Classical Music

Riveting. Glorious. Soloist Verneri Pohjola is both virtuosic and agonizingly human. What a premiere for Kaija Saariaho's final composition. May she rest in peace: https://areena.yle.fi/1-66089818

Di rigori armato il seno (‘With my breast armed with severity’—these words were lifted in their entirety by Strauss from the concluding ballet of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Molière, 1670) for which Lully wrote the music).

What makes a Shor work identifiable? According to some musicians, it is the mismatch between the rudimentary craftsmanship of the compositions and the skill with which those same compositions have been performed.

Andrew Trovato, an American composer who uses elements of tonality in his works, said that “the high level of playing masks the... See more

Earlier this year, English National Opera were subject a small Twitter storm when somebody realized that the composer biographies on their website included a number of embarrassing errors: that Benjamin Britten—still alive—had written the music to Franco Zeffirelli’s film “Romeo and Juliet,” and that “the apple didn’t fall far from the tree” with... See more

One of the reasons we haven’t heard much about Pejačević until recently is because of her untimely death at the age of thirty-eight, just a month after giving birth to her only child. Given medical provision in the 1920s, it was always a risk for a woman to be pregnant in her late thirties. Perhaps with this in mind, Pejačević wrote a poignant... See more

Like a town built around a mine, an entire ecology has sprung up around the seemingly inexhaustible resources of Kononenko’s fortune and Ishkhanov’s energy as an organizer. That ecology is Shorworld: a labyrinthine network that intersects with the mainstream classical music industry while duplicating many of its structures. And though the... See more

If Apple wanted to offer exclusive music, they would cut a deal with Taylor Swift. They have the cash to do it. They wouldn’t waste time on locking up Kalevi Aho. That’s so obvious I shouldn’t even have to say it, but (given all the smoke and mirrors here), I really do.

So we’re clearly dealing with the bad Apple here. And the fact that the company... See more

In this context, Kaija Saariaho’s very last musical work, a concerto for trumpet and orchestra under the title of HUSH (2022-23), stands apart as something knowingly conceived as finale – both in personal and professional terms – winding up (as far as such action is humanely conceivable) a cycle of solo concerti, an œuvre, a life.