Category Archives: Reviews

Above the clouds

Posted on August 10, 2012 by barczablog

Last weekend John Terauds used the occasion of the Simcoe Day holiday to celebrate the quintessential Torontonian composer, Godfrey Ridout. It reminds me of a time long ago, when I took a course taught by two giants at the Faculty … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Carsen’s Tosca

Posted on July 31, 2012 by barczablog

Toronto is belatedly getting to know one of its own.  Opera Director Robert Carsen, who’s made a name for himself worldwide has only recently directed productions in Toronto. And how romantic is it that—as if to make up for lost … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Genius Within

Posted on July 27, 2012 by barczablog

After spending so much of the past few weeks thinking about virtuosity –both in my academic research and in the music I have been listening to—I was more than ready to see a documentary studying the quintessential Canadian musician, Glenn … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Faster, Higher, Stronger

Posted on July 26, 2012 by barczablog

Is it a competition?  To some extent. Both Richard Wagner & Claude Debussy used the metaphor of the circus acrobat to describe the virtuoso dynamic with an appreciative audience.  Whether we’re speaking of singers or instrumentalists, there is an implicit … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Clouds of laughter

Posted on July 20, 2012 by barczablog

Comedians love Conservative politicians like Harper & Ford.  They’re perfect for the purveyors of satire & political comedy.  And after the kind of week we’ve had in Scarborough I hope we can be forgiven for seeking out a good laugh, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Persée

Posted on July 17, 2012 by barczablog

On the weekend I sampled some French culture, visiting the francophone town of Lafontaine Ontario for their Festival du Loup¸ followed by a visit to the nearby town of Midland and the Shrine to 17th Century Jesuit Martyrs. Today I … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Goon

Posted on July 8, 2012 by barczablog

If you were to ask a Canadian to name the best hockey film, they’d have a fairly short list to work with.  Where baseball has generated a fairly long list of films, some sentimental, some colourful, portraying various aspects of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cinema, video & DVDs, Reviews, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Goodyear—Beethoven I

Posted on July 7, 2012 by barczablog

To begin the voyage through Stewart Goodyear’s set on Marquis of the complete Piano Sonatas of Beethoven, I took two CDs, and listened to each one multiple times.  While I seem to be jumping in at either end (CD #1 … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wakowski Bros

Posted on July 6, 2012 by barczablog

It’s July in Toronto, which means it’s time for the Fringe Festival, the grand-daddy of them all. Whether we’re talking about Summmerworks, Rhubarb, The Fringe, or one of the others (forgotten by my heat-addled brain) the premise is largely the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Summer

Posted on June 30, 2012 by barczablog

When did music begin to imitate its subject, begin to be ambitious about signifying?  Is Mozart’s gentle rococo tuba mirum (so understated compared to Verdi’s dies irae or Mahler’s resurrection in his 2nd Symphony) an attempt to show us what … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged , , | Leave a comment