MUSIC REVIEWS
Elegant Nostalgia from a True Diva
The obituary for the solo vocal recital has been written so frequently it is a wonder that singers still attempt to present it. This fall, San Diego Opera has demonstrated how to make this supposedly moribund format come to life, and Friday (Dec. 12) mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe entranced her ample audience at the Balboa Theatre . . .
Read MoreVivaldi Upstaged by C.P.E. Bach in the Barrio
When the month of December rolls around, I am eager for almost any program that is NOT “Messiah,” “Nutcracker” or Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” So when the San Diego chamber music collective Camarada announced they were playing an all-Vivaldi program without a single movement from “The Four Seasons” I was eager to hear it . . .
Read MoreSan Diego Master Chorale & Jahja Ling Celebrate Haydn
During Jahja Ling’s tenure as San Diego Symphony Music Director, we have come to expect a major choral work in December such as Handel’s “Messiah” and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Happily, the maestro ignored that stale tradition and with the San Diego Master Chorale offered Haydn’s magnificent “Mass in Time of War,” also known by its German name “Paukenmesse” . . .
Read MorePrecious and Provocative Chamber Music by Art of Elan
Art of Élan offered Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s clever 2011 “Entracte” for string quartet and a raft of mellifluous French chamber music to their Tuesday (November 25) program at the San Diego Museum of Art . . .
Read MoreSymphony’s Mahler Seventh a Work in Progress
In his ten years at the helm of the San Diego Symphony, maestro Jahja Ling has been a Mahler proponent, and on Saturday (November 22) at the Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Hall, Ling offered Mahler’s mighty Symphony No. 7 in E Minor. . .
Read MoreLortie’s Elegance Headlines Symphony Program
The pianist Louis Lortie headlined this week’s Jacobs Masterworks concert by the San Diego Symphony in more ways than one. Mr. Lortie not only provided the marquee performance but the work in which he was featured turned out to be the most interesting of the three on the program…
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