WHATEVER HAPPENED TO LIONA BOYD? posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, November 9th 2009 at 7:41

The Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd was hot stuff, in more ways than one, back in the 1980s, but perhaps she suffered from over-exposure (quite literally, in the case of the translucent toga she wore on one album cover). Gradually she drifted out of the public consciousness, and stopped performing altogether in 2003 ...

SACD REVIEW: PRATUM INTEGRUM ORCHESTRA PLAYS TELEMANN posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, November 2nd 2009 at 9:11

I’ve been hanging on to a small batch of SACDs on the Caro Mitis label for something like two years, intending but never getting around to writing reviews for this blog. Let me begin to rectify that, starting with two very attractive Telemann discs ...

INTERVIEW WITH THE VIOL MASTER posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, October 26th 2009 at 7:19

In case you missed my announcement in August, I’ve withdrawn from the Tucson Weekly. As I wrote in that column, “I’ve been contributing to the Weekly for 10 years, during much of which I’ve reviewed one to three plays in almost every issue, and after all this time, I want my weekends back.” It turns out that plenty of other diversions have filled my anticipated weekend vacuum, so I have yet to enjoy all the cocoon time I’d anticipated. Besides which, I’m still writing for a couple of magazines ...

CONCERTO GROSSO CORNUCOPIA posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, March 31st 2009 at 10:22

Here are a couple of Handel concerto grosso reviews I wrote for two different publications a few months ago ...

PHOENIX SYMPHONY DISCONTENT posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, March 26th 2009 at 9:33

There’s big trouble brewing in an orchestra to our north ...

HAIL TO THE NICHE posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, March 6th 2009 at 9:37

Journalist Greg Sandow has spent the past few years blogging for change in the classical music sphere—opening it up, in various ways, to broader culture, and indeed making it more like pop culture. I’ve followed Greg’s arguments with interest for a long time, but in the end, I think his campaign is wrongheaded ...

AUSTRIAN POLAR OPPOSITES posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, February 27th 2009 at 8:42

Here are two SACD reviews I contributed to Fanfare some time ago, one disc drawing from Austrian Romanticism, the other from Austrian Classicism ...

CLASSICIZING ITUNES posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, February 24th 2009 at 7:55

The people who design the leading databases that organize music files have never understood the special needs of classical music—like, for instance, the composer serves as a far more important organizing field than the performer. In this imperfect world, Randy Salas of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune offers a primer on how a classical fan can best manage iTunes.

HANSON ON THE MARKET posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, February 18th 2009 at 8:32

The e-newsletter of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has landed in my e-mail box, with news that Tucson Symphony Orchestra music director George Hanson is applying for a job there ...

CD REVIEW: EDUARADO EGÜEZ PLAYS BACH posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, February 11th 2009 at 9:09

Here's a review of Bach lute recordings I've written especially for this blog, for a change ...

GUARNERI RECORDINGS RESURRECTED posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, February 10th 2009 at 7:52

As you may know, the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, of which I’m an officer, will present one of the last-ever performances by the Guarneri String Quartet, on April 22 at the Leo Rich Theater. You can find the article on the Guarneri I wrote for Strings magazine here; if the site demands that you log in, use the password “chamber.”

In Tucson, the Guarneri Quartet will play Bartók, Mozart and Dvořák, quartets the ensemble recorded long ago. Many of those recordings from the 1960s and ’70s never made it to CD—until now. Take a look at this press release from its record label ...

CARPENTER'S GOTHIC posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, February 2nd 2009 at 7:49

These days we're playing a lot of tracks from Cameron Carpenter's newish CD on the air; here's a review of the disc I wrote for Fanfare:

CELLO IMPRESSIONIST posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, January 27th 2009 at 8:31

A video spoof by cellist Stjepan Hauser of the performance styles of many a cellist more famous than he is making the rounds of the Internet, and deservedly so—it’s hilarious. Embedding is forbidden, so you’ll have to go to YouTube and see it there.

FINGER-SYNCHING CONFIRMED posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, January 27th 2009 at 8:30

This is old news now, but my “live” supposition that the Inaugural music was canned was independently confirmed.

FAKING IT? posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, January 20th 2009 at 10:03

I'm watching the inauguration online, and Yo Yo Ma et al. are performing, but all the crowd noise has magically disappeared and the instruments have some reverb. Is what we're hearing an earlier recording?

SURROUNDED BY BEETHOVEN posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, January 14th 2009 at 8:32

Tonight, the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music will present a concert by the Borromeo Quartet, including the world premiere of a work we at AFCM commissioned from Robert Maggio. The program also includes one of my favorite string quartets, the first in Beethoven’s “Rasumovsky” series. Not long ago in Fanfare, I reviewed a four-channel reissue of a classic recording of that quartet. Here’s that review, and as a bonus my review of the latest installment in Osmo Vänskä’s SACD Beethoven symphony cycle.

