by Jarrett Hoffman
From Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra comes A New Century, a three-disc, live album that inaugurates the ensemble’s new record label. Each disc matches a newer work with an older one, and in Volume Two, we find another fascinating pairing: one piece written after a trip to Italy, the other born out of a horror story.
by Daniel Hathaway
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On May 4, 1665, Italian harpsichord builder Bartolomeo Cristofori was born in Padua. During his career, he would invent the first practical pianoforte, launching a family of instruments whose strings were struck with hammers rather than plucked, earning them their “soft-loud” name. His first model, crafted in 1720 in Florence, is still on display at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art — and during the closure of the collection, can be viewed online here.
Oberlin Conservatory professors David Breitman and Peter Takács devised their course Time Travel for Pianists to introduce their students to the history of the piano, using historic and modern instruments from Oberlin’s rich collection. Watch a 2012 video where they explain what they had in mind and students offer their insights into what they learned from older instruments that inform their performances on modern Steinways. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
ONLINE & ON THE AIRWAVES THIS WEEKEND:
Although the weather is becoming increasingly springlike, a lot of us will still be spending time indoors this weekend. Here’s a selection of scheduled online attractions, some of which will remind us of events that had to be cancelled.
Apollo’s Fire was to have concluded its season this weekend with “Virtuoso Fireworks.” In lieu of those life performances, Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra has posted the latest in its “Music For the Soul” series, featuring Bach’s Fourth and Fifth Brandenburg Concertos in a 2015 performance at the Tanglewood Festival, and arias from Handel’s Alcina and Giulio Cesare sung by coloratura soprano Amanda Forstythe at Cleveland concerts, also in 2015. Click here to follow links to the video and program notes. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
VIRTUAL PIANO COMPETITION:
Piano Cleveland announced this morning that its Cleveland International Piano Competition, postponed until 2021, will be replaced this summer with a special online contest. Virtu(al)oso will allow contestants to record their performances at Steinway Galleries in Cleveland, New York, London, Hamburg, and Beijing for broadcast online from July 30 through August 9. Applications to fill the 30 available slots will be accepted beginning today. Go here for more information. [Read more…]