Tag Archives: Franz Liszt

TSO Rite of Spring, making a statement

You know you’re at a special concert when you can’t identify the highlight, between pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s flashy reading of the Gershwin Concerto in F before intermission, or an overwhelming Rite of Spring filling Roy Thomson Hall with sound. As … Continue reading

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Competing icons at the RCM: Gould, Liszt and others

It’s a branding exercise to give a building a name. Roy Thomson has his hall. Both Rogers and Four Seasons have Centres. They already have The Glenn Gould School in the Royal Conservatory of Music. So why not also give … Continue reading

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The Music of Our Time: John Williams at 90

It can be awe-inspiring to look at a composer’s lifetime of work. We know that JS Bach composed over 1,000 pieces in his 65 years, while Mozart, who lived only 35 years, composed perhaps 600 pieces. Yet we only care … Continue reading

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Baudelaire Bicentennial

I must be brief. How does one speak of the bicentennial of a poet such as Charles Baudelaire, born two hundred years ago on April 9th in 1821? how to find the right words,…? Some know him for his poetry, … Continue reading

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Wohin: where do we go from here? now what?

As we come to the end of 2020, we may wonder. Where do we go from here? Now what? It’s in that spirit that I invoke a Schubert song, “Wohin” from his cycle Die Schöne Müllerin. First there was a … Continue reading

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Beethoven 250: 2020 vision

It’s an oxymoron of a year, this 2020 that is a little over two weeks from its conclusion. Social butterflies (those of us who self-identify as extroverts & are therefore energized by other people) have no choice but to go … Continue reading

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Leaning into the Unknowable @nationalballet

As I consider renewing my Canadian Opera Company subscription, it was worth having a look at the other company occupying the Four Seasons Centre. Watching the new program at the National Ballet of Canada was a great way to spend … Continue reading

Posted in Dance, theatre & musicals, Music and musicology, Opera, Personal ruminations & essays, Reviews, Spirituality & Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Lost Karaoke Tapes

I’m impressed. Nicole Lizée has more reason to be pompous & full of herself than any composer or performer I know. But she seems to be totally unpretentious. Exhibit “A”: the piece we saw & heard tonight is called “Karappo … Continue reading

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Lisztomania CD

Lisztomania? It was a Ken Russell film. And the name described an actual phenomenon, crazed admirers of the great pianist Franz Liszt aka Liszt Ferenc back in the 19th Century. And there’s a CD from Mikolaj Warszynski, capturing a live … Continue reading

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Not quite forgotten: Liszt’s Valses oubliées

The composer centennials & bicentennials may be artificial stimuli to research, but the effect is real. Knowing that everyone is suddenly focusing upon a particular period seems to inspire all sorts of interesting studies, conferences where people share their research … Continue reading

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