Knock-out soprano Renée Fleming will release her new pop album, Dark Hope, on June 8 in the United States. Already out in Europe, the album represents the underside of Fleming’s newest leaf: popular music.
Her classical credits bud with acclaimed performances in the world’s best opera houses, multiple solo albums, and the moniker of “America’s Favorite Soprano.” None of this, however, receives a mention in the liner notes of her new release. Instead, Fleming wants to earn her alt-rock plaudits with a breathy, alto-range timbre that reflects little of her previous professional exploits. That tone, though antithetical to her pure, operatic upper register, is a tool she carefully crafted to convey an authentic pop feeling. Fleming and her producers have consistently asserted that the album is not a “crossover” but a purebred rock/pop release. The difference, they stress, is that a crossover album is classically styled performances of popular songs. Fleming’s recording is pop covers of pop songs. View Full Article »
Posts Tagged ‘New York Times’
Soprano Renée Fleming to Release Alt Rock Cover Album
Starts Shopping at Hot Topic
Dudamel and LA Phil Come to East Coast
Bring West Coast Glam
Last Thursday and Friday, Gustavo Dudamel gave tri-staters the opportunity to see him conduct for the first time since his inauguration as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. At Avery Fisher Hall on Thursday, Dudamel and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performed Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 “The Age of Anxiety.” Times critic Anthony Tommasini called the performance “arresting” and said the work “if sometimes wild and brassy, was basically wonderful.” However, he was not as enamored with the LA rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique.”
Tommasini felt that technical faults in the performance hinted at under-preparation despite Dudamel’s emotive and carefully executed direction. While the lush, expressive lyricism lent itself to a poignant interpretation from the maestro, The NY Times thought the orchestra’s inability to deliver resulted in a performance that was “rough and unfocused.”
But on Friday, The Sound Post was able to see Dudamel continue his east coast performances with a similar program in Prudential Hall at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Dudamel and Thibaudet began the performance by repeating the same pristine execution of Bernstein’s 2nd Symphony “The Age of Anxiety” from the night before. View Full Article »
Levine Returns to BSO After Spinal Surgery
Conducting Still Pain in the Neck
James Levine led the Boston Symphony Orchestra last week for the first time since his back surgery in the Fall. While Levine has been in New York for assorted performances at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera, his leadership at the BSO was absent for most of the season’s Fall performances. He presented his returning program, featuring works by Berlioz, Ravel, and Carter, in both Boston and New York. Perhaps fortuitously, the night before the BSO’s Carnegie Hall performance, Levine and the BSO won a Grammy for their recording of Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé.” For a complete review of the performance and a clip of the Grammy winning recording, see the NYT article here.
Baldwin Dedicated to Classical Music
Big Mahler Fan
Alec Baldwin loves classical music. According to the NY Times, Baldwin is not only invested in his role as announcer for the New York Philharmonic’s weekly radio broadcasts, but he is also a die-hard classical music fan. Daniel Wakin writes that Baldwin was offered the position after the Phil took notice of his patronage. The NY Phil regularly keeps tabs on its celebrity concert-goers, offering them tickets in exchange for publicity.
The Phil first booked Baldwin as narrator for an “Inside the Music” series in 2008—a program where a work is first explained and then performed. Then, after Baldwin joked that he’d like to quit acting and become a classical music radio presenter, the Phil pounced on his apparent interest and made an offer.
Now, as Baldwin records radio announcements between acting commitments like this winter’s “It’s Complicated” and NBC’s “30 Rock,” he sets his schedule around musical events he refuses to miss. Last May, he contracted time off to see Daniel Barenboim conduct Mahler’s ninth symphony. Baldwin’s interest in classical music began on a soap opera set when he was 24, when a staging director chided him for not recognizing Berlioz’s “March to the Scaffold” from Symphony Fantastique. Now, Baldwin listens to classical everywhere from his home to his car, and has a constantly expanding library of works.
View Full Article »
Classical Newcomer Writes Book On Bach Cello Suites
Head Yet To Implode
Eric Siblin, a pop music critic whose classical education is wanting at best, shares his take on Bach’s six cello suites in his book “The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece.” The book is the result of Siblin’s pseudo-obsessive exploration into the six suites, despite an overall unfamiliarity with Bach and classical music in general.
