By Márcio Bezerra As if its visit in 2024 were not already a miracle (a fantastic coup by classical music artistic adviser Phillip Bergman) the Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world’s top musical institutions, returned to the Kravis Center for two sold-out concerts this month. On Monday, March 9, the august ensemble presented a program with two massive early modern … [Read more...]
More mature Lang Lang does well by Liszt, less so by Granados
By Dennis D. Rooney Following his U.S. debut with the Chicago Symphony in 2000, Lang Lang came in for a hail of critical brickbats, some of which I lobbed myself, on account of his flashy shallowness, crassness and mannerisms. I once heard him in a Brahms First Concerto in Carnegie Hall with conductor James Levine, each of whom eagerly sought to be more mannered than the … [Read more...]