Corcoran Gallery redefined

“This is the beginning of the new era at the Corcoran and we are all excited about it,” said Jonathan P. Binstock, Curator of Contemporary Art, at the member preview tour of the newly opened exhibit redefined: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Collection.

This exhibit is “the largest exhibition of modern and contemporary art from the Corcoran’s permanent collection since the founding of the museum. It provides an unprecedented opportunity to experience many of the museum’s most important works from the 1950s to the present.” It explores the complicated relationship between “modern” and “contemporary” art. Paintings, photographs, installations, sculptures, and mixed media – almost all exhibited works come from the permanent collection of the Gallery.

redefined showcases the work of some of the most celebrated figures of modern and contemporary art. Featuring more than 180 works, this exhibit includes paintings by Sean Scally, Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn and Ellsworth Kelly, sculpture by Richard Artschwager and photographic works by Sally Mann, Nan Goldin, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, William Christenberry, and William Eggeleston. Multi-media works are also on view, including Loop (2000) by Jennifer Steinkamp and Jimmy Johnson.

The exhibition is on view from July 15 through January 2007.

Image: Sean Scully, Flyer, 1986, oil on canvas, www.corcoran.org

Robert Weingarten: Palette Series

“I believe there are two lights you live with, the light you see and your psychological light, and I think the latter is the one that informs my palette more than former, “ once said Eric Fischl, contemporary American painter, who lives and works in New York.



You can see both lights in photographs of Robert Weingarten which are currently on display at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Titled Palette Series, these 20 photographs are simply amazing! The exhibit just opened ... but I already made three trips to the Gallery to see this exhibit. And I will go there many more times. Each time when I look at Weingarten’s Palettes I see something different. What impresses me the most is the prints’ size. They are huge!(44”x64”) Almost all photographs look like abstract paintings. At the same time they have a three-dimentional look. The idea behind this portfolio is very original and rather strange: The photographer visited studios of famous painters (Jasper Johns, Chuck Close, Eric Fischl, Laura Owens, Ed Ruscha, and others)and photographed their "painting-related mess” (dirty sinks, walls, pallets, tools, etc.) He zoomed in on something no one would ever pay attention. And then he “zoomed out” images on Epson paper (the size does matter!) Vibrant colors, patterns, textures of these photographs are stunning! This exhibit is definitely a must see.

Corcoran Gallery: The Loop

The Corcoran Gallery of Art reinstalled The Loop, a multi-sensory visual art and music installation commissioned specifically for the Corcoran’s 46th Biennial Exhibition Media/Metaphor by internationally known media artist Jennifer Steinkamp and renowned electronic composer Jimmy Johnson.


"At its center was Loop, a site-specific environment designed for the Corcoran’s neo-classical Rotunda. Steinkamp and Johnson’s special brand of transformative art interacted with both the building and its visitors, making the installation one of the most popular aspects of the exhibition. Audio and image loops seemlessly filled the Rotunda gallery. The images appear as though they were hand-drawn loops blown by a slow breeze.

To create Loop, Steinkamp used a Silicon Graphics workstation, the same type of computer used by Hollywood animators, to “paint” her striking colors and shapes that now dance around the rotunda. The colors and shapes are projected onto the walls using six video projectors. Johnson then created music that it is played along with the moving projections."

“Much of Loop’s wonder rests in its playful alliance between artifice and reality,” said Paul Roth, assistant curator of exhibitions. “It provokes us to consider what lies between our architectural past and technological future.”

The Royal Ballet: Sleeping Beauty

During his 60-year career Marius Petipá choreographed more than 100 ballets. Only a few of them (La Bayadère, Don Quixote, Raymonda, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake) survived the test of time and formed a core of the current classical ballet repertoire. Created in 1890, Sleeping Beauty is Petipá’s crowning achievement and one of the greatest ballets of all times. Set to Tchaikovsky’s music, it is based on Charles Perrault’s fairytale La Belle au Bois Dormant, a story of a cursed princess who falls asleep after pricking her finger on a spindle and is kissed and awakened by a prince one hundred years later.



Sleeping Beauty is a showcase and an ultimate test for a ballet company. Beauty is not easily achieved: its grand staging comes with a big price tag; and its extremely challenging choreography requires the finest dancers. It’s an unattainable dream for many dance troupes and each (successful) new production is a cultural event in the ballet world.

