Lang Lang's hero... Liszt

SHOP Lang Lang

In celebration of his piano hero s bicentenary, Lang Lang has selected some of the most famous, virtuosic and poetic solo pieces, concluding with a stunning new recording of the Piano Concerto No. 1 - accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev. Lang Lang has had a special relationship with the composer following his very first encounter with his music at age two when he watched a Tom and Jerry cartoon featuring Liszt s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

Anne Sophie Mutter 35 years performing

To celebrate Anne-Sophie Mutter's 35 magnificent years on stage and her brilliant recording career, this extravagant limited edition box set is filled with her complete discography on Deutsche Grammophon plus 2 additional discs of previously unreleased material.



Also included is a 288-page hardcover book featuring essays by those who inspired Anne-Sophie, an exclusive interview with the icon, and over 150 photos chronicling her life in pictures – all housed in a beautifully designed case as colorful as her music.

Shirmer new publications and performances

Schirmer is pleased to represent a plentitude of pieces that will receive their premieres this fall. You can check out the world premiere of Shostakovich's Orango Prelude (yes, the world premiere) on the West Coast. Kirke Mecham’s The Rivals entertains audiences in Milwaukee while we New Yorkers can hear the New York Philharmonic breathe life into One Sweet Morning, the most recent work from the pen of the venerable John Corigliano. Click below to see a full list of premieres this fall.

Schirmer Fall Premieres

Slatkin-still-music-director-for-DSO

An interview with Leonard Slatkin in the Sunday Los Angeles Times incorrectly reported that he had "relinquished" his title as music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the conductor says.

Slatkin, a native of Los Angeles, is back in his hometown this week to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday and Thursday nights. He was profiled in the Los Angeles Times in conjunction with those concerts.

In setting forth Slatkin's series of misfortunes in recent years, from his heart attack in November 2009 to the fiasco of attempting to conduct Verdi's "La Traviata" at the Metropolitan Opera last year, the interviewer turned to the DSO's six-month strike last season.

Slatkin is then quoted as saying, "I turned back four weeks of my own salary and relinquished my title as music director, in addition to taking an overall 34-percent cut — in hopes that people would get the message."

Asked in an email whether he had in fact resigned as music director, Slatkin replied late Sunday night: "I never relinquished the title. I relinquished a portion of my music director fee, which is separate from the salary I draw as conductor. In addition I contribute a generous sum to the annual fund."



From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110823/ENT01/108230310/Don’t-believe-L.A.-Times--Slatkin-still-music-director-for-DSO#ixzz1VqzziDDs

Kathleen Battle birthday August 13

Kathleen Battle (born August 13, 1948), is an African American operatic soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid 1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into light lyric soprano and lyric coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s. Although she no longer appears in operas, Battle remains active in concert and recital performances.
Official Web Page |
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British Broadcaster: Classic FM founder dies

Michael Bukht studied history at King's College London and began a long and varied career in television and radio in 1963 as a BBC trainee where he worked on Mrs Dale's Diary and The World At One.

He left the BBC to work in South Africa and Jamaica but moved to Canterbury in 1985 where he became Managing Director of Invicta radio, a forerunner to Heart. He stayed in Kent for the rest of his life. Staff from the time say he had no tolerance for 'inane patter!'

Later, Michael joined the GWR group and in 1992 was one of the co-founders of Classic FM, he was awarded an OBE in 1996. Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.

History of Classic FM on Wikipedia


www.classicfm.co.uk/

Tradition shattered by Israeli orchestra

A precedence-shattering concert: an Israeli orchestra playing the music of Wagner a notoriously anti-Semitic composer at Germany's Bayreuth Festival, once one of Hitler's favorite destinations.

Like all of Richard Wagner's music, performances of his piece Siegfried Idyll, is unofficially — but effectively — banned in Israel.

It's not just that Wagner was an anti-Semite. He wrote a notorious essay called "Jewishness in Music." And after his death, Wagner's family was close to Adolf Hitler. Hitler often attended the annual Bayreuth Festival, which is devoted to Wagner's music.

Audio and Video at NPR.ORG | MORE LINKS

Simone Dinnerstein

Simone Dinnerstein (born September 18, 1972) is an American classical pianist who became celebrated, both critically and commercially, for her self-financed recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations, released in 2007.

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Simone Dinnerstein

Lord Harewood, Opera book editor dies

George Lascelles, the seventh Earl of Harewood, a member of the British royal family who was an internationally recognized writer on opera, died on July 11 at Harewood House, his family’s home near Leeds. He was 88. George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, KBE AM (7 February 1923 – 11 July 2011), styled The Hon. George Lascelles before 1929 and Viscount Lascelles between 1929 and 1947, was the elder son of the 6th Earl of Harewood (1882–1947), and Princess Mary, Princess Royal, the only daughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary. He had a younger brother, The Honourable Gerald Lascelles. Lord Harewood was the eldest nephew of King George VI and was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He succeeded to his father's earldom on 23 May 1947. A music enthusiast, Lord Harewood devoted most of his career to opera. He served as editor of Opera magazine from 1950 to 1953 and as director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1951 to 1953 and again from 1969 to 1972. He served as chairman of the board of the English National Opera (ENO) from 1986 to 1995; Managing Director of the ENO from 1972 to 1985; artistic director of the Edinburgh, Adelaide and Leeds Festivals; Managing Director of the ENO offshoot English National Opera North from 1978 to 1981. Lord Harewood served as a governor of the BBC from 1985 to 1987 and as the president of the British Board of Film Classification from 1985 to 1996. He was the author or editor of three books, Kobbé's Complete Opera Book (ed. 1954, now The New Kobbé's Opera Book, edited with Antony Peattie, latest ed. 1997), The Tongs and the Bones (an autobiography, 1981), and Kobbé's Illustrated Opera Book (ed. 1989).

Wikipedia | Search Amazon.com for Kobbé's Illustrated Opera Book

FREDERICK FENNELL

Frederick Fennell (July 2, 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio – December 7, 2004 in Siesta Key, Florida) was an internationally recognized conductor, and one of the primary figures in promoting the wind ensemble as a performing group. He was also influential as a band pedagogue, and greatly affected the field of music education in the USA and abroad. In Fennell's The New York Times obituary, colleague Jerry F. Junkin was quoted, saying "He was arguably the most famous band conductor since John Philip Sousa. Fennell recorded over 300 compositions on 29 albums for Mercury Records. For Mercury, Fennell recorded with the Eastman-Rochester "Pops", London "Pops" (actually the London Symphony Orchestra), and free-lance groups of New York musicians. However, best known are the twenty-two of these 29 Mercury albums that were with Fennell's own Eastman Wind Ensemble. One of these albums, Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger recorded in 1958, was selected by Stereo Review magazine as one of the 50 best recordings of the Centenary of the Phonograph 1877-1977. The two volume Civil War - Its Music and Its Sounds, recorded in December 1960, was a notable set of recordings also made with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, this time performing on original instruments. In 1961, Fennell received a citation and a medal from the Congressional Committee for the Centennial of the Civil War for these recordings. In 2003, the 1958 Mercury album Winds in Hi Fi was chosen by the National Recording Preservation Board for the National Recording Registry. Nearly all of Fennell's Mercury recordings were reissued on compact disc.

Wikipedia Bio |  Search Amazon.com for Frederick Fennell