UCSD Stuart Collection: sculptures and buildings that may be tricky to find
This walk is a treasure hunt for unusual works of art by leading artists.
The Canyoneers 8 a.m., Nov. 13
Classical Music
The little-known Verdi, Wagner, Haydn music
When they composed out of genre
Sometimes a composer becomes so well known for a particular genre of music that other pieces go unrecognized. The following are three examples of composers who are famous for one thing but who composed other ...
San Diego, get ready for Beethoven
San Diego Symphony will perform Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9
Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, in the Electorate of Cologne, in present-day Germany. At the time, Bonn was the seat of the Electorate since Cologne had become a Free Imperial City ...
Stormy end to Mainly Mozart
Waiting since Amadeus for this
The sun was setting in Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 out beyond the reaches of the Vienna Woods, which extend to the north and southwest of the “city of music”. The final glow of the music disappeared ...
Mainly Mozart released Beethoven from his terrestrial confines
Vision of the Enlightenment
There are stellar performances and then there are revelations. The San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival can be counted on to provide at least one revelation per festival. So far in 2019, there have been at ...
June 8's Mainly Mozart: Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn
Jeremy Denk was quick but did not hurry
On Saturday, June 8, The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra exploded into the Balboa Theatre with a performance of Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music, thereby opening their five-concert series with music director Michael Francis. Full disclosure: I ...
What about the LA PHIL's audience for new music?
Brahms is no longer for the middle class
There was a new piece of music at the closing concert of the Jacobs Masterworks Series at the San Diego Symphony. I didn’t review it because, in my opinion, it wasn’t worth reviewing. I spent ...
San Diego Symphony's Rachmaninoff: the heavens opened
Final movement of Beethoven's Eighth needs speed
The San Diego Symphony concluded its Jacobs Masterworks Series with a weekend of Rachmaninoff and Beethoven. I attended the Saturday, May 25 concert. This was the third time I’d heard the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. ...
Garrett Harris goes crazy for Mainly Mozart
Platonic plane of pure potential
As an employee of the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival, I’m not allowed to be as exuberant about the festival in these pages as I once was. It might appear as if I’m a propagandist ...
Where four-handed piano music led to
Very few U.S. orchestras in U.S. until 1966
On April 27 and 28 the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival presented a concert of, Two Pianos, Eight Hands. The format harkened back to the golden of age of the piano. Before the invention of ...
Berlioz almost upstaged Saint-Saens
San Diego's Symphony Hall shaken to its foundations
I’ve been waiting for Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony at The San Diego Symphony ever since it was announced last spring. The day came, Friday, May 3, and Saint-Saëns was darn near upstaged by a plucky ...
Notre Dame – more modern than you think
It's not just the polyphony
The fire which consumed the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has been out for a few weeks now. What many of us may not have realized at the time is the Notre Dame ...
SD Symphony musicians slower than conductor Jahja Ling
Jan Lisiecki piano in Chopin’s concerto could have stood alone
The San Diego Symphony concert on Friday, April 12 felt slow and unsettled. I was surprised. In years gone by, the combination of conductor Jahja Ling, the San Diego Symphony, and Johannes Brahms, has been ...
Classical music not for dummies
Neither is physics
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” – George Carlin. I came across this quote recently and came to an uncomfortable realization. I only say ...
Guilty pleasures: 1812 Overture, Messiah, Ave Maria
My go-to Christmas selection is now Vaughan Williams’ Hodie
What’s your classical music “guilty pleasure”? This is a question all classical music devotees must answer at some point. Let’s define what a “guilty pleasure” is. A guilty pleasure has little artistic merit but has ...
San Diego Symphony: rambunctious list for next season
Lotsa Beethoven, but why not Dvorak 7 or 9?
The San Diego Symphony has announced its 2019-2020 season and it is a rambunctious list of symphonic music. For the past few seasons, I’ve felt as though the San Diego Symphony has been getting away ...
