The choral rehearsal begins like any other: singers gather, and their excited, friendly chatter gradually settles down as the director guides the singers through breathing, stretching, and vocal warm-ups. The focus and the concentration grow as the women pay attention to balance and blend, tuning and tempos. The rehearsal space contains nearly 50 women, swaying […]
David Raymond
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CLASSICAL | ‘Wunderhorn’
As Mahlerians know, a Wunderhorn is a Magic Horn, and that charmed instrument, as performed by RPO Principal Wunderhorn W. Peter Kurau, takes center stage at the final Society for Chamber Music concert of the season. No Mahler is included, but you will hear trios including the horn by two German Romantic-era composers whose paths […]
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CLASSICAL/KIDS | ‘Beethoven Lives Upstairs’
“Beethoven Lives Upstairs” takes a familiar situation — a family is short of money and takes in a boarder — and gives it a musical twist: the new boarder happens to be a great composer, with a bad temper and worse hair. Herr Beethoven is a noisy, irascible tenant, but he eventually proves to be, […]
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Publick Musick explores Mozart’s string quintets
What a difference an instrument can make, if you’re Mozart. He wrote chamber music of all kinds, from violin sonatas to wind serenades, but it’s often conceded that Mozart was at his best when simply adding a second viola (his favorite string instrument) to the customary string quartet: pride of place in his chamber-music output […]
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CLASSICAL | ‘Baroque and Blues’
Last spring’s Society for Chamber Music in Rochester concert combining Bach and jazz was a hit, and the Society’s final concert of this season is a welcome encore, this time titled “Baroque and Blues.” The “baroque” will include arrangements of sonatas and inventions by Vivaldi, Bach, and Frescobaldi. Last year the jazz came from the […]
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CLASSICAL | ‘Mozart String Quintets’
Publick Musick winds up its season this weekend by performing two Mozart string quintets: One in C Major and the other in E-flat Major. It sounds like a modest program, but it’s not. These are two of Mozart’s greatest masterpieces for chamber ensemble, meaning two of his greatest works, period — meaning two of anybody’s […]
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CLASSICAL | ‘Fanfare and Filigree’
The 1720’s were a significant decade in Western music — the decade included the premieres of such mighty masterworks as Bach’s “Saint Matthew” and “Saint John” Passions and Handel’s “Julius Caesar.” Composers of the era also produced volumes and volumes of less ambitious but still delightful music, whose attractions are summed up in the title […]
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VOCAL | ‘Cathedral Classics’
If your favorite sound is that of a large chorus singing in a cathedral-like space, Rochester Oratorio Society has the concert for you this Friday at the grand surroundings of Asbury First United Methodist Church. The group’s 100 voices, led by Eric Townell, will join in Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem (with soloists Eric Kesler, baritone, and […]
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Classical review: Pegasus’s ‘Bach & Bach’
In the Baroque period, different countries had different musical traits associated with them. In a quick-and-dirty overview: Italian music was vocally oriented and virtuosic; German music was “learned” (heavy on the counterpoint); and French music was, well, French: generally light textured, highly ornamented, more concerned with the intimate than the transcendental. (This is a very […]
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CLASSICAL | ‘Bach & Bach’
Cellist Beiliang Zhu is a rising star in the early-music world: She won first prize at the 2012 International Bach Competition, the first string player to win for performing on a baroque instrument. This Sunday, Pegasus Early Music will feature Zhu on cello and on its ancestor, the viola da gamba, in examples from the twin […]
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CLASSICAL | ‘Scordatura Violin’
If you’re a violinist, sometimes a composer wants you to play out of tune — or more precisely, to deliberately retune your strings. “Scordatura,” as this technique is called, is generally done to increase the tone color and expressive range of the instrument, adding low or high notes beyond its normal compass. Scordatura has been […]
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Classical review: SCMR’s ‘A Couple of Couples’
The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester is always a source of imaginative and engaging programming. Its most recent concert, which took place Sunday afternoon, brought together two musical marriages: violinist Robin Scott of the Ying Quartet and cellist Ahrim Kim (principal cello of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra); and cellist Keiko Ying of Roberts Wesleyan […]
