On the skis, at the top of a new run, Part I

by | Nov 13, 2010 | Performing Life

In London with the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, and on tour with Ensemble Epomeo About ten days ago, last Wednesday evening I believe it was, I found myself in a surprisingly nice London hotel room trying to think of  a metaphor. I knew that when I woke up the...
Beethoven’s backwards funnel

Beethoven’s backwards funnel

by | Oct 6, 2010 | Nuts and bolts, Performing Life

“Playing Beethoven only gets more challenging” That statement and its many variants is one of those musical truisms one hears so often, one almost ceases to be aware of what it means. It’s not a statement I would make about every composer- demanding as it is, Richard...

Metamorphosing Beethoven

by | Sep 22, 2010 | A view from the podium

As a short follow-up to my long post on the Eroica Marcia funebre, I thought I might mention a little bit about Metamorphosen, Richard Strauss’s late masterpiece mourning the end of the great and continuous musical culture that ran from Bach through to him. On the...