The Royal Ballet has been on a quest for its own Beauty since 1939. The most recent attempts to resurrect the famous ballet ended unhappily, a 2003 production of Natalia Makarova was doomed as “too Kirov” and Anthony Dowell’s 1996 modern staging as plain “ugly.” Nevertheless, the company was determined to bring the magic back. This time the management decided to play it safe, choosing to revisit the popular 1946 version based on Oliver Messel’s stage decorations and Frederick Ashton’s additional choreography. Last week the Royal Ballet unveiled this new-old Beauty at the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Read more on The Dance Post...

Washington Ballet: 7x7: Women

For its final performances of the season this month, the Washington Ballet opened its company headquarters' doors, located on Wisconsin Avenue. The title of their last program, 7x7: Women, may suggest that it is a square dance performed by the female corps de ballet. Not exactly. It’s a showcase of seven miniature dances (each lasting approximately seven minutes) created by women choreographers. While women have always dominated ballet as dancers, it has usually been a man’s world when it came to the choreography. 7x7 presents women in dance not only as a performers but also as creators.

Read more on The Dance Post...

The Russian Turn of the Screw

Two days after the Châteauville Foundation presented Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw at the Terrace Theater of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (see Jens's review), the Mariinsky Opera was turning its own screw in St. Petersburg (see Ionarts press roundup). This production is only the second Britten opera offered by the Mariinsky to the Russian audience, having until then staged only Peter Grimes in 1965, sung in Russian, as required at that time by the Soviet regime.



British producer David McVicar and set and costume designer Tanya McCallin achieved a gloomy atmosphere of the Bly mansion and chilling dramatic effects of the mysterious events with minimal and simple decorations. With the signature blue silk-and-velvet curtain with golden embroideries removed, the stage looked ominously dark and enigmatic, wrapped in black fabric and covered with dead autumn leaves. The characters were dressed in black – as though in constant mourning; set changes were accompanied by moving transparent wall panels bringing the action from one room to another and from inside the house to the outside. Intended or not, the sound of the moving walls reminded me of the sound of a giant mechanism that was turning an invisible screw tighter and tighter with the story unfolding from one scene to the next.

Read more on Ionarts...

The New Cinderella Story

On July 15, the American Ballet Theater (ABT), one of the premier U.S. dance companies, is concluding its two-month season at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York. This season’s program is a classical ballet hit parade featuring Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Le Corsaire, and Manon. A centerpiece of the program was the U.S. premiere of James Kudelka’s production of Cinderella, which he originally created for the National Ballet of Canada in 2004.

Based on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale, the music for Cinderella was composed by Sergei Prokofiev. The composer began working on the music score in 1940, inspired by the success of his ballet Romeo and Juliet. This work was interrupted by World War II and completed only four years later. Premiered in 1945, in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater, Cinderella became one of the greatest ballets of the 20th century. Since then, many choreographers have tried their talents in retelling the Cinderella story.

“I wanted to give the characters a human texture,” said Kudelka about his current production of the famous ballet. He envisioned the title heroine not only as a fairytale personage but also as a real person.


Kudelka’s Cinderella is a provincial girl and a dreamer, who enjoys tidying up the house, working in the garden, and dancing. She is ignored by other members of the household: the stepmother is self-absorbed and often too drunk to pay attention to her, and the stepsisters are interested only in fashion and social life. In her family, Cinderella is unnoticed and unloved, but by no means abused or humiliated.

Kudelka decided to replace the famous glass slipper with a sparkling pointe shoe. As a result, in this story, the Prince is looking for the best dancer. When he finally finds Cinderella, they settle in a small cottage, choosing a quiet, provincial life over the splendor of the Royal Palace.

Read more on The Dance Post...

The Kirov Ballet: From Russia With Forsythe

For more than a decade the Kirov (Mariinsky) Ballet -- a company famous for its 19th-century repertoire -- has been going through a series of transformations. The reign of Marius Petipa and Michel Fokine was ended in 1989 with the premiere of the ballet Theme and Variations choreographed by George Balanchine. Balanchine’s unique style and modern choreography were gladly adopted and embraced by the Kirov’s dancers. After dancing for more than a century in Romantic and Classical styles, the company was eager for a change. With ten of Balanchine’s works “under its pointes” the Kirov Ballet danced into the 20th century.

