Stank Face: San Diego Symphony Gets Nasty
As the final sonority of the brass lingered in the air of the hall, I felt as if in some way we had become a better people. I felt as though all of us had received an opportunity to exceed …
Concerts This Weekend
There are concerts again this weekend and good ones at that. The San Diego Symphony is presenting both sides of the Romantic War we discussed earlier. Representing Leipzig is Schumann's Piano Concerto and Brahms' Symphony No. 3. On the Weimar …
Moby Dick
Music rehearsals for Moby Dick started last night for San Diego Opera. Usually it's not too difficult for me to hate contemporary "classical" music but in this case I have a tall order. To the contrary, I think I'm in …
Fraudulent Perversion
In a previous post I said that Mario Lanza was the Andrea Bocelli of his day. I must emphasize that Lanza was an infinitely better singer than Bocelli. Mario Lanza could have been a legitimate opera star whereas Bocelli's opera …
50 Megaton Voice
How could I forget about George London? I was absently listening to the last act of Wagner's Die Walküre the other day and thought to myself, "Good Lord, this Wotan is off the charts". A quick check, it was George …
Sex, Drugs, and Waltz
New Year's Eve 1939 was not the first time the Viennese found solace in the waltz. When the waltz was at it's peak, Austria also had tremendous worries. The Prussians had defeated the Austrian forces at The Battle of Königgrätz …
Viennese New Year
Hurry up! Today is the first day to register for the lottery to buy tickets to next year's Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert. Tickets cost between 25 and 940 Euro -- plus airfare and accommodations. According to http://www.wienerphilharmoniker.at, these concerts …
Back to Nature
From what I can see, there aren't any concerts this weekend or next. This gives us time to explore some topics and go a little deeper with them. First up, the major triad that opens Wagner's Das Rheingold. The horns …
Silent Night with Soccer
If there be any doubt of the power of music, consider the Christmas Truce of 1914. After rushing to war in a spirit of carnival, the armies of World War I found themselves in a world of misery. The war …
Christmas Eve Music
A Christmas Eve playlist. O Holy Night (Cantique de Noel) by Adolphe Adam has become a Christmas Eve standard. Initially it was resisted by French clergy because the political views of the lyricist, Placide Cappeau, were too liberal. Cappeau wanted …
Universal Baby
One-time Escondido resident Benjamin Britten wrote a beautiful piece of Christmas music during his sea voyage back to England in 1942. The music was Britten's Ceremony of Carols. The piece is written for three-part treble choir and harp. Treble choir …
9 Beet Stretch
9 Beet Stretch. My friend asked if I'd heard of it after the Symphony concert of Beethoven's Ninth. I hadn't. He explained that it is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony stretched out over a 24 hour period with no pitch distortion. He …
Best Choir in San Diego
Musica Vitale could make an argument for being the best choir in San Diego County. They've been singing quality concerts since 2006 but not too many people have heard of them. I went to their concert at All Souls' Episcopal …
A Symphony Is No Joke
With Beethoven's Ninth behind us at the San Diego Symphony, what's next? Brahms's First Symphony at the La Jolla Symphony. Granted, the Brahms isn't until February, but it's a happy coincidence. Brahms worked on his First Symphony for at least …
I Just Can't Get Enough
My break up with Handel's Messiah lasted all of a week. I found myself at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, in Carlsbad, participating in the La Jolla Symphony's annual sing along. That Messiah is tough to give up. It's always there, …
San Diego Symphony: Choppy Beethoven
Conductor John Nelson has an impressive resume. He's conducted four of the "big five" American orchestras. He's conducted at The Met and Lyric Opera of Chicago and has worked at several major houses in Europe. He also won a Grammy …
Beethoven 9th: Bigger than Christmas
Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is going off at Symphony Hall this weekend. If Christmas is about peace on Earth and good will to all then Beethoven's setting of Schiller's poem fits well. "Embrace each other now, you millions! This kiss is …
Funeral March
Here is a bit of classical trivia to add some balance to the festive season. If you don't already know who wrote The Funeral March, you'll never guess. Beethoven? No. Brahms? No. Liszt? No Mahler, Schumann, Mendelssohn? No. Andrew Lloyd …
Messiah Breakup
On Sunday I caught two Christmas concerts. The first was, you guessed it, The Messiah at Point Loma Nazarene University and the second was two Bach pieces at First United Methodist in Mission Valley. The Point Loma Messiah was largely …
Handel's Messiah Has Balls (3 of 3)
The first performance of The Messiah was on April 13, 1742 in Dublin, Ireland. It almost wasn't performed because Handel's music was considered to be "profane and subversive". Jonathan Swift, of Gulliver's Travels and Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, didn't …