A welcome addition to the growing body of English-language Shostakovich studies, and a much-needed "apologia" for a cycle of works whose true greatness continues to elude too many music-lovers—and musicians—in the West.
1911 or 1947?
Elusive Nexus
Mommy, What's a Fortepiano?
Heard a beautiful recital last night at Queen Elizabeth Hall from Steven Isserlis and Robert Levin. It was the second installment of their weekend traversal of the Beethoven works for piano and cello. The playing, on the part of both these outstanding musicians, was superbly imaginative and always tasteful.
Good Shepherds
I’ve received so much feedback on my Blind Leaders of the Blind post, and everyone is asking, “Okay, so which editions are the best ones to use?” It’s impossible to give a definitive or universal answer, naturally. The main thing generally is to obtain an Urtext whenever possible. But here’s a quick list of what I’ve found to be truest, from Scarlatti to Prokofiev.
Blind Leaders of the Blind
One of the great boons of our modern age is the ever-increasing availability of editions—scholarly editions that attempt to present the composer's score in the way that he intended it, with any editorial additions (pun intended) clearly marked to avoid confusion. My generation was perhaps the first to be reared mostly on Henle, Barenreiter, Wiener Urtext, and other such worthies. But why is it taking so long for older, un-scholarly editions to be consigned to eternal perdition?
Ludwig the Great, RIP
Appropriately enough, it is composers’ birthdays that we remember and honour—27th January, 31st January, 21st March, 16th December. But once a year comes a death anniversary that I, for one, never fail to acknowledge, and it has come again today, on the 26th of March, 185 years after Ludwig van Beethoven died in his bed in Vienna.
Review: "'Eroica' without the hero worship"
Another review of last week's "Eroica" in Philadelphia.
“A performance of the Eroica can provide a stirring reminder that we’ve met horrendous challenges, generation after generation, and proved we can rise to the demands they impose on us. As a leading exponent of the Russian and German tradition that music is supposed to be a spiritual experience, Ignat Solzhenitsyn is the ideal conductor to lead such a performance. You could hear that commitment in every movement of the Eroica that he conducted on Sunday.”
Review: "Solzhenitsyn's return to the Chamber Orchestra offers a rich experience"
Philadelphia Inquirer review of my concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.
“Any longtime observer of Ignat Solzhenitsyn knows he has two distinct musical personalities depending on whether he’s conducting or at the keyboard. Seldom have the differences been so apparent in the same concert - making the conductor laureate’s return to the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia Monday at the Kimmel Center a richer-than-usual experience.”
Why I Love the "Eroica"
When attempting to concretize our visceral reactions to great music, we often start out by outlining the big picture—the novel concepts or structures that enthrall us. But an equally tantalizing component of those indescribable stirrings in our core is the “great moment”, a passage or bar or even one single note that haunts or pains or thrills. So, instead of a comprehensive declaration, today I’ll just enumerate a few places in the score that I wouldn’t trade for the entire empire of Napoleon (and, in honour of the that finally defeated the Emperor of Elba, I’ll limit myself to the first seven places that catch my eye in a sequential review of the score).