Category Archives: Music and musicology

Toronto Symphony Scheherazade

Posted on April 1, 2016 by barczablog

I had the pleasure of hearing the Toronto Symphony play Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade the final three times they played the work on their recent Florida tour.  As a souvenir of my trip, I’ve had a CD in the car for literally … Continue reading →

Posted in Music and musicology | 3 Comments

Knocking at the Hellgate

Posted on March 13, 2016 by barczablog

While the Toronto Symphony has been doing New Creations Festival for a dozen years or so, things seem substantially different in 2016.  One of the comments I sometimes hear from my colleagues is a concern that when so many of … Continue reading →

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TSO’s happy midweek memorials

Posted on March 11, 2016 by barczablog

The second of the New Creations concerts by the Toronto Symphony Wednesday at Roy Thomson Hall was a wildly diversified program as Festival curator Brett Dean put a collaborative work by two Canadians between works by two Australian composers. Each … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Architecture & Design, Cinema, video & DVDs, Music and musicology, Popular music & culture, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The history of film music = the history of film

Posted on March 9, 2016 by barczablog

A friend of mine asked me to suggest a way to begin studying film music, knowing that I teach a course at the Royal Conservatory called Cinematic Music: How We Hear Film.  The course begins later in March. As a … Continue reading →

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TSO – Fragile Absolute

Posted on March 6, 2016 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony’s three-concert New Creations Festival launched in impressive fashion tonight, a spectacular variety of styles on display in a programme with the title “Fragile Absolute”. Before the interval felt like personal testimony from the festival’s curator Brett Dean. … Continue reading →

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Opera as blood sport: the Hutcheons contra Regietheater

Posted on March 5, 2016 by barczablog

I raced at top speed, not from jungle to city but from one end of the U of T campus to the other after work, afraid I’d be late for the (lecture about) opera, somewhat like the hero of Werner … Continue reading →

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Questions for Stephanie Martin: Babel

Posted on March 2, 2016 by barczablog

Stephanie Martin is a composer & conductor, associate professor of music at York University. I heard about her because of a brief controversy that has already been settled, concerning her choral symphony Babel to be premiered at Wilfrid Laurier University … Continue reading →

Posted in Interviews, Music and musicology, Spirituality & Religion, University life | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

10 Questions for Kevin Lau

Posted on March 2, 2016 by barczablog

I first encountered composer Kevin Lau on the 2012 CD PREMIERES, where I said the following: Speaking of happy, I find myself more and more impressed by the work of the most junior contributor, namely Kevin Lau’s Joy. I found myself … Continue reading →

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Going Home Star: against Babel

Posted on February 29, 2016 by barczablog

I’ve been listening to Christos Hatzis’ score for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Going Home Star and by that I mean that it’s constantly playing in my car over the past week. I saw the ballet earlier this month, a creation … Continue reading →

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Questions for James Ledger: Anton Webern and John Lennon come together

Posted on February 28, 2016 by barczablog

When I go to James Ledger’s website his bio begins with “The orchestral music of James Ledger is well known to Australian concert-goers:” which sounds like an admonition to this Canadian, who doesn’t yet know his work. Ledger interests me as a … Continue reading →

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