda and I went to the Munich Opera House where we saw the Bayerisches Staatsballett with a very interesting program featuring Century Rolls (Davide Bombana, John Adams), In the Country of Last Things (Michael Simon, Heiner Goebbels), and Elemental (Jacopo Godani, 48nord).
A couple of weeks ago I read an illuminating article in the [...]

Vengerov just wants to have fun

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Adagio in E major K 261 (arranged for violin and piano by Max Rostal
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 7 in c minor Op. 30 No. 2
- Sergey Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in f minor Op. 80
- Dmitri Shostakovich: Selection from the 24 [...]

Delicate miniatures and melancholic sonatas

This season, the Konzerthaus Berlin has put up some intriguing programs celebrating the 100th birthday of Dmitri Shostakovich. Among these concerts were performances by the Jerusalem Quartet (all string quartets), the Konzerthausorchester (Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and String Orchestra), as well as the Berlin Sinfonietta (Chamber Symphony). In an engaging performance on Thursday night, Alexei [...]

Don Menza and Harald Rüschenbaum Trio

Yesterday night I went to the Munich Jazzclub “Unterfahrt”. Very nice location (good service, nice interieur, and non-smoking!), go check it out some time. The concert was great. Don Menza is 70 years old but he plays like a young man. What I found most interesting was the contrast between the American style of playing [...]

Sting to perform at the Yellow Lounge

I first heard the rumour at JP’s birthday party last Friday: Sting will be the special guest performing at the next yellow lounge event on Monday in Berlin. The yellow lounge? It’s a marketing move from Universal Music to promote their label Deutsche Grammophon. The idea is pretty straight forward: combine a classical music DJ [...]

musica reanimata revives music of Karel Reiner

musica reanimata is the name of an ambitious association of musicians and musicologists in Berlin that revives the music of composers persecuted by the Nazis. The association organizes concerts, conferences, and publishes books. For their efforts they have recently been awarded the prestigious Kritikerpreis für Musik 2006.
Yesterday, at the Konzerthaus Berlin, musica reanimata hosted a [...]

Arditti Quartet Plays Webern, Berg, and Harvey

What a great program! Anton Webern Fünf Sätze für Streichquartett op. 5, Alban Berg Lyrische Suite für Streichquartett, and then, after a short intermission, Jonathan Harvey’s String Quartet No. 4 with live electronics. The Arditti Quartet gave yet another memorable concert and again the hall was half empty. This is something I just cannot understand. [...]