MSO Education Week
Orchestras around the world are increasing their activities in the field of education and community outreach.
Orchestras around the world are increasing their activities in the field of education and community outreach.
Victoria’s symphony orchestra posts a financial deficit of nearly $800,000 for 2012. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
In an industry said to be in more or less dire straits by various sources, I’m amazed that a small boutique label like Oehms can afford to issue two recordings of Mahler’s Resurrection symphony with different conductors and orchestras. Simone Young’s Hamburg recording followed hot on the heels of Markus Stenz’s Cologne effort. Now, here is another Markus Stenz live performance with the Melbourne Symphony, of which he was chief conductor. Stenz proved his credentials as a Mahler conductor during his slow-release cycle a few years ago. This performance dates from December 2004. I don’t know why it’s taken almost a decade to reach us. That said, I enjoyed this traversal. It’s quite different from Simone Young’s: more volatile, with a much greater range of tempos and moods. Occasionally, I felt he skated over details in the first movement and the phrasing risked sounding perfunctory. (Perhaps ironically, this version is overall about four minutes longer than Young’s.) The Minuet movement is commendably unsentimental but the Scherzo is taken too fast for it to register its sardonic and demonic quality. Both Stenz’s soloists, mezzo-soprano Bernadette Cullen and soprano Elizabeth Whitehouse, seem more comfortable than their Hamburg counterparts. Also, in the Urlicht…
Across its eight movements, this secular mass is a focused refinement of what Westlake does best.
The Wagnerian soprano’s hotly anticipated Australian debut has been cancelled. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic returns to Australia with Mozart, Bach and an exciting premiere. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has appointed Ballarat-born Benjamin Northey as Associate Conductor. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in