Word: concertos
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...From Holland with Love. Poised just below the chart was his newest release, Strauss Gala. This impressive lineup has made Rieu, at least for the moment, one of the hottest acts in classical music--rivaling Luciano Pavarotti, Kathleen Battle, even David Helfgott, whose recording of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto returned to the top spot, ending the Dutchman's two-week stay in that position. Yet Rieu has never played a note in the U.S., and his albums have gone unreviewed by critics. He is the superstar nobody knows...
After hearing a piece played by scores of soloists from myriad eras and traditions, it's rare that a performer can tell you something new. But so it was with Christian Zacharias, whose performance of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto highlighted an otherwise lackluster afternoon at Tanglewood Sunday. Zacharias gave such a spirited reading of the concerto's finale that the audience rose almost immediately with the last chord...
...choice of Baroque music for "Laura's theme" was still more questionable; something simpler, more ethereal, and more delicate, like the fragile glass animals, would seem to be in order rather than the elaborate ornamentation of a Bach violin concerto. The lighting, on the other hand, was fairly standard, shifting from an initial dimness to "candlelight" in the crucial Laura-Jim scene, to complete darkness as Laura blows the candle out. A wise choice if not a particularly exciting one: conventionality doesn't detract from its emotional effectiveness...
...undisclosed causes; in Angelholm, Sweden. From his smart, sensitive Raven's End (1963) to the Lolita-in-reverse All Things Fair (1995), Widerberg sympathized with kids who valiantly and vainly fought the system. His 1967 hit Elvira Madigan, a lusciously limned story of love on the run, put Piano Concerto No. 21 on the charts. Mozart never sounded so sexy as when he underscored the doomed nuzzling of Pia Degermark and Thommy Berggren...
...dramatic and entertaining, in no way detracted from his musical and technical mastery. The piece climaxed as several young flutists and drummers from local music and high schools marched through the hall to join Galway on stage. Galway then took up a tin whistle and led them out. The concerto ended in complete darkness. This piece could have been an utter disaster, but it succeeded thanks to Galway's charisma and stage presence...