July 8, 2016
When I started interviewing musicians for my audio blog, violinist Tom Stone and cellist Jennifer Kloetzel were among my earliest guests, talking about their recording of Beethoven’s late quartets. Both are back to share their thoughts about their third and final installment: Beethoven’s Opus 18 quartets. Known as “early Beethoven”, the composer seems to be …
July 8, 2016
When we tune in to All Classical, we barely pause to consider that, with the exception of live-streaming concerts, most of the music we hear has been recorded. Thanks to the innovations of recording technology from the twentieth- and twenty-first century, we can hear musical moments captured and preserved in time. Performance before wax cylinders, …
June 23, 2016
This is my second week in Portland, and already I am intrigued by the city’s vibrant music culture and its history. While searching to learn more about the city’s central musical sites, I discovered the story of the Marquam Building… Like many great operas, this story opens with a glorious and stunning entrance and closes …
June 15, 2016
Prologue It is common knowledge that a good performer makes their work appear seamless. There are no cracks through which information about their influences, skills, and technique pours out. Although some audiences consider it a privilege to crack open a performer and examine the rivers which course through their art, it is usually the case …
June 10, 2016
2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yehudi Menuhin, truly one of music’s most international figures. He was also one of those people who seem to have been born at just the right time in history. It was the dawn of the age of recorded music, and Menuhin started his relationship with recordings …
May 4, 2016
In recent decades, many recordings, resulting from research, have brought to light the music composed and performed at Theresienstadt (now Terezin), the World War II concentration camp to which thousands of Jews were deported, as part of the systematized process of ultimately transporting them to death camps. Many perished, either at Theresienstadt or at their …
March 18, 2016
Any serious violinist is going to be well-acquainted with the unaccompanied works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Several violinists have taken on these seminal, almost mystical works, in recordings. Rachel Barton Pine brings not only the artistic sensitivity and talent to these six pieces, but also great credentials: She’s the only American Gold Medalist of the …
March 1, 2016
Pianist Hélène Grimaud, known almost equally for her environmental concerns as her tremendous musical talent, brings both areas of interest together in her new CD, Water (Deutsche Grammophon), the result of a collaboration with composer and producer, Nitin Sawney. Ms. Grimaud, who founded the Wolf Conservation Center in New York in 1996, hopes that people …
December 11, 2015
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Matt Haimovitz, the American cellist who garnered a lot of attention fifteen years ago, when he performed in “unusual” venues, including brew pubs and rock clubs. This was ground-breaking stuff back then; now it seems less surprising to see a cadre of bass-instrument players strike bow to …
October 21, 2015
Anthony De Mare has been on a journey of discovery and affirmation. For the past several years, the pianist has been celebrating the extraordinary music of what he calls “one of our greatest American composers”, Stephen Sondheim. And he’s taking dozens of today’s top composers along with him on this journey. Fittingly, as Sondheim draws …
