Concert Review: Knocking Out the Heavyweight

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Bruckner Seventh.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen does his best Karajan face. Photo © Signum Classics.

In the course of his conducting career, the Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen has focused heavily on the music of contemporary composers and the 20th century. True, there's been Beethoven here and there, and excursions into Wagner. However, as Mr. Salonen prepares to take over a new job in San Francisco, a reconsideration of repertory is no bad thing. This might explain why the first of Mr. Salonen's two concerts this weekend with the Philharmonia Orchestra focused exclusively on one of Anton Bruckner's enormous late symphonies, specifically the Symphony No. 7.

Concert Review: Don't Mention the War

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra marches on Leningrad.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A propaganda poster during the Siege of Leningrad.
It says "Everybody, rise to defend Leningrad."

The Siege of Leningrad during what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War (and what the rest of the world calls World War II) was a case of unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. German troops marched on the city in 1941 and besieged it for 900 days. During that epic siege, composer Dmitri Shostakovich conceived and completed his Symphony No. 7, working in the city as it was under fire and ultimately finishing the work at a dacha to the east.

The High Priest of Minimalism

Conductor James Bagwell interviews Philip Glass.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Toltec ruins at Tula, Mexico.

Fans of the music of composer Philip Glass should flock to Carnegie Hall tomorrow night, where James Bagwell and the Collegiate Chorale will give the New York premiere of Mr. Glass's Symphony No. 7 "Toltec." The work appears on a program of modern music that also features Oceana by Osvaldo Golijov, a work in the style and structure of a Bach cantata. Mr. Golijov is the current composer-in-residence at Carnegie Hall.

The following is a brief interview between Mr. Bagwell and Mr. Glass, provided to Superconductor by the good folks at Michelle Tabnick Communications.

(No, I didn't do too much work on it, but how often do you get to run an interview with a composer like Philip Glass?)

Celibidache Conducts Bruckner

Symphony No. 7, live from Tokyo.

The mystic Sergiu Celibidache.

Hi folks. Thought I'd share some video footage from Tokyo, 1990 of the masterful Sergiu Celibidache conducting Bruckner's Seventh symphony. This performance features the Munich Philharmonic. Since "Celi" (as he was known), disdained the recording process and did not authorize his live performances for release during his lifetime, this performance is a posthumous release from Sony Classical.

The first of the final triptych of Bruckner symphonies, the Seventh was written following the death of Richard Wagner. The second movement, written as a tribute to Bruckner's friend and fellow composer, is the first movement in one of Bruckner's symphonies to incorporate Wagner tubas. Like most interpretations of this composer by this particular conductor, it's really beautiful and incredibly slow.

Enjoy.