Happy Birthday, Pierre Boulez!

The super conductor turns 90. Here is a list of his best recordings.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pierre Boulez.

"I love to conduct but I feel that it is no longer necessary."--Pierre Boulez

The great Pierre Boulez turns 90 years old today and we would like to celebrate with a list of the composer-conductor's greatest efforts on disc. Boulez is a composer first, a creator of new traditions and a breaker of old ones. His early music spawned the sound of the second half of the 20th century, his later works mark his status as an original thinker and tireless seeker.

Concert Review: Slaughter-House Four

The American Symphony Orchestra offers Forged in Fire.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The trenches of France in World War I.

The First World War (known as the "Great War" in the years between its ending and World War II) was one of the key events of the 20th century. Starting on June 28, 1914, this five-year conflagration destroyed much of France, severely damaged Germany and cost the lives of an entire generation of young men, slaughtered in the battlefield trenches by the mechanized weaponry of the early 20th century. However, observance of this tragic event has been largely muted, even as the centennial of the war approaches this year.

Concert Review: Any Color You Like

Vladimir Jurowski makes his New York Philharmonic debut.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The conductor Vladimir Jurowski made his New York Philharmonic debut this week.
Photo from Medici.TV

With his long dark hair, spidery limbs and penchant for conducting in priestly vestments, Vladimir Jurowski strikes a dashing figure on the podium. In his New York Philharmonic subscription debut (seen at Avery Fisher Hall on Thursday night) the Moscow-born conductor also proved that he is a budding master of 20th century post-Romantic repertory. The program featured Karol Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1 and a set of excerpts from the 1945 Prokofiev ballet Cinderella.

Concert Review: Dancing With the Decadence Dance

Daniel Harding conducts Mahler's Fourth; Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1.

Daniel Harding. Photo by Eisuke Miyoshi © 2010 DanielHarding.com

Daniel Harding made an auspicious New York Philharmonic debut this week, conducting a program that glittered with that peculiar decadence that defines the late Romantic works written in the early 20th century. Friday's afternoon concert featured Karol Szymanowski's one-movement First Violin Concerto, paired with Mahler's Fourth Symphony.