June 4, 2019
Soprano Joyce DiDonato’s recording projects are seldom conventional. Her last, “Hopes and Dreams: The Lullaby Project” featured original songs to texts by new mothers, some of whom were experiencing financial insecurity. Her newest, Songplay, goes back to her roots as a budding singer. She rediscovered the arias that all young singers are taught, and then …
May 21, 2019
British-born Nicholas McGegan has been directing San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra since the 1980s (about the time that this interviewer started in radio), and has had many sweet successes during that time in bringing great Baroque works to audiences around the world. One of the sweetest for McGegan happened just a few years ago, when …
May 10, 2019
Any time that a pianist undertakes to record a complete set of anything in classical music, it’s bound to be an endeavor taking considerable time and effort. Take on the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven, plus all the other solo piano pieces by one of music’s giants, and I imagine that it must be daunting. …
April 23, 2019
The great 20th century cellist, Pablo Casals, was the first in the world to record all six of Bach’s suites for unaccompanied cello. This was in 1939. Before this, people only considered the suites as study pieces. Casals proved them wrong, and now the suites are among the most beloved works for the instrument of …
April 10, 2019
Early in her career, violinist Hilary Hahn took on music that many before her wouldn’t approach until they were a little older. She chose three of the six unaccompanied violin works of J.S. Bach, a set regarded as the pinnacle of solo violin repertoire. Now, 21 years later, Hahn returns to complete the set. Naturally, …
March 26, 2019
We of the Pacific Northwest consider Morten Lauridsen “one of our own”, as his roots can be traced here. Lauridsen was born in Colfax, Washington, lived not far from Mount St. Helens as a boy, and was in the first graduating class of Beaverton High School. While Lauridsen has spent much of his time teaching …
March 5, 2019
Baritone Benjamin Appl, who was born in Bavaria and now performs in recitals and concerts around the world, was introduced to the music of Bach as a chorister at the age of 6. His new CD, titled simply “Bach”, does what Mr. Appl did here in Portland in January: Taking us, the audience, on a …
February 19, 2019
Rachel Barton Pine long ago established herself as a violinist willing to step outside the normal realm of the classical canon to explore a broader landscape of music. Pine’s performances of metal bands such as Metallica (she actually formed a band of her own, Earthen Grave), are one example of how she embraces music that …
February 5, 2019
American soprano Nadine Sierra, 2018 winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Beverly Sills Artist Award, has just signed on to Deutsche Grammophon. The daughter of parents passionate about music who sought a better life in the United States, Sierra’s debut CD reflects her own roots, as well as the experiences of composers from throughout the …
October 29, 2018
Winner of the 2018 Grammy for Best Choral Performance, The Crossing has just recorded an oratorio with a text that resonates with our times. Conductor Donald Nally is John Pitman’s guest, discussing “Zealot Chronicles, an oratorio for tolerance” by Lansing McLoskey. The composer based the text on “Twelve Canticles for the Zealot” by Nigerian Nobel …
