Word: concertos
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Best performance by a soloist with orchestra-Artur Rubinstein playing Beethoven's Concerto No. 4 with the Boston Symphony, Erich Leinsdorf conducting (RCA Victor...
...showed off two supreme musicians Friday night: flutist Karen Monson '66, and pianist Ursula Oppens '65. They are quite a pair. Both won the concerto contest in their freshman years. Both spent three or four years becoming legends among Harvard concertgoers. Both face futures of great promise as professional performers. Both are very exciting musicians...
Unfortunately, Vivaldi's second flute concerto was not the best vehicle to fully exhibit Miss Monson's brilliance. The solo part is too constraining; the tutti parts are too dominating. She was simply not able to shine the way she can when given the opportunity. This concerto is frequently referred to as one of Vivaldi's "xeroxed concertos"--those he cranked out for his orchestra of girl orphans. Of course, with Vivaldi even a "xeroxed concerto" is a gem; and, given their masterly soloist, the HRO might have made something of this one--if only the strings and the harpsichord...
...usual with the HRO, the second half of the performance was much better than the first. Ursula Oppens is really incredible. Despite an orchestra accompaniment that--well, about which it is perhaps kindest to say nothing--she made the performance of Brahm's first piano concerto a singularly exciting experience. She managed the big octave crescendos in the first movement without any of the woodenness of tone that frequently accompanies dynamics of that magnitude. She handled the rapid accompanying passages with facility and grace. She may have flubbed a few chords, but her communication of the pounding rhythms and building...
...Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra performs at 8:30 tonight in Sanders Theatre. The program will consist of Vivaldi's "Concerto for Flute and Strings," Karen Monson, soloist; Webern's "Symphony Opus 21," William Conable, guest conductor; Brahm's "Piano Concerto #1," Ursula Oppens...