2009: Ten Memorable Performances Posted by Alex Ross

December 2, 2009
2009: Ten Memorable Performances Posted by Alex Ross

February 10th: Verdi's "Il Trovatore" returns to the Metropolitan Opera in a lusty production by David McVicar, with Sondra Radvanovsky singing potently as Leonora.

March 1st: Philippe Herreweghe and the Collegium Vocale Gent present a profoundly idiomatic rendition of Bach's Mass in B Minor at the handsomely renovated Alice Tully Hall.

March 20th: The poetic young Ebène Quartet makes the New York début of the year, playing Mozart, Brahms, and Ravel at Weill Hall.

April 19th: Esa-Pekka Salonen bids an intense farewell to the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" and "Symphony of Psalms."

May 12th: Pierre Boulez and the Staatskapelle Berlin redeem an uneven Mahler festival at Carnegie Hall with a slashing account of Mahler's Sixth Symphony.

June 21st: At the end of "Make Music NY," the trombone orchestra of Henry Brant's "Orbits" reverberates mightily through the rotunda of the Guggenheim. (Video below.)


July 31st: The fast-rising soprano Angela Meade sails brilliantly through Rossini's "Semiramide" at Caramoor, with Will Crutchfield coaching and conducting.

September 16th: Alan Gilbert sets a smart new tone at the New York Philharmonic, accompanying Renée Fleming through the exotic landscape of Messiaen's "Poèmes pour Mi."

October 3rd: Gustavo Dudamel, taking over the L.A. Phil, delivers a rock-solid Beethoven Ninth before eighteen thousand exuberant fans at the Hollywood Bowl.

November 12th: Patrice Chéreau's production of "From the House of the Dead," a feat of theatrical genius, triumphs at the Met, with Salonen conducting.

Tomorrow: Ten exceptional recordings.
2009: Ten Memorable Performances: Unquiet Thoughts : The New Yorker (26 December 2009)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/alexross/2009/12/2009-ten-memorable-performances.html
http://snipurl.com/tv73f