Category Archives: Music and musicology

La bonne chanson @ RBA

Posted on January 21, 2016 by barczablog

Today’s noon-hour concert at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre was the first collaboration between the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio and the COC Orchestra Academy.  As I so often do I’ll begin with a preamble, one that corresponds to the gap … Continue reading →

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Amy’s Requiem, in the season of mourning

Posted on January 16, 2016 by barczablog

Ahead? the return of Bernard Labadie, who was sick and is getting better. Saturday he’ll conduct the first of the Mozart @ 260 concerts with the TSO, next week conducting their adventurous staging of the Mozart Requiem. Behind? A week … Continue reading →

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TSO Announcement: good days for Canadian composers

Posted on January 12, 2016 by barczablog

The official announcements are still to come.  It’s a great year, or will be a great year to be Canadian, as we celebrate 150 years of Confederation in 2017. Anticipation is a big part of the fun. On Wednesday the … Continue reading →

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The TSO 100, alongside the speedway 

Posted on January 9, 2016 by barczablog

Daytona Beach was the location for the latest instalment of the Toronto Symphony tour.  I heard them play at Peabody Auditorium, not far from the famous speedway that’s the site of the Daytona 500.  In speaking of the venue I … Continue reading →

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Orpheus in the underworld: Lisiecki’s romance

Posted on January 9, 2016 by barczablog

From the headline you might never guess that this is an analysis of musical performance.  Friday I had my second listen to Jan Lisiecki playing Beethoven’s 4th piano concerto with the Toronto Symphony conducted by Peter Oundjian. Listening to JL and … Continue reading →

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TSO: road to Miami

Posted on January 8, 2016 by barczablog

As I try to find a parallel to my experiences tonight, I’m thinking back to the hockey series I saw on TV in September 1972 (when Canada defeated the Soviets). It’s not hockey but music, and the only Russian involved … Continue reading →

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Questions for Brahm Goldhamer: playing Schubert

Posted on January 2, 2016 by barczablog

I know Brahm Goldhamer as a collaborative pianist of exceptional sensitivity. Of all the Toronto pianists I’ve heard in the concert-opera mode—where piano must stand in for all the instruments of the orchestra—his performance in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in … Continue reading →

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10 Questions for Chris Walroth

Posted on December 30, 2015 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony’s new year begins on tour in Florida. It’s tough enough when a hundred well-rehearsed players take the stage at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, where we all presumably eat & sleep; quite another to undertake playing Beethoven … Continue reading →

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Pollyanna looks back at 2015

Posted on December 28, 2015 by barczablog

The year isn’t quite over yet, but already we’re looking back at 2015 as 2016 draws closer.   When we remember Pollyanna’s credo –“if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”—no wonder we look back.  As the dollar … Continue reading →

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Toronto Symphony goes to Florida

Posted on December 23, 2015 by barczablog

It’s a story with many players, and not just those who play musical instruments. If it were the first time it would be more dramatic. But by now it seems that they’ve figured out how to do it, after many … Continue reading →

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