Category Archives: Reviews

Lucia meets Carrie

Posted on April 18, 2013 by barczablog

Tonight the Canadian Opera Company opened their new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, the dark tale of a bride forced to marry against her will who goes mad on her wedding night, killing her new husband.  This is not … Continue reading →

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Duo Concertante: Beethoven Violin Sonatas

Posted on April 17, 2013 by barczablog

When one thinks of Beethoven cycles, the mind immediately thinks of symphonies, piano sonatas and string quartets, forms in which we see the complete range of the composer’s voice.  The early ones remind us of Beethoven’s influences, such as Mozart … Continue reading →

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Eve Egoyan 5: reinventing the tone-row

Posted on April 15, 2013 by barczablog

Isn’t that life, in a way: trying to accommodate dissonance –Ann Southam In the realm of disco or heavy metal, we’re told to turn up the volume.  I saw something new, though, on the booklet for Eve Egoyan’s CD 5.  … Continue reading →

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Topher and “The French Connection”

Posted on April 9, 2013 by barczablog

I couldn’t help understanding Topher Mokrzewski’s concert today at the Richard Bradshaw Auditorium (the intimate concert space in the upper lobby of the Four Seasons Centre) as a goodbye.  As is usual, the introduction told us a bit of the … Continue reading →

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Adès Conversations

Posted on April 7, 2013 by barczablog

I am thinking a lot about the nature of criticism.  On a recent trip I sat on the airplane reading a fascinating book that’s called Conversations with Tom Service.  How fascinating could such a book be? Ah but it’s a … Continue reading →

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Coming of Age Stories

Posted on April 5, 2013 by barczablog

With the passage of time, people get older.  The battles that consumed them in their youth are set aside, as they seek stability and begin to contemplate their legacy.  In that gradual coming into focus, frivolity falls by the wayside … Continue reading →

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Philip Glass’s The Perfect American

Posted on March 31, 2013 by barczablog

Philip Glass’s new opera The Perfect American is still available for viewing, free on medici.tv.  The world premiere production was presented by Teatro Real in Madrid. As always I am willing to go the extra mile as a viewer and advocate … Continue reading →

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Matched set

Posted on March 28, 2013 by barczablog

It’s the most curious symmetry. Soup Can Theatre have paired Samuel Barber’s brief opera A Hand Of Bridge with Jean Paul Sartre’s play No Exit.  The opera is ten minutes, while the play is roughly one hundred minutes. Symmetry? But … Continue reading →

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Whose skin?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by barczablog

I just watched Written on Skin via youtube.  I won’t include the url, as this likely will only lead to its being taken down due to the traffic.  Anyone serious about seeing it, can go to youtube and search for … Continue reading →

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Esprit’s McPhee

Posted on March 26, 2013 by barczablog

I picked up Esprit Orchestra’s CBC recording of Colin McPhee in the lobby at one of their concerts earlier this year.  I’d reviewed their live performance in October of Tabuh-tabuhan (1936) a reading of such playful energy that there was no mistaking … Continue reading →

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