Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Variations for Valentines
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 23/01/2019
» Not slushy or sloppy or kissy-kissy, but three faces of real love will be presented by the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra for St Valentine's month offering at the Thailand Cultural Centre on Feb 8. The first face is the tragedy of love, the second face is the love of beauty, and the third is one of the most emotional offerings of love to humanity in general.
For whom the Bell bows
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 06/08/2018
» When Joshua Bell plays a single work with an orchestra, tickets anywhere in the world are sold out within minutes. However, Bell, one of the leading lights in fiddle-playing, won't be playing a mere single piece with the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra on Sept 4.
150 years of Rossini
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 19/06/2018
» 'Opera would be absolutely perfect," said Giachino Rossini one day while cooking a gourmet meal in his Paris mansion. "If only we could get rid of those damned singers."
Brahms brought to Bangkok
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 21/05/2018
» Two favourite artists of Bangkok audiences are taking on two mighty works from the late Romantic era at the end of May. Mayuko Kamio will perform Brahms Violin Concerto with her 1731 "Rubenoff" Stradivarius, while Michael Tilkin, with a mere stick in his left hand, will perform Jan Sibelius's Second Symphony.
Taiwanese pianist Weiyin Chen returns to play with RBSO
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 03/04/2018
» Few names in classical music are as dreaded and venerated as New York Times reviewer Anthony Tommasini. The lanky writer, expressionless, tieless, inevitably seated on the aisle in Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center, gives little indication of his thoughts during a performance. But within 24 hours, his printed judgements will have reached millions. And like a Roman Emperor signalling "up" or "down" to a gladiator, his opinions to a young artist can mean professional life or death.
Bangkok to hear Bartók's Viola Concerto
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 13/03/2018
» So many jokes have been written about the viola that it really should be pitied. Without a look of its own (the viola resembles an overweight violin), without its own sound quality (it shares three-quarter of the violin notes, three-quarter of the cello notes), stuck behind the violins in the orchestra, the poor viola is hardly singular. In fact, when Hector Berlioz wrote solo viola into the Harold In Italy symphony, Paganini refused to play it. And the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, noting how the viola shared the looks and music of other stringed instruments, called the instrument "the hermaphrodite of the orchestra".
A mix of musical temperaments
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 20/02/2018
» The three composers for the next Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, on Feb 28, could not be more dissimilar personally — or more alike historically.
Tremendous trombone
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 30/01/2018
» 'Never look directly at a trombone player," said the great composer Richard Strauss. "It only encourages them." Then again, the German composer was hardly being honest about an instrument which Felix Mendelssohn called "the most sacred and noble instrument in the orchestra".
'The Great American Songbook' in Bangkok
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 25/01/2018
» Never, ever call American popular melodies mere light music.
Valentina Lisitsa's outspoken words, outgoing music
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 12/12/2017
» Wonderful news for music lovers who hate Tchaikovsky symphonies. On Friday, the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra (RBSO) will be performing a Tchaikovsky symphony.