THE CLASSICAL KICK

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, December 28th 2007 at 7:36

    NewMusicBox has published an essay by composer Roger Rudenstein that’s exactly on the mark in its account of how classical music lost favor with the American public in the 1960s and later, and what can be done to advance the classical cause today. One thing Rudenstein is not afraid ...

PULLING 'STRINGS'

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, December 28th 2007 at 7:34

    The latest issue of Strings magazine is online, and a fair chunk of it is by yours truly. Most prominent is the cover feature on a fine violinist with whom you may be unfamiliar:

    Yumi Hwang-Williams started playing new music quite casually, back when she was a violin student at ...

OVER THE WASH AND THROUGH THE TUNNEL

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, December 27th 2007 at 7:09

    This being Christmas week, I had absolutely nothing to write about on the arts beat for the Tucson Weekly (but other contributors were more creative, as you’ll discover here). But I did contribute a restaurant review, after a long journey north and a deep dip into the expense account ...

FREUDIAN SLIP OF THE YEAR

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, December 26th 2007 at 6:34

    This morning, a newscaster reading a story about a post-Christmas gift exchange, accidentally called it a program "for returning unwanted presidents." If only it were that simple.

REVIEW: BEETHOVEN/PAAVO JARVI

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, December 21st 2007 at 11:07

    For a forthcoming issue of Fanfare:

BEETHOVEN Symphonies: No. 3, “Eroica”; No. 8 * Paavo Järvi, cond; German Ch Phil Bremen * RCA 88697-13066-2 (hybrid SACD: 69:32)

    The most important Beethoven symphony cycles on SACD are DG’s two-channel reissue of the early-1960s Karajan set, which I reviewed in Fanfare ...

BEHAVE

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, December 20th 2007 at 7:32

    From the Seattle Weekly, here’s refutation of the silly notion that audiences at classical concerts need to be free to be noisy, restless nuisances. Look: If you can’t manage to sit down, shut up and pay attention, you shouldn’t be allowed out of the house, not even ...

REVERSION

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, December 20th 2007 at 7:31

    My contribution to the latest Tucson Weekly:

    Max Branscomb is back as the writer of Borderlands Theater's annual A Tucson Pastorela. That means the retelling of Lucifer's attempts to waylay the shepherds making their way to Bethlehem has returned to its old rhythm of gentle laughs.
    Last year ...

SIR TOMMY ON SIR EDDIE

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, December 19th 2007 at 7:43

    If you believe that my occasional swipes at the music of Edward Elgar—for instance, here, here, here (one that apparently alarmed TSO concertmaster Steven Moeckel) and here—are out of line, consider what conductor Sir Thomas Beecham said of Elgar in his autobiography, A Mingled Chime:

The better side ...

REVIEW: TUCSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/GEORGE HANSON, CONDUCTOR

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, December 14th 2007 at 8:27

    If the Tucson Symphony’s current cycle is distressingly cautious—three shameless crowd-pleasers from an orchestra and music director formerly willing to take a chance with such substantial new works as John Corigliano’s First Symphony—at least the performances are vibrant, secure, and get right to the heart of ...

BLACK, WHITE AND GRAY

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, December 13th 2007 at 7:28

    This week I’ve elected not to monopolize the pages of the Tucson Weekly, and give other contributors some space. I have only one offering this time around, a review of a play I highly recommend:

    On a farm outside Johannesburg, South Africa, there lives a little girl named Elizabeth ...

REVIEW: YING QUARTET'S 'DIM SUM'

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, December 11th 2007 at 7:29

    For a forthcoming issue of Strings (note that the CD won't be released until January):

    Dim Sum. Ying Quartet (Timothy and Janet Ying, violin; Phillip Ying, viola; David Ying, cello). Telarc 80690.
    If you go to a Chinese brunch, somebody will bring out a dim sum tray, an assortment ...

DINNER AND THREE PLAYS

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, December 6th 2007 at 7:35

    Eleven Arizona Daily Star employees may have been tossed out onto the street less than three weeks before Christmas (see below), but I, as an already ex-Star reporter and as a longtime freelancer, have no shortage of work. In the latest Tucson Weekly alone, I contribute a restaurant review ...

BLOODBATH

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, December 6th 2007 at 7:24

    Yesterday, managers at the Arizona Daily Star fired 11 newsroom employees. Merry friggin’ Christmas.
    Publisher John Humenik, according to an article in today’s business section, blamed the firings on “slumping advertising sales and the real estate downturn.” According to the article, Humenik "declined to identify the employees but said ...

HIGH FIDELITY

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, December 5th 2007 at 7:06

    Well, glory be! Somebody in a fairly mainstream publication (Slate) has spoken out against the cruddy sound of mp3 files. As Fred Kaplan makes clear, convenience does not trump quality. Unplug your earbuds, pay attention to the world outside your head for a while, then go home and sit down ...

REVIEW: CMS STUDIO INITIAL RELEASES

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, December 4th 2007 at 10:24

For a forthcoming issue of Fanfare:

DVORAK Terzetto, Op. 74; Piano Quartet, Op. 87 BEETHOVEN Piano Quartet, Op. 16 * Wu Han (pn); Erin Keefe, Arnaud Sussmann (vn); Beth Guterman (vla); David Finckel (vc) * CMS STUDIO RECORDINGS 82503 (78:42)

ELGAR Piano Quintet WALTON Piano Quartet * Wu Han (pn); Ani Kavafian ...

CD REVIEWS TO COME

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, December 4th 2007 at 10:19

    Something I intended to do when I started this blog, but never got around to, was posting some of the CD reviews I write for print magazines. This might be a good time to start, especially with people looking for gift ideas for the holidays. Be warned, though: Not all ...