HUGO DISTLER CD REVIEW posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, January 7th 2009 at 9:01

Written for Fanfare magazine ...

WATER AND FIREWORKS ON SACD posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, December 23rd 2008 at 7:18

Here are reviews I wrote for Fanfare of three recent Handel SACDs. It's hardly unknown Handel, but it does provide some relief from Messiah overload ...

TIME CAPSULE UNCAPPED posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, December 10th 2008 at 9:05

Have you read about those acoustical recordings, mostly vocal, buried in a time capsule at the Paris Opera a century ago, recently unearthed and being prepared for issue on an EMI CD? ...

WELL SAID posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, November 26th 2008 at 11:40

From the blog On an Overgrown Path:

How right Hopkinson Smith is about the need for virtuoso listeners. So much futile effort is being extended today on trying to reach non-existent new audiences for classical music when, what is really needed, is to develop, extend and challenge existing audiences.

Read blogger Pliable's further remarks on the subject here.

DISCONNECTED? posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, November 24th 2008 at 8:09

Greg Sandow announces:

I'm making a list—and checking it twice—of all the ways in which classical music doesn't connect to our larger culture.

I won’t reprint the seven items Greg has initially compiled; you can read it here. But when I look at the list, my reaction is, for the most part, so what? ...

THINGS STRINGS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 21st 2008 at 10:28

Speaking of Strings magazine (see the entry below), I’ve neglected to post links to my contributions to the December issue. First, an article about something you may have heard here on KUAT-FM ...

GUARNERI UPDATE posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 21st 2008 at 10:21

My organization, the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, has booked the Guarneri Quartet for an April concert here in Tucson, one of its very last before it disbands. But second violinist John Dalley has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and will soon undergo treatment, which will of course disrupt the quartet's tour schedule. ...

BLYTHE SPIRIT posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, November 19th 2008 at 8:14

If you enjoyed seeing and hearing mezzo Stephanie Blythe in Arizona Opera’s production of The Mikado over the weekend, you’ll be happy to hear that Musical America has named her vocalist of the year ...

REVIEW: LINCOLN CENTER CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY DOWNLOADS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, November 18th 2008 at 8:56

If you’re enjoying our Thursday broadcasts of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, you might be interested in reviews of a couple of the organization’s downloads I wrote for Fanfare magazine ...

PODIUM GARB posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, November 17th 2008 at 8:32

There’s been plenty of talk about how orchestra players should dress on stage, but have you given any thought to what conductors wear in rehearsal?

OBAMA/NIELSEN posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, November 14th 2008 at 9:34

This week’s New Yorker cover by Bob Staake is especially striking for the way it blends several common images into an immediately recognizable message, even if that message is a bit hard to articulate. Bear with me, because this post will really be about music, but first look at the image ...

CD REVIEW: MUSICA SONORA/DIA DE LOS MUERTOS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 31st 2008 at 8:53

The Day of the Dead is upon us, a fine time to call to your attention a CD by the local early-music vocal ensemble Musica Sonora. The group has available a CD recorded during a 2006 concert featuring Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Officium Defunctorum, or Requiem Mass, and it’s a perfect tie-in with Day of the Dead activities in the Spanish-speaking New World ...

NED ROREM LIVES! posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, October 27th 2008 at 7:47

Last week, embroiled in radio fundraising, I didn’t have a chance to note the 85th birthday of Ned Rorem, one of America’s finest composers but a fellow perhaps better known as a sometimes disturbingly frank diarist ...

THESE FLATS DON'T RUN posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, October 23rd 2008 at 7:26

Pianist Jeremy Denk seems to have been too busy to blog recently, but now he’s back with mandatory reading: he imagines that he can interview Sarah Palin about Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata.

JONESTOWN--THE OPERA! posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, October 20th 2008 at 7:45

This press release just in from Tucson composer Dan Buckley ...

STOP WRINGING YOUR LIVER-SPOTTED HANDS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, October 20th 2008 at 7:33

So the classical audience is aging? Well, so is the general population, and composer Matthew Guerreri has crunched some numbers that show that both overall life expectancy and the age at which people start pursuing grownup interests (like classical music) have risen at almost the same rate. See it here

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE? posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 15th 2008 at 8:11

In trying to bust what he calls myths that encourage a rosy view of the health of classical concerts, Greg Sandow finally does what few other participants in this discussion bother to do: look not just at orchestral attendance, but at chamber-music series as well ...

