Category Archives: Reviews

Remembering Frida and Diego

Posted on January 9, 2013 by barczablog

Better late than never, right? In October I had the pleasure of walking through the Art Gallery of Ontario exhibit Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting, displaying artwork and images associated with the lives of Diego Rivera & Frida … Continue reading →

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Not so Incidental Music

Posted on January 6, 2013 by barczablog

November 21st I posted a kind of preliminary review of Lydia Perović’s first novel Incidental Music: preliminary because at that time, I hadn’t finished reading it yet. Now that i’ve finished reading the book i have more to say. A … Continue reading →

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High-def Troyens

Posted on January 6, 2013 by barczablog

Seeing Les Troyens at the Met Monday night, Elizabeth Bishop replaced Susan Graham as Dido, which led me to wonder who’d be singing the role in today’s high-definition broadcast. Silly me.  While it’s possible Graham was unwell Monday, her performance … Continue reading →

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Jan 1st Troyens

Posted on January 4, 2013 by barczablog

Francesca Zambello’s production of Berlioz’s Les Troyens has returned to the Metropolitan Opera.  When it premiered a decade ago it was Deborah Voigt as Cassandra, Ben Heppner as Aeneas and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson as Dido, conducted by James Levine. A … Continue reading →

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Trojans: three or is it four?

Posted on January 3, 2013 by barczablog

To my knowledge there are three versions of Hector Berlioz’s epic Les Troyens on DVD. I obtained the first when it came out as a VHS tape.  It’s now available re-mastered, capturing several remarkable performances from 1983, the Metropolitan Opera … Continue reading →

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Gourmet Schnitzel House

Posted on December 28, 2012 by barczablog

My usual procedure is to write as soon as possible.  I try for a report that’s authentic in its immediacy, even as I sometimes admit ignorance on some matters.  Sometimes I may struggle a bit, but I never put myself … Continue reading →

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Tristan und Isolde –Glyndebourne 2007

Posted on December 27, 2012 by barczablog

As Toronto audiences gear up for a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde they could do worse than to watch a free video feed of the 2007 Glyndebourne production conducted by Jiří Bĕlohlávek (the man originally slated to conduct … Continue reading →

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Messianic

Posted on December 24, 2012 by barczablog

In one of the early essays “On German Music”, Richard Wagner said, comparing the French to the Germans, that Germans “are generally more prone to fall beneath a foreign influence than is good for the preservation of a certain self-dependence.”  … Continue reading →

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No costume necessary

Posted on December 20, 2012 by barczablog

Tonight I witnessed the first of Tafelmusik’s annual presentations of Händel’s Messiah at Koerner Hall, being presented nightly until the 22nd, followed by the annual singalong Messiah on the afternoon of the 23rd at Massey Hall. The four at Koerner … Continue reading →

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Beatrice Rana – Chopin and Scriabin

Posted on December 19, 2012 by barczablog

When you like a composition, chances are you’ll listen to a recording by a new unfamiliar artist whether or not you’ve heard any fanfare or PR.  And so, when I saw that Beatrice Rana’s debut recording with ATMA Classical was … Continue reading →

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