Showing 1 - 5 of 5
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".
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.
Father and son, in perfect harmony
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 26/04/2016
» After five generations of Bachs and the father-son duo of Johann Strauss, the idea of musical families is hardly rare. But the team of Vladimir and Vovka Ashkenazy -- who will be appearing in Bangkok on May 14 -- is truly singular. After all, Vladimir is more than well known. He is one of the finest pianists living today, is a widely-acclaimed conductor and his life is the stuff of adventure movies. Vovka, the son of Vladimir and his Icelandic-born wife, is already gaining an international reputation as a pianist. And his transcriptions of classical music have been recorded and lauded on record and in the concert hall.
Dark, yet more romantic
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 17/02/2015
» It's encore time for Clara-Jumi Kang. When the formidable Korean violinist appeared here last year, playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, critic James Keller praised her "truly authoritative and highly sensitive musical command". This coming Saturday, Kang has changed her violin, modified her feelings and changed her music from the very proper early 19th century Mendelssohn to a rare highly romantic surprise written 50 years later.
A new Mozart?
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 16/10/2012
» When told he could be compared to a youthful Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an ordinary artist would modestly deny it. But Ji-yong, 21 and for a decade now one of the most interesting pianists of his generation, simply shrugged it off. Because he is anything but ordinary.