BETTER THAN NOTHING posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, October 14th 2008 at 7:28

Here are three CD reviews I wrote for Fanfare, in which I give tepidly positive recommendations ... a rather tricky sort of review to write, and unfortunately the sort we have to write most often. Rare is the CD that merits either a rave or an all-out attack. Here we go ...

ARIZONA OPERA ON ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 10th 2008 at 8:37

On KUAZ's Arizona Spotlight today, I contribute a segment about Arizona Opera's new season ...

BRUCKNER THIRD AND A MASS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 8th 2008 at 7:47

Have I posted these two reviews I wrote for _Fanfare_? This site still has no search function (nor a blogroll or provision for a sidebar of links of any kind), so I'm not sure what's here already and what's not. Well, even if you've read these ...

GRAY AUDIENCE? posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, October 3rd 2008 at 8:14

While I have your attention, here's a good article from the Los Angeles Times debunking the notion that the graying audience for classical music is either a new or tragic thing ...

BEETHOVEN AND HANDEL posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, October 1st 2008 at 10:08

Here are a couple more reviews I wrote earlier this year for Fanfare: Beethoven chamber music, and Handel organ concertos.

BALAZS BLAST-OFF posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, September 30th 2008 at 8:42

The Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, which I help direct, is running an underwriting spot on KUAT-FM promoting this season’s first concert, tomorrow night (October 1). The spot promotes Trio Solisti playing music by three composers: Franz Schubert, Paul Schoenfield and Modest Mussorgsky. One composer was left off that list, whether to keep the spot within its 15-second limit or because whoever wrote it thought he didn’t have a recognizable name: Frederick Balazs. But that name should be immediately recognizable to classical music lovers who have lived in Tucson since the early 1960s ...

TWO BIG SYMPHONIES posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, September 29th 2008 at 10:35

Here are reviews I wrote for Fanfare a few months ago of recordings of two oversized symphonies. The more famous of the two fares poorly in the hands of its conductor, but the obscurity is a real winner in every way.

STARS STRUCK posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, September 24th 2008 at 7:54

Norman Lebrecht makes the case against appending stars to reviews. My sentiments exactly.

THE SOUND OF NO HANDS CLAPPING posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, September 23rd 2008 at 8:26

Many of the people who discuss ways to attract new audiences to classical concerts advocate ending the “snooty” practice of prohibiting applause between movements. But the fact that a movement has ended doesn’t mean that the whole thing is over...

SPECIALISTS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, September 19th 2008 at 8:33

English writer on music Norman Lebrecht can’t be trusted when he makes pronouncements on the state of the classical recording industry (for him, the decline of the major labels means the end of the world, ignoring the fact that small labels are taking up the task with greater competence and elegance than the majors). But he does opine intelligently on other matters ...

MENDELSSOHN, EARLY AND OFTEN posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Wednesday, September 17th 2008 at 7:42

This morning I played something from Itzhak Perlman’s Concertos from My Childhood CD, a collection of pieces that many violin students learn and present in recital, then abandon as they turn professional. The first “real” violin concerto that advanced students take up is usually Mendelssohn’s. I just turned in an article for Strings magazine about that work, in which Daniel Hope and Nicola Benedetti talk about their love of it, despite learning it young, recording it and performing it everywhere. Here’s an excerpt ...

A PASSIONATO posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, September 12th 2008 at 8:11

If you’ve been frustrated by the utter failure of the iTunes music store and other download purveyors to handle classical music in a logical way that is rational to classical-music lovers—in other words, not littering the catalog with crossover junk, making it easier to search by composer than by artist—a new download service has just opened in Britain ...

LAST WORDS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, September 9th 2008 at 6:59

Here are reviews I wrote for Fanfare of recordings of the last, incomplete works of two prominent Austrian composers ...

CONCERTO REVIEWS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Thursday, September 4th 2008 at 7:06

Here are a couple of reviews I wrote a few months ago for Fanfare, covering very recommendable recordings of concertos by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Glazunov ...

LOOKING THE PART posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 8:10

Terry Teachout has posted an old thought piece expressing ambivalence over whether or not opera singers should be attractive ...

DOWNLOAD REVIEWS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, August 25th 2008 at 10:45

Deutsche Grammophon has been making a substantial effort to expand into the digital download market. Here are reviews I wrote for Fanfare of two of DG's download-only releases.

JENNIFER KOH AND MUSIC@MENLO REVIEWS posted to Cue Sheet

From the desk of James Reel on Friday, August 22nd 2008 at 8:25

All I’ve got in the latest issue of Strings is a pair of CD reviews: one of Jennifer Koh’s latest CD, String Poetic, with music by Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, Lou Harrison and Carl Ruggles, and another of Music@Menlo’s 2007 festival concerts.