Aisle Be Seeing You

Globe reviews Minus One and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal

The "Diva" segment from Ohad Naharin's Minus One

Thea Singer reviewed Ohad Naharin's "Minus One" by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal for Saturday's Boston Globe. Here's a taste:

"'Minus One' (2002) a play of shadow against light, is Naharin's black-and-white ballet, down to the costumes. It's a stunning show, with the pellucid lines of classical ballet and the gut-wrenching contractions of Martha Graham."

Read all of All told, Minus One quite a number.

The "Diva" shot above is not particularly emblematic of "Minus One" except that surprise is a constant. The dancer is on stilts here, lip synching to Yma Sumac. Our diva was a bit more garish, with extreme makeup.
 

Gil Shaham's encores

Violinist Gil Shaham played two encores Sunday afternoon at Jordan Hall:

Brahms, Hungarian Dance no. 4, arr. Josef Joachim

Fauré, Clair de lune, Op. 46 no 2, Arr., Albert Périlhou

Minus One

WOW.

Les Grands Ballets house will open late

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal patrons please note: the house at all three performances (that's Friday, Saturday and Sunday) this weekend will not open until 20 minutes before curtain. You'll find out why....

UPDATE: Those of you that attended Minus One this weekend now know what this cryptic note was about. Starting the performance before curtain is something of a Naharin trademark. I'm not sure I could give an adequate explanation of what he is driving at by playing with start times and intermissions except to say that removal of barriers is most certainly a them.

I wanted to give a heads up that arriving early would not mean settling into your seat for a nice long chat, but would, in fact, mean waiting in the lobby a bit. But I didn't want to spoil the first moment of mild surprise that greeted audiences when they discovered a stage full of dancers and an audience murmuring away at 7:15.

Benny Goodman, Bela Bartok and the Celebrity Series

(left to right) Josef Szigeti, Bela Bartok and Benny Goodman recording Bartok's "Contrasts" in 1940

Ever since I first heard of it, I've been curious about our presentation of Benny Goodman with Bela Bartok, Ditto Pasztory (Mrs. Bartok) and the great violinist Josef Szigeti at Jordan Hall back in 1941. The other day, I got a glimpse of the review of the concert that ran in the February 5, 1941 Boston Globe, and it's kind of a hoot. Here are some snippets:

"Benny Goodman went classical at Jordan Hall last night. He played the clarinet, but he did not have an orchestra with a strong 'powerhouse' behind him, and instead of swing, the program was a chaste list of 'serious' pieces. The concert was in the Chamber Music Series of Aaron Richmond, and presented, in addition to Mr. Goodman, Bela Bartok, Hungarian pianist and composer; his wife Ditta Pasztory, pianist; and Josef Szigeti, violinist.

For his first appearance in Boston as a classical musician, Mr. Goodman played Debussy's Rhapsody for clarinet and piano, partnered by Mr. Bartok, and joined him and Mr. Szigeti in Mr. Bartok's 'Contrasts.' When the 'King of Swing' shuffled amiably upon the stage, midway of the program, he was faced not with a crowd of stamping, whistling hep cats, but the dinner coats and evening gowns of a Bostonian audience trained to sit up attentively during a Mozart Sonata and who know better than to applaud between the movements."

I thought all of our concerts were filled with whistling hep cats... But my favorite line of the review is this:

"Yet there may have been a few youngsters in the crowd to whom the word jive means a good deal more than allegro molto does."

Count me among them. "Jive" is my middle name, hep cat.

Then there was this oddly menacing sentence in closing:

"Each of the other artists was cordially received."

Berklee opens Cafe 939

Berklee's new cafe is underway. Here is some Globe coverage of it. No alchohol. Local talent, emerging Berklee types and some touring acts are said to be on the menu in the long run. Cafe 939 is about Tuesday's and Thursday's in the afternoon for now, but in April Cafe 939 will add nights to the mix.

On the face of it, this looks like a bid to attract the under 21 crowd (who need activities now that Landsdowne Street is no longer an option, though they could always come to, say Jordan Hall for music) and a shot at showcasing some of the fine young talents lurking behind Berklee's walls. Nice idea, Berklee.

Globe article on Cafe 939

Berklee Cafe 939 announcement page with booking info

Cafe 939 on Yelp

Cafe 939 Jazz Times article

Academy of St Martin personnel change for April 2

I have an item to announce that makes me decidedly ambivalent. Pianist and conductor (or conductor and pianist, if you prefer) Murray Perahia has had to cancel his appearances with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Those cancellations include our much anticipated April 2 concert at Symphony Hall.

That's the bad news (insert appropriate emoticon here). The good news is that the illustrious Sir Neville Marriner, the founder of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, will be on hand on April 2 to conduct. Sir Neville has never appeared on the Celebrity Series at the helm of the Academy of St Martin, though he did once conduct the Minnesota Symphony. Sir Neville will be bringing along with him an up and coming young pianist, Yuja Wang. Wang is a student of the illustrious pianist and educator, Gary Graffman, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Here is a link to Wang's web site.

Read our press release on the change.

The Globe reviews Imani Winds

Mongo Santamaria

The Globe's Matthew Geurrieri reviewed Saturday evening's concert by Imani Winds for today's edition. Here is a sample:

"Their opening was theatrical. For Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue," made famous by John Coltrane, Scott took the stage alone, pealing the tune; the others slowly walked on, as Coleman's arrangement gradually segued from a sparkling Ravel-like sunrise into a sung call-and-response between players and audience."

Read all of Imani Winds stirring sounds from expatriates and exiles.

Pianos take to the streets

The streets of Birmingham, England are experiencing a proliferation of pianos. A total of fifteen pianos have been parked, if you will, at various locations in the city decorated with spray painted signs reading, "Play me, I'm yours." Quaint? Perhaps. Charming? Maybe. But I think we can all recognize these pianos can be a force for good (Couperin etudes lovingly plunked with not a little skill by gifted 10 year olds as Birmingham heads to work, suddenly smiling) or a tool for evil ("Candle in the Wind" played by anyone so it gets stuck in the internal soundtracks of 1500 passersby). It's up to you, Birmingham.

Here's the full story.

Van Cliburn Foundation YouTube contest

The Van Cliburn Foundation has jumped on the user-generated content bandwagon. The venerable piano competition will offer automatic entry into its regular piano competition - you know, the famous one - to winners of this amateur video piano performance contest. Read about it here. Submit your piano video here. Buy your piano here. Buy your video camera, er, I'll let you figure that one out.

Personally, I think this guy should enter, I mean, the repertoire is a little unorthodox, but with a mug like his, he's a shoe-in: