SPONSORED: So Much, for So Many. R Murray Schafer's 'My Life on Earth and Elsewhere', read by A P Virag.
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PROVOCATIVE THOUGHTS:
The late Patric Standford may have written these short pieces deliberately to provoke our feedback. If so, his success is reflected in the rich range of readers' comments appearing at the foot of most of the pages.
Herbert von Karajan was born in Salzburg on 5 April 1908 to a career that was second to none as a conductor to pre-eminent orchestras, opera houses and festivals, much of which he established. His conducting at Bayreuth and for the Salzburg Festival stands out in particular. He died during rehearsals in Salzburg for Verdi's A Masked Ball on 16 July 1989.
Musical Prowess - Robert Anderson's 'Opera Nights and Nightmares', read by Gerald Fenech
Ensemble. A Conductor's Opera - A new production of Puccini's 'La bohème' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera, reviewed by Giuseppe Pennisi
Ensemble. A High-level Production - 'The Merry Widow', heard by Giuseppe Pennisi
CD Spotlight. Transcendent Resignation - Mahler's Ninth Symphony, heard by David Wilkins. '... played with love and knowledge and commitment ...'
CD Spotlight. Panache and Authority - Orchestral music by Richard Strauss, reviewed by Gerald Fenech. '... highly recommended ...'
CD Spotlight. Eminently Competitive - Mozart works for clarinet, reviewed by Howard Smith. '... Paul Dean demonstrates his exemplary fluency ...'
Ensemble. Podium Celebrity - Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in Florida, reviewed by Lawrence Budmen
DVD Spotlight. Austria's Dynamo - A brief history of the Salzburg Festival, reviewed by Howard Smith. '... mandatory viewing!'
DVD Spotlight. Hothouse passions - Karajan's 'Il Trovatore', reviewed by Robert Anderson. '... wonderfully and indeed relentlessly captured ...'
Profile. A great schooling - Bill Newman talks to Igor Oistrakh as the 50th anniversary of the violinist's UK début approaches