Concert Review: It's Gotta Be the Shoes

Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Emerson String Quartet at Mostly Mozart.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Steve Madden Caviarr Rhinestone Slip-On. In Men's Sizes.

The annual visit to Mostly Mozart by the Emerson String Quartet is a joyous occasion, a cnahnce for New Yokrkers trapped in the sweltering and ever deepening canyons of  gotham to hear one of the best chamber music ensembles in the country without leaving the fortress of Manhattan. On Monday night at Alice Tully Hall, the eminent Emersons were joined by French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet for a program of Mozart, Beethoven and Fauré at Alice Tully Hall.

Concert Review: Let the Games Begin

Stephane Denève debuts with the Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The conductor Stéphane Denève made his long-awaited New York Philharmonic debut.
Photo by Stu Rosner © 2015 The Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Under ordinary circumstances, the podium debut of a promising international conductor with the New York Philharmonic would be a pleasurable, if minor note in the course of a long orchestra season. However, with the sudden announcement last Friday that Alan Gilbert would step down as the orchestra's music director (effective 2017) the first concert program under Stéphane Denève felt like the beginning of a long series of auditions for Mr. Gilbert's job.

Concert Review: Rowing With the Current

Joyce DiDonato sails into Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

We can talk about Joyce: La DiDonato in a publicity still.
Image courtesy Warner Music Group.

When Joyce DiDonato last gave a recital in New York, she sang on the upper level of a metal shop located next to Brooklyn's heavily polluted Gowanus Canal. At Tuesday night's Carnegie Hall recital, the second performance of her 2014 Perspectives series, the diva was in a much more opulent setting. However, waterways--in this case the canals of Venice, Italy--continued to play an important role.

Concert Review: Cream and Sugar

Renée Fleming and Susan Graham at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Susan Graham and Renée Fleming. Susan is the tall one.
Photo by Melanie Buford © 2013 National Public Radio/WQXR.

On Sunday night, soprano Renée Fleming and mezzo Susan Graham gave a joint recital with pianist Bradley Moore. The concert, which opened Ms. Fleming's 2013 Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall, celebrated the long friendship and artistic partnership of these two fine singers with an emphasis on French chanson and operatic repertory.

Ms. Fleming and Ms. Graham don't always appear together, but their careers are inextricably linked. They made early recordings together, like Handel's Alcina. In 2000 and 2009, they melted earts at the Met in Richard Strauss' sentimental comedy Der Rosenkavalier (Ms. Graham takes the trouser part.) However, the opportunity to see these two divas in a concert collaboration is rare indeed.

The program opened with three songs by Camille Saint-Saëns. The black-gowned singers paused between numbers to explain that their intent was to recreate a salon atmosphere in the unlikely space of Stern Auditorium. Somehow, the interaction of their voices created that needed sense of intimacy as they soared through the long phrases of "Pastorale" and the rapid Spanish rhythms of "El desdichado."