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Month: December 2023

GOING TO BAT FOR BARTOK  

GOING TO BAT FOR BARTOK  

What were the outstanding orchestral works reacting with eloquence to tragedy or major losses of life in the 20thcentury? Berkeley composer John Adams cited several of them in writing for New Yorker magazine (dated Dec. 11), pieces written by Shostakovich, Schoenberg, Britten and Richard Strauss, in reaction to massive losses of life in world wars. He also emphasized his own turning down a commission to write a 9/11 piece, saying it was too immediate for New York City itself, with…

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THE CHRIST CHILD, WITH LATINO PERSPECTIVES

THE CHRIST CHILD, WITH LATINO PERSPECTIVES

STANFORD, CA—A touring concert version of John Adams’ Christmas oratorio showed both strengths and weaknesses as presented here by AMOC, alias the Julia-Christian show. The touring version, “El Niño: Nativity Reconsidered” had to be streamlined, deleting the original film supplement to “El Niño,” along with some of its impact portraying the plight of today’s migrating Latinos as seen through the lens of the Bible. It is a close-to-the-vest neoclassical piece crying out loudly for a choral component. Adams’ closest “relative”…

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CHORUS: DOZENS UPON DOZENS

CHORUS: DOZENS UPON DOZENS

MILL VALLEY, CA—Singing on pitch with no instrumental guidance is the trademark of the all-male Chanticleer ensemble, back home in Northern California for some dozen holiday concerts by these dozen male virtuosos of the ever-changing “Chanticleer Christmas” program. The wondrous group is offering holiday pieces written at the time of Columbus’ journeys right up to living composers and modern spirituals, spanning at least seven nations and three languages. The very breadth of the repertory changing every year is mind-boggling. The…

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HYBRIDIZING ‘DIDO AND AENEAS’

HYBRIDIZING ‘DIDO AND AENEAS’

SAN FRANCISCO—The imposing early English opera “Dido and Aneas” by Purcell came to us with an incomplete score for string orchestra. In an important U.S. premiere, the latest completion comes to us via Errollyn Wallen’s “Dido’s Ghost,” unveiled by Philharmonia Baroque at the Herbst Theatre in a semi-staged version. It turns a torso into an engrossing masque-opera of great vitality running nearly two hours in length, assuming you can follow the complex interweave of characters. Purcell’s 17th-century drama, based on…

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