Los Angeles Guitar Quartet – Classically Groovy in CDs
Late note: Helios Quartet to perform at Sundays Live this Sunday, Aug. 1. Details at end of review. BP
REVIEW…
I have always been a purist about my CDs—only hearing one album at a time. But, a friend of mine insisted that I would enjoy a multiple disc player to hear various tracks of changing musical styles. [...]
Gloria, Gloria, Hallelujah, Bowl Fireworks Sparkle at Classical series
REVIEW
Deborah Borda, President of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, gave a heartwarming tribute to recently deceased Ernest Fleischmann who served as Executive Director of the LA Phil organization from 1969-1997 after which the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the performing group for the opening of the Classical series at the Hollywood Bowl, performed “Lacrymosa” from Mozart’s [...]
Good-sized Crowd Greeted Cal Phil’s First Summer Concert
REVIEW…
A good-sized audience turned out for the opening concert of the California Philharmonic Orchestra’s 15th year to hear “America the Beautiful” as a pre-July 4 tribute in a highly entertaining program chocked full of a variety of musical forms. Everything on the program had an American platform, including, as Cal Phil’s conductor, Victor Vener explained, [...]
Pasadena POPS Opener Something for Everybody
REVIEW…
The new band shell erected by the Pasadena Symphony and and POPS for its new location for 2010 POPS Summer Series creates a great backstop to an otherwise dreary location, Lot H, outside Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. The tables with white linens turned the grass area into a festive party-like atmosphere for the estimated 2000+ that [...]
Music Fulfills the Beauty of Sitka, Alaska
REVIEW…
Sitka, Alaska is a special place. Surrounded by soaring mountain peaks and heavy forestation, the town of some 8,000 braces itself for the daily onslaught of cruise ship passengers that can add as many as 3,000 people to the small town during the summer and fall months—sort of like Catalina Island. But, after they depart, [...]
Bach’s Music Explored in DVD “Bach and Friends”
REVIEW…
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote hundreds of works of music in every idiom, for just about all the instruments of his day, and in fact he could—and did, perform on all of them. His first job was as a violinist. These are factoids revealed in an appealing documentary on the life of Bach that explores the [...]
Young Cellist in Top 10 with Bach Cello Suites CD
RECORD REVIEW
It’s hard to believe that a relatively unknown younger cellist could zoom to #3 on the respected Nielson Soundscan/Billboard list of classical genre CDs, but there it is, his latest release on the Telarc label, a two-disc CD “Zuill Bailey Bach Cello Suites”. Zuill (pronounced “zool”) Bailey comes out of nowhere—ok, not out of [...]
Theater Organ with all the whistles and bells on DVD/CD
REVIEW…
Cameron Carpenter is surely the bad boy of American organists based on his dress, behavior,
and yes, even his artistry as observed and heard on a new combo DVD and CD Telarc is releasing next week.
For starters, the album, Cameron Live!, carries two front covers both designed by Carpenter—of himself, by himself and for himself. Inside [...]
Crown City Chorus sings well, has fun
REVIEW…
The Pasadena Crown City Chorus has accomplished one of its main missions: to get a group of men together for fellowship, to sing and to have fun. The Chorus of 50 men under the direction of its capable conductor, John Minsker, and four special quartets presented an afternoon of entertaining songs at a generously attended [...]
Cultural Exchange Between Vietnam and US Yields Challenging Music
REVIEW…
Artistic Director of Southwest Chamber Music, Jeff von der Schmidt knows a challenge when he sees it.
“I’ve guided Southwest Chamber Music for 23 years toward just this type of project,” von der Schmidt says when discussing the first-of-a-kind exchange in the fractious relationship between Vietnam and the United States.
” ‘Ascending Dragon Music Festival and Cultural [...]
