Gathering Note

Notes from the concert hall

Tag: Mozart

  • Honeck offers a living, breathing setting for Mozart’s Requiem

    Classical music’s great monuments often arrive in the concert hall trailing long histories behind them, along with layers of interpretation and expectations that no performance can meet. Mozart’s Requiem is undoubtedly one of those works. It gathers together some of the composer’s most stirring music and binds it with a spiritual character weighted by lore…

  • Originally published on Seen and Heard International Chicago’s classical music scene is undeniably shaped by the towering presence of the Lyric Opera and the Chicago Symphony, institutions that draw crowds with their scale and prestige. Against this backdrop, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s series at the Harris Theater stands out as a quieter,…

  • Originally published on Seen and Heard International I have heard the Seattle Symphony perform Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring countless times. This includes at least one performance each under the baton of its  permanent music directors over the past two decades—from Gerard Schwarz’s unrelenting drive to Ludovic Morlot’s textural brilliance and Thomas Dausgaard’s focus on…

  • Originally published on Seen and Heard International Gods and mythology long influenced music, especially during the Baroque and Classical periods. This era saw a cultural shift, drawing greater and greater inspiration from pre-Christian societies. The larger-than-life characters of mythology offered spectacle and theatricality, especially for Baroque opera. They provided dramatic material for the genre, fueling…