Matthias Röder
Free Mozart Edition Online
The Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum (ISM) has launched the free online version of the Neue Mozart Ausgabe (NMA). The website contains scans of the complete works of Mozart as well as the accompanying critical commentaries. Check out the site at http://dme.mozarteum.at/. In a next step the ISM will work on a new Digital Mozart Edition that […]
Nachtseite der Vernunft
Having just returned from a trip to Munich today, I found the new program for the Salzburg Festival 2007 in my mailbox! As you probably all know the festival has a new artistic director (Jürgen Flimm). Since Flimm is a opera/theater person he has put Markus Hinterhäuser in charge for the concert events at the […]
Munich Opera House
Last night, Seda and I went to the Munich Opera House where we saw the Bayerisches Staatsballett with a very interesting program featuring Century Rolls (Davide Bombana, John Adams), In the Country of Last Things (Michael Simon, Heiner Goebbels), and Elemental (Jacopo Godani, 48nord). A couple of weeks ago I read an illuminating article in […]
Tom’s Orphanage: Bawlers
For those of you who haven’t read the first review in this series: the idea is to review this album by listening to each song only once. This gives me almost no time to think. I just jot down my thoughts as the music plays on. Why? Because it’s fun and because I may repeat […]
Tom’s Orphanage: Brawlers
Tom Waits is really productive lately. Two days ago he released a three-CD-set called Orphans: Brawler, Bawlers & Bastards. Here’s the deal: I’ll listen to each song only once and while listening I type down my thoughts. Let’s go.
Delicate miniatures and melancholic sonatas
This season, the Konzerthaus Berlin has put up some intriguing programs celebrating the 100th birthday of Dmitri Shostakovich. Among these concerts were performances by the Jerusalem Quartet (all string quartets), the Konzerthausorchester (Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and String Orchestra), as well as the Berlin Sinfonietta (Chamber Symphony). In an engaging performance on Thursday night, Alexei […]
Russian Program at the Konzerthaus
This promises to be an exciting evening at the Konzerthaus in Berlin: Alexei Lubimov, piano Galina Ustvolskaya Sonata No. 5 Dmitri Shostakovich Five Preludes for Piano (1919-20) Sergey Prokofjew Sonata No. 7 op. 83 Alexander Skryabin Five Preludes op. 74 Andrej Volkonsky “Musica stricta” Dmitri Shostakovich Sonata No. 2 op. 64 November 16, 2006. Konzerthaus […]
What Rhapsody is lacking
Real Rhapsody is a music subscription service that I have been using for quite a while now. It features millions of pop songs, jazz tunes, and classical works. The catalogue is pretty amazing, rarely do they not have what I am looking for. All it takes to listen to days of music is a broadband […]
Tenso Days Berlin
This should be interesting: the newest space for the arts in Berlin, the Radialsystem, hosts this year’s Tenso Days Festival. The festival features three concerts with contemporary music for chamber choirs. Works include well-known pieces by Rihm (Astralis), Lachenmann (Consolation II), Scelsi (Tre canti sacri), and Ligeti (Lux aeterna) as well as premieres by Franck […]
Don Menza and Harald Rüschenbaum Trio
Yesterday night I went to the Munich Jazzclub “Unterfahrt”. Very nice location (good service, nice interieur, and non-smoking!), go check it out some time. The concert was great. Don Menza is 70 years old but he plays like a young man. What I found most interesting was the contrast between the American style of playing […]
Mozart in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Since today, visitors of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin can marvel at fifty Mozart autographs from the library’s collection. Among the items on display are the scores of Idomeneo, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte and La clemenza di Tito. This is a page from the Posthornserenade, K […]
Dido and Aeneas
(Image taken from the Staatsoper website) This was the first time that I saw Dido and Aeneas on stage. A couple of years ago I was listening to a recording of this piece quite often and I always wondered how it would work out on stage. There is a lot of reflection but very little […]
A propos Dowland
Everone who is a little annoyed with Sting’s interpretation should check out The Forge Players’s Flow my tears. (I discovered them in real rhapsody). This CD is a collaboration between a classical string quintet, two non-classical vocalists (Freddy Wadling and Mikael Samuelson), and a couple of lute-, theorbo-, guitar-specialists (Lars Akerlund, Hallbus Totte Mattson, Roger Tallroth). If you were missing some colors and ideas in Sting’s recording, listening to this album will give you plenty of that. The singers are not trying to be early music specialists, they tell stories, miss notes, have problems with intonation, and yet their voice fascinate me. A little shrill, a little dark, a little strange…
Sting to perform at the Yellow Lounge
I first heard the rumour at JP’s birthday party last Friday: Sting will be the special guest performing at the next yellow lounge event on Monday in Berlin. The yellow lounge? It’s a marketing move from Universal Music to promote their label Deutsche Grammophon. The idea is pretty straight forward: combine a classical music DJ […]
Walter Kempowski und die SS
“Dann eines Tages kam ein Ritterkreuzträger in unsere Unterkunft und wir mußten alle antreten – so einer mit einem Arm, ein Kriegsversehrter, er war Offizier, mit zwei eisernen Leuten : ‘So sagt er, Kameraden, jetzt meldet ihr euch alle freiwillig zur SS, wir wollen das Hitler zum Geburtstag schenken,’ das muß so ungefähr der 15 […]
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