Opera Review: The Ghosts in the Darkness

Yannick and the Philadelphians visit Duke Bluebeard's Castle.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

What key is it in? Bluebeard and his wife.
Illustration by Gustave Dore.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin jumped to the forefront of conductors in the musical conscience of musically conscious New Yorkers last year when he became the newest music director in the history of the Metropolitan Opera. On Tuesday night, opera lovers got a taste of his abilities in that genre when he brought the Philadelphia Orchestra to Carnegie Hall for a performance of Béla Bartók's lone opera: Duke Bluebeard's Castle.

Concert Review: Reed It and Weep

Alan Gilbert wraps the Nielsen Project with the Clarinet Concerto.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Reed man: New Philharmonic principal clarinet Anthony McGill and friend.
Photo by David Finlayson.

The Clarinet Concerto ranks among the finest late compositional achievements of Carl Nielsen, the Danish symphonist who remains his country's best known musical export. As such, it was a natural choice to end The Nielsen Project, the ambitious endeavor of New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert to record all of the composer's major works (the six symphonies, the concertos and several overtures) for CD release on the Da Capo label.