This is the third year I’ve been tracking what movies and TV shows I’m watching and there has been a serious shift in my entertainment consumption from movies towards TV shows. I went down from watching 75 movies in 2017 to 49 movies in 2018 and to only 8 of them in 2019. The exact opposite happened when it comes to TV shows, starting from only 7 in 2017, to 12 in 2018, to a record high of 29 titles in 2019 (including miniseries).… Read more
Discovery Music | CBW 30
3. Symphony in G major, op. 11 no. 1 by Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
This week includes only works by composers I’ve never heard of before, and we’re starting it with Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, an 18th century mixed-race, out of wedlock classical composer from the French colony of Guadalupe who was the conductor of the symphony orchestra in Paris.… Read more
Mozart Requiem | CBW 29
2. Nocturne by Dobrinka Tabakova
A soothing beautiful nocturne.
IDAGIO and Amazon: Nocturne by Dobrinka Tabakova || Andrew Matthews-Owen (Piano)
1. Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
In 1791, Mozart was penniless, in poor health, out of fashion, and believed he had been poisoned and was on the verge of death.… Read more
A wrap up || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal
This year the festival had a much greater focus on opera repertoire, and I tried to take advantage of this as much as possible. Out of all the shows I went to, seven of them were operas in concert. Of the ten performances I’ve seen, my favourite ones by far were Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck (Anna Caterina Antonacci and Christopher Maltman were magnificent), Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss (the work, the singers, the orchestra, everything was superb) and the The 12 Cellists of The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (12 cellos, what’s not to love about it).… Read more
Other concerts || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal
RUNDFUNK-SINFONIEORCHESTER BERLIN
Date: 5 Sept 2019
Location: Grand Palace Hall
Category: Great Orchestras of the worlds
Georg Katzer “discorso” for orchestra; Brahms Violin Concerto în D major op. 77; Enescu Symphony no. 3 in C major op. 21
Vladimir Jurowski conductor; Choir of The „George Enescu” Philharmonic; Iosif Ion Prunner conductor of the choir; Romanian Radio Children’s Choir; Răzvan Rădos conductor of the choir; Julia Fischer violin
Katzer’s composition is pretty gimmicky, a mixture of sounds coming from all sorts of weird instruments, a fun work but not that impressive overall.… Read more
A Gluck infusion || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal
ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Date: 6 Sept 2019
Location: Romanian Athenaeum
Category: By Midnight Concerts
Gluck “Iphigénie en Tauride”, opera in concert version
Laurence Cummings conductor, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Anna Caterina Antonacci – Iphigénie (mezzo-soprano), Christopher Maltman – Oreste (baritone), Toby Spence – Pylade (tenor), Andrew Foster-Williams – Thoas (bass-baritone), Mary Bevan – Diane (soprano), Sofia Larsson – Greek Woman (soprano), Miriam Allan – First Priestess (soprano), Jessica Cale – Second Priestess (soprano), Dingle Yandell – Scythian (bass-baritone), Brian Mcalea – Minister (baritone)
Anna Caterina Antonacci has been the one that made me truly fall in love with opera, she’s one of my favourite opera singers and seeing her live has been a ten years old dream.… Read more
Die Frau Ohne Shatten || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal
RUNDFUNK-SINFONIEORCHESTER BERLIN
Date: 4 Sept 2019
Location: Grand Palace Hall
Category: Great Orchestras of the world
Vladimir Jurowski conductor, The Rundfunkchor Berlin, Benjamin Goodson conductor of the choir, Romanian Radio Children’s Choir, Răzvan Rădos conductor of the choir, Carmen Lidia Vidu multimedia director
Torsten Kerl the Emperor (tenor), Anne Schwanewilms the Empress (soprano), Ildikó Komlósi the Nurse (mezzo-soprano), Yasushi Hirano the messenger of Keikobad (baritone), Andrey Nemzer the Guardian of the Threshold, Artjom Vasnetsov, Christoph Oldenburg, Philipp A.… Read more
Cello Heaven || George Enescu Festival 2019 journal
Diana Damrau – soprano and Xavier de Maistre – harp
Date: 1 Sept 2019
Location: Romanian Athenaeum
Category: Recitals and chamber music
I so badly wanted to get tickets for this recital but unfortunately I didn’t catch any, as they were sold instantly. Damrau is an important name in the operatic world, so she was part of five artists I truly wanted to see live, the other ones being: Joyce DiDonato (no tickets left, but I’m not that sorry about it), Bryn Terfel (no tickets left – this is the one show I actually regret not getting tickets to, I love his voice), Rolando Villazón (I didn’t even try to buy one when I saw his program) and Anna Caterina Antonacci (she was, along with Kaufmann, among the artists that got me falling in love with opera so I’m super excited to see her live on the 6th of September).… Read more
Baroque Delights || George Enescu Festival 2019 Journal
La Cetra d’Orfeo “Ay Amor!”
Date: 31 Aug 2019
Location: Romanian Athenaeum
Category: By Midnight Concerts
This was the second performance from the first day and it dawned on me only several hours before the show, upon a more thorough checking of the program, that it’s an ensemble performing mostly baroque chamber music, with lutes (a theorbo) and harps and viola da gamba and flutes (a recorder).… Read more
A love for cello | CBW 28
2. String Quartet in G major, op. 76 no. 1 by Joseph Haydn
Father of the Symphony, Father of the String Quartet, friend and mentor of Mozart, tutor of Beethoven, Joseph Haydn was an Austrian Classical composer too grand for words. Prolific does not even begin to describe his career: the man wrote over one hundred symphonies and 83 string quartets, 150 baryton duos and trios, over 40 piano trios (the development of which he also fathered), numerous concertos, trios and duos for various instruments, marches, dances, sonatas, 15 masses, a handful of songs, 13 operas and other musical comedies.… Read more