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Your result for "Alsop" from 01/01/2000 to 07/31/2010 in Reviews
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May 9, 2010 |
Mahler and the Bernstein Project
By: Peter Reed
She[Marin Alsop], the [Mahler 2]symphony and her vastly expanded forces were back to make the emphatic point that Mahler was central to Leonard Bernstein's musical world. This concert was one of the high point of the Southbank Centre's Bernstein Project...
...she had the measure of the effect Mahler was aiming for, especially in the way the retreats from the tragedy of the first movement come supplied with a veil of distant regret, in a reading that in general emphasised the music's heroism.
She handled another of the music's big pressure-points - where the third movement moves into unexplored territory before dissolving into the mystery of 'Ulright' - with a supreme understanding that this is the symphony's pivotal structural and spiritual moment.
The finale's wide-open spaces expanded with a precise and generous sense of deliberation - Alsop's control and vision were masterly here - but even this didn't prepare me for the incredible entry of the chorus, not only for the aural marvel of one of the plumpest pianissimos I have ever heard - a real wall of sound - but also for the visual spectacle of the colossal choir erupting from the front stalls, the annexes, the boxes either side of the auditorium, not to mention as part of the chorus conventionally placed behind the orchestra.
It was Mahler as sight-and-sound installation, a 500-strong chorus exalting us to reg resurrected. Grandiose and over-the-top, certainly; thrilling definitely. Bernstein would have loved it.
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April 23, 2010 |
Bernstein with Marin Alsop and Nicolas Hodges
Richard Fairman in the Financial Times
The symphony, almost more of a piano concerto, looks destined to linger on the fringes of the repertoire. Based on W.H. Auden’s long poem “The Age of Anxiety”, it is a rare example of philosophical narrative in music. Although the symphony is never boring – how could it be when Mahlerian angst rubs shoulders with jazz and ragtime? – this is music that never quite sticks in the mind. It is as if the composer who poured out hummable tunes in West Side Story had turned off the tap marked “Melody” because he wanted to sound serious. Still, Nicolas Hodges, the pianist, made the keys sparkle and Alsop proved there is life and colour in the orchestra to spare.
Marin Alsop conductor
Nicolas Hodges piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Ives The Unanswered Question
Bernstein Symphony 2 (Age of Anxiety)
Shostakovich Symphony 5
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January 17, 2010 |
Roy Harris, Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 performed by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop (Naxos). He was born on Lincoln’s birthday and he never seemed to tire of ways to embarrass symphonic music. At first, in the ’30s and earliest ’40s, a wildly idiosyncratic composer who had been a farmer and once drove a milk truck seemed made to order for Depression and wartime America. But here we are, 67 years later, with a very strong 1942 Symphony No. 5 dedicated to “the heroic and freedom-loving people of our great ally, the Union of Soviet Republics,” and we’re in just as much discomfort as he provided in old age with one cranky opinion after another (all of which paled, of course, compared with the semi-rabid anti-Semitism of Carl Ruggles). Roy Harris was far from a “primitive” as some explicators would have it; he was a great and distinctively athletic prairie composer who could inspire others (the contrastingly cosmopolitan William Schuman) but remain inimitable. Alsop’s current efforts to record Harris’ unjustly neglected symphonies are tremendous. ★★★½ (J. S.)
http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/925576.html
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December 17, 2009 |
Naxos of America Staff Picks of 2009: Part I
By Sean Hickey, Naxos of America National Sales Manager
I will admit that I was certainly never a fan of Lenny’s most controversial piece. I remember not making heads or tails of it in college, determining that it was slightly more interesting than Andrew Lloyd Webber. The amazing Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony have – to use an obvious pun – made me a convert of this moving piece, a quest for spirituality in the modern world.”
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September 14, 2009 |
Charles T. Downey
BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra opened its season with a black-tie gala concert on Saturday night, and it was heartening to see Meyerhoff Hall nearly full for a change, especially given the poor state of the economy.
Conductor Marin Alsop delivered the sort of program expected in these circumstances -- peppy, pretty and peppered with audience-pleasing fare. She gave homage once again to Leonard Bernstein with a raucous reading of the "Candide" overture.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/13/AR2009091302540.html
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September 8, 2009 |
Marin Alsop, internationally-acclaimed conductor and music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will receive an honorary degree from the University of Minnesota at the U of M School of Music Fall Convocation program at 10 a.m., Oct. 6 in Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 Fourth St. S., Minneapolis.
The convocation program will include a keynote address by Maestra Alsop on “Education and the Arts: Musicians as Engaged Leaders” and a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow” by the U of M Symphony Orchestra and Combined Choirs. The School of Music will host Alsop in residence on October 5-6, where she will talk with students and faculty.
The Doctor of Humane Letters is the highest award conferred by the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, recognizing individuals who have achieved acknowledged eminence in their field.
“Maestra Alsop has been invited to the university as the quintessential professional model of integrated artistry, publicly engaged musicianship and civic leadership in the world today," said School of Music director David Myers. "She is an artist-conductor who succeeds creatively across musical styles and genres, and is widely respected for her ability to relate to a wide range of audiences and constituencies. She is highly regarded for her mentorship to young musicians, universally recognized as a role model for contributing to the public good, and deeply valued as an articulate spokesperson for American music and the place of classical music in society.
"Ms. Alsop is the logical musician-leader to inspire faculty and students around public engagement, and to energize collaborative potential among the university and Twin Cities communities for nurturing attitudes of public value and service among musicians," said Myers.
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_128937.html
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