Showing 1 - 9 of 9
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."
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".
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.
The music of James Bond
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 02/11/2017
» If you want to win a sure-fire bet, just ask any moviegoer, any fan of the James Bond films: "Who composed the theme that goes through every single James Bond movie? The one that goes dum di-di dum dum dum?
Summoning the masters by cello
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 31/08/2017
» The great cellist Pablo Casals gave the second-best description of the cello. "The cello," he said, "is like a beautiful woman who has not grown older but younger with time, more slender, more supple, more graceful." The greatest description of the cello contained no words at all, and this wordless description is what Bangkok will experience on Sept 2.
Invention meets perfection
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 13/02/2017
» The rare, the popular, the ancient, the modern.
Violin prodigy and the great Czech spirit
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 12/07/2016
» The entire concert of the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra on July 24 will be devoted to an interval of seven years and a single Central European country. But what emotional years they were! And what inspiration came out of what we now know as the Czech Republic.
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.
Playing up the pomp and circumstance
Life, Harry Rolnick, Published on 14/07/2015
» Anybody in Thailand got a good cello concerto for sale? If so, get it ready by next Tuesday. One of the world's greatest cellists is coming to Bangkok, and his reputation for playing original cello concertos is as celebrated as his performances.