You may never have heard of Lennox Berkeley. But his music was admired by many of the most notable composers of the mid-20th centuryóBritten and Poulenc were close personal friends, and he has a dedicated band of admirers today (there is a Lennox Berkeley Society). Yet, for one reason or another, Berkeley has never become a household name.
Month: October 2005
XLóåuvres pour grand chúur
The ìXLî of the title of this recording is, as the program book notes, a double reference. First, read as Roman numerals, it points to the extraordinary number of voice parts in Thomas Tallisí famous ìSpem in aliumî and its modern analogue here, Antony Pittsí ìXL,î a forty-voice setting of text from Psalm 40.
Van Opera kicks off season with Turandot
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Entertainment/2005/10/18/pf-1267185.html
Standing Room Only for New Music, Fierce and Quiet Alike
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/arts/music/18powe.html
I’m Making it as an Opera Singer
http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/magazine/archives/2005/10/mystory.html
In the Land of Verdi, Where Egyptians Are Italian
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/arts/music/17aida.html
Soprano Taking Chances as a Feisty Wood Nymph
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/17/arts/music/17daph.html
Alex Ross on City Operaís fall season
New York City Opera opened in February, 1944, at the height of the battles of Anzio and Truk. If skeptics thought it frivolous to start an opera company in the middle of a world war, Fiorello LaGuardia straightened them out: the music-loving Mayor believed that opera was essential to city life, and he wanted lower- and middle-class New Yorkers to have it at affordable prices, without pretension.