by Kenneth Woods | Feb 9, 2011 | A view from the podium
From the Surrey Advertiser, February 4, 2011 A splendid start to Players’ concert season THE Surry Mozart Players’ concert seasons are events to be anticipated with enormous plasure and thereafter to be enjoyed with relish. The concert at the United...
by Kenneth Woods | Feb 2, 2011 | Mahler, Music and Media, News and Reviews
Mahler is in the air today- I’m on way to rehearsal this evening, and what should I find on my daily check of Norman Lebrecht’s Slipped Disc but a mention of the very concert I’m conducting here in Wrexham The American conductor Kenneth Woods is...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 30, 2011 | A view from the podium, Music and Media, News and Reviews
There is a very nice piece in the current issue of Classical Music magazine on music of Hans Gal and our current efforts to get his music on disc. Click on the scan below to see a full sized (and easier to read) version. Regular Vftp readers will know that the first...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 25, 2011 | Mahler, Mahler- Performer's Perspective
The Mahler in Manchester Festival, in which the BBC Philharmonic, the Halle and Manchester Camerata teamed up to present all of the symphonies (including Das Lied von der Erde) of Gustav Mahler at The Bridgewater Hall over six months, has won the South Bank Show...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 25, 2011 | A view from the podium
Like all the greatest music, part of what makes Brahms’ music so compelling is the way it seems to work on so many levels- it can be happy and sad, abstract and programmatic, personal and universal all at the same time. To a certain extent, I think many fans of...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 24, 2011 | Performing Life
A while back, Jacob Stockinger, author of the excellent blog “The Well-Tempered Ear” suggested I write a diary of one month in my professional life. I chose last June because it was a busy and interesting time, but it took me some time to get around to writing my part...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 19, 2011 | Repertoire Reports
Well, just when we thought Repertoire Report season was winding down, Anthony from New York took the initiative to get one last report in under the wire, for recently appointed New York Philharmonic conductor Alan Gilbert. Thanks, Anthony. When Anthony emailed me, the...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 18, 2011 | Repertoire Reports
Repertoire Report season is nearly at it’s end. A number of you have emailed recently to say you are working on a report- it’s now or never, my friends! Meanwhile, we thought it might be interesting to compare the reports of four of this year’s conductors side by...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 17, 2011 | Nuts and bolts
Usually, studying the score of a great work is like a revelation, even when you know the piece well as a player or listener. However cool you thought the piece was before you opened the score, you can’t help but be amazed and astounded by what you discover when...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 16, 2011 | Repertoire Reports
Next up in the Repertoire Reports for 2010 is conductor Semyon Bychkov, who was previously featured in 2008. Maestro Bychkov seems to favor carrying a relatively small number of pieces in a year, 50 this year and 30 in 2008 when he was doing even more opera. Anyone...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 15, 2011 | News and Reviews
It’s great to see the granddaddy of classical mags waving the flag a bit for Hans Gal. This little shout-out comes from page 66 of the current issue, which you can see below. I’ve been listening to the first edits of the new Gal/Schumann disc this week,...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 12, 2011 | Mahler
In the course of my exhaustive research on Mahler 6, which I’m conducting next month, I stumbled upon a nice post on an excellent blog by Gene De Lisa that I hadn’t previously come across. It’s well worth a read for a good synopsis of the history of...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 10, 2011 | A view from the podium, Repertoire Reports
Next up in the 2010 Repertoire Reports, one of our annual mainstay’s, Leonard Slatkin. By one measure, Leonard seems to be slowing down this year- mere 91 works plus unlisted pops selections, compared to 121 2008 and 2009. One might be tempted to think that he’s...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 9, 2011 | Repertoire Reports
Pianist Jeffrey Biegel is the next artist featured in our Repertoire Report series. If I had to pick one word to describe Jeffrey’s list it would have to be “eclectic.” Like Leonard Slatkin, Jeffrey approaches “light” repertoire like Leroy Anderson with the same...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 9, 2011 | cello, Repertoire Reports
Alan, a cellist from Cleveland, has been a big Alban Gerhardt fan for a long time, so he was happy to assemble a repertoire report for his favourite cellist. Alban must be about the busiest cellist on the planet- certainly nobody I know carries more repertoire or is...
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