Siblin was inspired by the same Casals recording that brought the suites into the spotlight of cello literature, and he begins the book with an attempt to shed light on what NY Times writer Janet Maslin identifies as the suites’ “elusiveness.” Bach’s intentions are still murky, as the alternate tuning required by some movements suggests the works may not have been written for cello. Or if they were, that the outliers among the suites do not belong in the same collection that modern musicians have come to accept as an indisputable volume.
View Full Article »
WQXR Makes Debut Broadcast on 105.9
With Message Recorded 72 Years Ago
Fans who tuned into WQXR at its new address, 105.9, at 8:00pm today were greeted by a message recorded over 70 years ago by WQXR co-founder Elliott M. Sanger. The recording expressed WQXR’s commitment to bring classical music to a widespread audience, and to maintain its listeners’ satisfaction. WQXR and its new parent company, WNYC, wished to reaffirm that mission, and have already made good on their promise by broadcasting the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra live from Carnegie Hall.
To recap briefly: WNYC, a member of National Public Radio, bought the rights to WQXR from the New York Times Company, and has transplanted the station to 105.9FM from 96.3FM. The new ownership brings new programming and a new website. The site (which seems to be down currently) has information about WQXR, as well as access to four different internet radio streams. 93.9 (NPR), their AM classical station, 105.9 (now WQXR), and Q2. Q2 is the new internet-only radio stream that will broadcast music geared toward a more niche oriented listener base. This includes contemporary music, and some chamber and vocal music. Read up on the details on our previous articles. Otherwise click ahead for info about tonight’s performance.
View Full Article »
The New WQXR: More Music, Less Variety
Puts Mahler in Bad Mood
As WQXR prepares to move from 96.3FM to 105.9FM this Thursday, October 8, at 8:00pm, its new parent company, WNYC, has announced some of the changes that will occur.
One benefit will be a reduction in commercials. The NYT article says “underwriting announcements” will only take up about 4 minutes per hour, compared to almost 12 minutes per hour of commercials currently.
In addition, many of WQXR’s broadcasts will remain. The station will continue to broadcast from the Met, the New York Phil, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The article does not mention the fate of Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin.
Read on for changes to expect.
View Full Article »
Alan Gilbert Opens NY Phil on Wednesday
New York Times is Skeptical
On Wednesday night, conductor Alan Gilbert will put on his music director’s shoes as he takes the podium in Avery Fisher Hall—a step up which marks a new era in the New York Philharmonic. The maestro will lead a performance of Mahler’s third symphony EXPO by Magnus Lindberg, Songs Pour Mi by Oliver Messiaen, and Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique. While great expectations lie on Mr. Gilbert’s baton, one hopes the orchestra will take the opportunity to embrace its new leader, a fresh outlook, and renewed vigor.
Here is a great interview with Gilbert by Martin Steinberg (AP).
WQXR Moves to 105.9 on October 8
With Live Broadcast at 8pm
WQXR, New York’s classical station, announced that its move from 96.3FM to 105.9FM will take place on October 8th, 2009 at 8:00PM EST. This frequency transplant comes as part of an FCC-approved three-way deal between New York Times Co., Univision, and WNYC—the nation’s largest public radio station. After 65 years of ownership, NYT Co. sold WQXR’s rights and namesake to WNYC, and the station’s spot at 96.3FM to Univision.
The new WQXR will launch with a live broadcast from Carnegie Hall on October 8th at 8pm. The performance by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra will feature the world premier of Concerto With Echoes by Aaron Jay Kernis, as well as works by Stravinsky, Webern, and Beethoven’s Violin Concerto played by Janine Jansen. The performance will be simulcast on 93.9FM, another station owned by WNYC.
WQXR will remain a 24/7 classical music station, but is to become fully listener-supported. The initial purchase is being supported by The Campaign to Preserve Classical Music Radio in New York City—a $15 million campaign co-chaired by Emanuel Ax. So far, the campaign has raised $7.2 million.
Click for the official WNYC press release.
NY Times Sells WQXR; NY’s Classical Station to Exchange Places with Spanish Radio
Employees To Fill Out Applications for Own Jobs
The Deal
WQXR 96.3FM, New York’s long standing classical radio station, will be sold by the New York Times Company pending FCC approval. The rights to the WQXR name will be sold to WNYC Public Radio, and its 96.3 spot on the dial, including broadcasting equipment, will go to Univision. Univision plans to transition its Spanish-language programming to 96.3 from 105.9, which in turn is also being purchased by WNYC for use as WQXR’s new frequency. The sale comes during an economic slump that has taken its toll on an already struggling newspaper industry. Check the link for the good and bad news.
View Full Article »