MUSIC REVIEWS
Edo de Waart Offers Elgar with Breadth and Eschews Victorian Pomposity
Filling in for an ailing Sir Neville Marriner, the authoritative Dutch conductor Edo de Waart served up Mikhail Glinka and Edward Elgar with breadth and evident affection . . .
Read MoreCentennial Organ Gala Rocks Balboa Park
Civic Organist Carol Williams and her cohorts at the Spreckels Organ Society made Wednesday’s (Dec. 31) Spreckels Organ Centennial Concert a gala party, a fast-paced variety show that included whimsy, humor, flashy new compositions, brass, bagpipes, a 150-voice chorus, and a partridge in a pear tree . . .
Read MoreSanDiegoStory.com Writers Present Bravos and Boos For 2014
Judging from the reaction of SanDiegoStory.com’s team of reviewers, 2014 was a mixed year for the arts in San Diego. While there was plenty to savor, there was also plenty to criticize…
Read MorePro Arte Voices in Pacific Beach: Bold and Saucy
As San Diego’s annual December choral marathon entered its final days, Patrick Walders’ San Diego
Pro Arte Voices presented its seasonal offering in an evening of readings and carols on Saturday (December 20) at St. Andrews-by-the-Sea Church in Pacific Beach . . .
Bach Collegium San Diego’s Renaissance Christmas
Long before Baroque oratorio, ballet’s Sugar Plum Fairy and Rudolph defined our Christmas musical celebrations, the Christian Church cultivated an extensive choral tradition that probed the season’s profound mystery. Saturday (Dec. 13) at St. Brigid’s Church in Pacific Beach, Bach Collegium San Diego offered a resplendent concert of Gregorian chant and Renaissance motets for Advent and Christmas . . .
Read MoreDavid Bruce’s Mystical Violin Concerto
No matter how celebrated the composer, a commission is always a gamble. David Bruce’s “Night Parade”— the slightly jazzy, atmospheric tone poem he wrote for the San Diego Symphony’s Carnegie Hall debut and China tour last year—proved amiable, but it was no show-stopper. His new Violin Concerto “Fragile Light,” which Gil Shaham premiered under Music Director Jahja Ling and the San Diego Symphony Friday (Dec. 12), however, struck pay dirt . . .
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