by Kenneth Woods | Feb 17, 2010 | A view from the podium
(The ghosts of Leningrad, now St Petersberg, as captured by the great Alexey Titarenko) For all that readers are seeing a lot about Gustav Mahler on these pages, the work on my desk right now is Dmitri Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony, which I am conducting next week. I...
by Kenneth Woods | Feb 14, 2010 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
There is a great article in today New York Times on guitar demigod, Jeff Beck. (Cool- Jeff Beck) “You look for the guys who can kick you” as a musician, “and Jeff can be filthy, stinky that way,” Mr. Walden said in an interview here. “He’s not just melody, or a guy...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 14, 2010 | A view from the podium, Mahler, Mahler- Performer's Perspective, Nuts and bolts
The Bridgewater Hall- Mahler in Manchester Mahler in Manchester begins this weekend, as Gianandrea Noseda leads the BBC Philharmonic in Mahler’s 1st Symphony. The performance takes place at 7:30 PM on the 16th of January, 2010 in The Bridgewater Hall I promised, or at...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 9, 2010 | A view from the podium, Mahler
If one happens to be thumbing through the February issue of Gramophone, you might notice a nice mention of my Orchestra of the Swan appointment on page 14- we even got a picture. You can find me right next to the piece on James Galway. I only mention this because I’ve...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 9, 2010 | A view from the podium
* When conductors (particularly guest conductors) ask for specific things to be put into the parts, they should have the good manners to do so well in advance of the first rehearsal. And that doesn’t mean two weeks, it means THREE MONTHS OR MORE. In most major...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 28, 2009 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
I remember my first encounter with Elgar 1 very vividly. I’d only known Enigma, Falstaff and the Cello Concerto for many years when I learned he’d written two symphonies. Excited and curious, I went hunting recordings and found only two- one by Haitink (which I still...
Recent Comments