An Open Birthday Greeting to Richard Strauss

A Letter to the Composer on his 150th Birthday.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The composer Richard Strauss at his desk in between letters from an American blogger.
Photo © 2014 Richard-Strauss Institut, Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Paul J. Pelkonen
Editor, Superconductor
*** 44th St. Apt. *
Brooklyn NY 11220 USA

Dr. Richard Strauss,
The Villa Strauss, 42 Zoeppritzstraße,
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany 82467                             June 11, 2014

Dear Dr. Strauss:

I know we don't know each other and I am sure you are getting a lot of birthday greetings today. I wanted to take this occasion to wish you the very happiest of 150th birthdays and to write a little about what your music has meant to me in the past 25 years of my life. I'm an American music critic living and working in New York City, and my music blog Superconductor is frequently devoted to writing about your work.

Opera Review: Death From Above

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Opera Philadelphia team up for Salome.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Depravity: Salome (Camilla Nylund) with the head of Jokanaan (Alan Held)
at the climax of Salome at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
Photo by  Dominic M. Mercier © 2014 Opera Philadelphia/The Philadelphia Orchestra

In a year celebrating the 150th birthday of Richard Strauss, the most exciting concert event of the spring season was the premiere last night of Salome in Philadelphia. Strauss' opera was presented in a new semi-stage production by Kevin Newbury. This was a first-time collaboration between Opera Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Orchestra's music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. With an imaginative staging and an all-star cast, this was a riveting performance that explored this blood-drenched opera in great and sometimes uncomfortable depths.

Concert Review: The Substitute of Choice

Fabio Luisi conducts the Munich Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Stepping in: Fabio Luisi was a late replacement at Saturday's Carnegie Hall concert.
Photo by Koich Miura © 2011 The Metropolitan Opera.

On Saturday night at Carnegie Hall, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra played the second of two concert programs featuring the music of its hometown hero Richard Strauss. Strauss hits the milestone 150th birthday this year, motivating touring orchestras to program his orchestral extravaganzas.  With the current Munich chief conductor Lorin Maazel sidelined due to illness, Fabio Luisi was called in as a replacement.

Concert Review: It's a Bird...it's a Plane...

It's Valery Gergiev, swooping into Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Valery Gergiev saves the day.
Original photo element of Mr. Gergiev © 2014 by photographer David Shankbone.
Image of Henry Cavill as Superman from the 2013 Warner Brothers film Man of Steel.
© 2013 Warner Brothers Pictures. Character of "Superman" © Detective Comics.

The life of a jet-setting conductor is sometimes like that of a comic book hero, called in as a last minute emergency stopgap to rescue an orchestra in distress. That was the case this week at Carnegie Hall, where Valery Gergiev and Fabio Luisi were called in as eleventh-hour replacements for Munich Philharmonic chief conductor Lorin Maazel in a pair of scheduled concerts.

Mr. Gergiev (who is scheduled to take over for Mr. Maazel in Munich next year) stepped off a plane at 11am Friday and conducted an orchestra rehearsal earlier that afternoon. On Friday night, he conducted the Munich Philharmonic in three works by Richard Strauss, a native of that city and a composer whose 150th birthday is being celebrated this year. The program featured two of Strauss' most successful tone poems: Also Sprach Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, flanking the Burleske a one-movement piano concerto that is only occasionally performed.

The Three Strauss-keteers

Fabio Luisi and Valery Gergiev step in with the Munich Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Juggling batons: With Lorin Maazel (left) ill,Valery Gergiev (center) and Fabio Luisi (right) will step in to

conduct major Strauss tone poems with the Munich Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.

Photo of Mr. Maazel from his website. Photo of Mr. Luisi © 2014 Opernhaus Zurich.

Photo of Mr. Gergiev by Laura Luostarinen © 2006 the Polar Music Awards. Photo alteration by the author.

New Yorkers have lost their chance to hear Lorin Maazel conduct major works by Richard Strauss this weekend.

Concert Review: The End is the Beginning

The Philadelphia Orchestra returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 
Photo by Philippe Jasmin © L'Orchestre Métropolitain.

On Friday night, the Philadelphia Orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall for the second time this month. For this concert, they brought an ambitious old-school program of Richard Strauss, Shostakovich and Beethoven. This old-school offering allowed ample opportunity to display the conducting skills of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the music director who is rapidly putting his own stamp on this venerable orchestra. Clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, it was a rich, satisfying meal.

Concert Review: The Modern Orpheus

Jonas Kaufmann enthralls Carnegie Hall in his recital debut.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Take him to your Lieder: Jonas Kaufmann.
Photo © 2013 Sony Classical.

The German tenor Jonas Kaufmann is among the most popular artists currently appearing at the Metropolitan Opera. His potent, versatile voice and dark good looks appeal in roles like Don José, Parsifal and Werther. For Thursday night's concert, the singer's recital debut at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Kaufmann turned his attention to lieder, offering a carefully curated program that instructed as it enthralled.