by Kenneth Woods | Sep 3, 2012 | Bobby and Hans, News and Reviews
A new review of the latest disc in the Orchestra of the Swan Gal/Schumann series by critic Byzantion is available on the MusicWeb International website. Click here to order from MDT Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk Click here to order from Amazon.com Read the...
by Kenneth Woods | Sep 1, 2012 | A view from the podium, Bobby and Hans, News and Reviews
A new review from critic Graham Rickson this week at The Arts Desk is available here. Click here to order from MDT Click here to order from Amazon.co.uk Click here to order from Amazon.com Excerpts: “An Austrian Jew who eventually settled in Edinburgh and...
by Kenneth Woods | Aug 5, 2012 | A view from the podium
I’ve never subscribed to the notion that a conductor should be embargoed from asking a timpanist to change sticks. After all, the conductor should have a concept of sound for the whole band that figures in the timpani, and if you (the conductor) are experienced enough...
by Kenneth Woods | Aug 4, 2012 | A view from the podium
One thing we all learn with experience is that life goes in phases. Not too long ago, but neither too recently, I had a “sketchy timpanist nearly ruining the concert” phase with a number of different orchestras over several concerts. Some regular players...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 29, 2012 | A view from the podium
Reblogged from Broken Thirds, the Epomeo blog Hello everyone We thought it was about time we took a moment to update you on the artistic, rather than financial progress of our CD project. Our recording of the trios of Hans Gál and Hans Kràsa comes out in...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 14, 2012 | A view from the podium, Not quite the news, Satire
One of the longest music director searches in US classical music history is about to come to a surprising and historic conclusion, sources tell View from the Podium reporters, as a major American orchestra prepares to appoint the holographic image of Leonard Bernstein...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 14, 2012 | A view from the podium
A new review of volume 1 of the Orchestra of the Swan recordings of the complete symphonies of Hans Gal and Robert Schumann in the July 12th issue of the Birmingham Post: Read the whole thing here. A sample follows: Get your copy direct from Avie Download from iTunes...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 7, 2012 | A view from the podium
July 7 is Gustav Mahler’s birthday- the great man would have been 152 today, which would be a great age even for Elliott Carter. However, there’s no more pro-Mahler blog in the blogosphere than VFTP, so we’re celebrating his birthday by offering a...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 4, 2012 | A view from the podium
“The first rule of Mahler 9, is that you do not talk about Mahler 9” June 26, 2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the premiere of Gustav Mahler’s 9th Symphony. Bruno Walter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic- Mahler had been dead a little over a year. On...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 3, 2012 | A view from the podium
The response to my post calling for reform to the American orchestral audition system has been pretty exciting to behold. Saturday was, to the best of my knowledge, the busiest day ever for our VFTP servers. Thanks to everyone who commented and tweeted, and a special...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 2, 2012 | A view from the podium
Reflections on Debussy: East and West in meaningful dialogue Peter Davison ponders the recent Reflections on Debussy series at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, discovering what its creative dialogue between East and West might tell us about the state of...
by Kenneth Woods | Jul 2, 2012 | A view from the podium
It’s out! Available from Amazon.com here Available direct from Orchestra of the Swan here Listen to samples: About the disc: James Nyoraku Schlefer’s Haru no Umi Redux is a distinctive version of the famous duo Haru no Umi by koto master Michiyo Miyagi a...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 28, 2012 | A view from the podium
“Give me success or take this desire away from me. One of the two.” There is an article from Boston Magazine currently making the rounds of various musician friends’ and colleagues’ Facebook and Twitter feeds. Called simply “The...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 27, 2012 | A view from the podium
It was great to return to Mozart’s Symphony no. 36 last week after a long break since my last encounter with it. The last performance I was involved in was not, as they say, entirely satisfying, and sometimes the best thing for one’s relationship with a piece is to...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 26, 2012 | Nuts and bolts
A review from senior critic Christopher Morley at the Birmingham Post of last week’s Orchestra of the Swan performance in Stratford-upon-Avon featuring trumpet virtuoso, Simon Desbruslais. For space reasons, the original review was slightly cut for the print...
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