As readers of this blog may recall, I have twice (re: Vladimir Horowitz on Feb. 1; re: "Interpreting Liszt" on Feb. 18) written about Mykola Suk - in my experience, the most galvanizing present-day exponent of the piano music of Franz Liszt. My son Bernie, with whom I joust about such matters, has just apprised me that Suk's epic 2008 performance of the Liszt B minor Sonata at … [Read more...] about The Greatest Present-Day Liszt Pianist
Reconnecting with Spanish Modernism — and The Problem of de Larrocha
The incontrovertible premise of "Beyond Flamenco: Finding Spain in Music," recently presented at the University of Chicago, was that in the early twentieth century Spain produced formidably important music that is little known or understood. Few remember that Berg's Violin Concerto was premiered in Barcelona. Or that Schoenberg composed most of Moses und Aron there. Or that … [Read more...] about Reconnecting with Spanish Modernism — and The Problem of de Larrocha
“Copland and the Cold War” on Campus
Two months ago the Mellon Foundation awarded $1.9 million to three university-based arts presenters: the University Musical Society (University of Michigan/Ann Arbor), Cal Performances (University of California/Berkeley), and the Krannert Center (University of Illinois/Champaign-Urbana). To my knowledge, Mellon has in recent years been (alas) the only major American foundation … [Read more...] about “Copland and the Cold War” on Campus
Pearl Harbor music: Weill and Schoenberg
Of the distinguished refugee composers chased to the US by Hitler, two - Kurt Weill and Arnold Schoenberg - so memorably responded to Pearl Harbor that one is tempted to surmise that no American-born composer could have reacted with such exigent fervor to the Japanese attack. The two works in question are Weill's Walt Whitman Songs and Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon. I have now … [Read more...] about Pearl Harbor music: Weill and Schoenberg
Liszt and Improvisation
The featured pianists in Post-Classical Ensemble's two-day "Interpreting Liszt" festival, in collaboration with Georgetown University, were Mykola Suk and Kumaran Arul. Suk's performances are all about risk - interpretively, emotionally, his art is one of inspired brinkmanship. He embodies a spirit of improvisation. Arul actually improvises. In my experience, Suk's readings of … [Read more...] about Liszt and Improvisation