Tag Archives: shostakovich

The Italians and Schubert

About fifteen years ago, when I was engaged in writing a book about Shostakovich’s quartets, I interviewed one of the Emerson Quartet violinists, Eugene Drucker, about the intense impact those works had on the audience. “When we put a Shostakovich … Continue reading

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Igor Levit in San Francisco

For those of us in the Bay Area who care about classical music, the last two weeks have mainly been taken up with Igor Levit’s residency at the San Francisco Symphony. I wrote about this marvelous pianist last fall, after hearing him perform all … Continue reading

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Glorious Shostakovich

I think the Fourth Symphony—which Shostakovich wrote after being castigated by Stalin for his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and which as a result was pulled from its 1936 premiere and not performed until after Stalin’s death—might be my favorite of … Continue reading

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Three in a Row

New York is viewing itself as pretty much post-pandemic these days, and the result is that the full array of concert offerings is once more in place. Last week I benefited from this at an extraordinary level. First up, on … Continue reading

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Chamber Music

It is foolish to wade into the mild controversy currently surrounding the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, but I have never been afraid of appearing foolish. It kind of goes with the territory. The controversy, typical of our day and … Continue reading

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A Reopened Carnegie Hall

On Thursday night I took a friend to Carnegie Hall to hear Leonidas Kavakos and Yuja Wang play a concert of Bach, Busoni, and Shostakovich. My friend hadn’t heard live music in nearly two years, and she was utterly thrilled to be back … Continue reading

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Ballet in New York

In a kind of battle of the bands spanning Lincoln Center Plaza, the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre both had their spring seasons running at nearly the same time during the past few weeks. I attended four of these performances—two … Continue reading

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Russian Music

It’s not often you get to go to a chamber music concert of entirely unfamiliar pieces and have them all turn out to be good. But I had that experience last Saturday night at Music@Menlo’s “St. Petersburg” concert. The program even … Continue reading

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Carnegie Hall

Sometimes I think that my main reason for spending a lot of time in New York is Carnegie Hall. The city boasts many other attractions: great dance performances, occasional good theater, several opera companies (including some very good small ones), excellent … Continue reading

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Pacifica Shostakovich

When I’m in New York, good music is only a short subway ride away. But now that I’m back home in Berkeley, I have to range somewhat farther afield. Last night, my husband and I drove for well over an … Continue reading

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