ADDENDUM

posted by James Reel

    I forgot to mention that you can also find in the latest Tucson Weekly my Q&A with departing Tucson Symphony Orchestra principal horn player Jacquelyn Sellers.

LONG SWORDS, LITTLE WOMEN

posted by James Reel

    From the intentionally ridiculous to the potentially sublime in the latest Tucson Weekly … First, my review of the latest Gaslight put-on:

    At a theater where the scripts can have more holes than Prairie Dog Town, Gaslight Theatre's latest musical melodrama has only one gaping absence, an unforgivable lost opportunity: The bitter, limping Phillippe, twin brother to King Louis XIV of France, is being prepared by evil forces to seize the throne, but not once does he break into "Great Pretender."
    Really, what is Gaslight coming to when the bad guys miss a chance to turn into The Platters for three minutes?   
    Otherwise, Peter Van Slyke's adaptation of The Three Musketeers trips along smartly enough. It's not one of Van Slyke's funniest, most out-of-control shows, but it doesn't fall with a thud as if skewered by the Musketeers themselves. What this production has going for it most of all is an ensemble that swings through the show with an infectious joy. They may not have a lot to work with, but they're having tremendous fun.

    It's new, it's popular ... and it's an opera.
    Hard to believe, but true. Mark Adamo's Little Women, written for Houston Grand Opera in 1998, is being produced all over the country in an era when operas don't generally get performed after their premieres—and few enough are premiered in the first place. Even the University of Arizona Opera Theater is having a go at Little Women this weekend.

THE CLASSICAL MANIFESTO

posted by James Reel

    As I’ve written before, I’m not enthusiastic about how classical music fits into the world of iPods and downloads. It’s not that I’m a Luddite; the quality and organization simply aren’t good enough, and I believe that innovation should bolster quality along with—or ahead of—increasing convenience. Last week in the Times of London, Amanda Holloway issued a list of demands that the content providers must meet soon if they expect to be taken seriously by the classical audience. My thoughts exactly.

DEFENCE OF THE REALM

posted by James Reel

    Regarding my little rant about British critics and Elgar, the most civilized Bernard Chasan responds:

I have been using my ears for many many years and my ears tell me that Elgar is one of the greats—the concerti, the two official symphonies, Sea Pictures, are all first rate. I am not English, although I have to admit that I spent a week in London in 2001. Perhaps they drugged me. You are right however, that the Brits really promote their own.