In 2004, the 57-year-old American avant-garde choreographer William Forsythe undertook the further transformation (or deconstruction) of the St. Petersburg’s renowned ballet troupe. His modern approach to dance making was a new territory for traditional, classically trained dancers of the Kirov. Once called “Antichrist of ballet,” Forsythe is known for ultramodern and extremely difficult choreography. His ballets are not for the squeamish.

For two months the Kirov’s Odiles, Nikias, Auroras, Giselles, Cinerellas, and assorted princes underwent a strenuous, around-the-clock rehearsal schedule (sort of a dance boot camp) to become ‘Universal’ or Forsythean dancers, intrepid risk takers. Their hard work has paid off. Four one-act ballets -- Steptext, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and Approximate Sonata -- create an evening-long all-Forsythe program, now a prominent feature of the company’s repertoire. Titled “William Forsythe Masterworks,” this program is currently being presented by the Kirov Ballet at the Opera House of the Kennedy Center.

Choreographed in 1985 to Bach’s Chaconne from a partita for solo violin, Steptext is an abstract dance performed by three men and a woman. Starting suddenly, unexpectedly, viewers at first didn’t realize that the performance was actually under way. In complete silence, with house lights still on, soloist Igor Kolb was performing unimaginable body and arm routine. His solo had elements of an aerobic exercise, martial arts, and yoga. He moved so rapidly – it seemed like he tried to exhaust all his energy. Suddenly a sound of violin pierced the air like a cry – just two bars of music – surrendering to complete silence again. Then from the darkness a woman – Daria Pavlenko – in a red body suit appeared on stage exhibiting robot-like intricate forearm movements. Along with unusual dance vocabulary, bright lights switched on and off, nerve-pinching music played “stop and go,” and the off-centered and multifocus perspective (sometimes with three independent solos performed on different parts of the stage), this work challenged not only the dancers but also the audience. After this 20-minute piece the intermission was welcome, perhaps necessary, to allow spectators to fully absorb the work.

Read more on The Dance Post...

Royal Variations

After a five-year absence, the Royal Ballet is in town again, in time for its 75th anniversary. On Tuesday night, the Royals presented a program of four ballets created in various times by the company’s own choreographers: La Valse and Enigma Variations by Frederick Ashton (The Royal Ballet’s founding choreographer), Gloria by Kenneth MacMillan (Ashton’s successor as the company’s Artistic Director), and Tanglewood by Alastair Marriott (the company’s dancer and aspiring choreographer).


The name of Frederick Ashton is integral to the history of the Royal Ballet. He sculpted British classical dance and created some of the most popular ballets that built the company’s name, so it wasn’t surprising to see two of his works on the program’s menu.



Created in 1958 for the La Scala Ballet, Ashton’s La Valse is a glamorous dance and perfect curtain-opener. “Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds slowly scatter: one sees... an immense ball room filled with a whirling crowd. The scene is gradually illuminated,” wrote Maurice Ravel about La Valse. And this is how Ashton’s ballet begins in a ball room, decorated with gorgeous blue multiple-layered drapes and crystal chandeliers. Men in black tail coats, women in dazzling evening gowns and white gloves are indulging in a waltz. Ravel’s music sets an exuberant and at the same time ominous mood for the dance. The Royal Ballet had it all: stunning decorations, beautiful costumes, and a great band (the Washington National Opera Orchestra). Unfortunately, a lack of unison movements of the corps de ballet made the dance less effective and visually appealing. It was quite disappointing to see dancers not being able to demonstrate synchronized arm- and footwork when the music itself serves as a perfect metronome. The male corps looked stronger, while ballerinas reminded of debutantes on their first ball. As a result, the thrill and excitement of the dance were conveyed mainly by the orchestra.

Read more on The Dance Post...

Mariinsky Dances Balanchine

As a part of the XIV International Arts Festival “Stars of the White Nights” currently underway in St. Petersburg, the Mariinsky Ballet Company paid tribute to its most famous alumnus – one of the greatest choreographers of the 20th century and a St. Petersburg native – George Balanchine. For decades Balanchine’s name had been blacklisted in Russia. Only in the late 1980s did the Mariinsky Ballet begin exploring his choreographic heritage and learn to dance à la Balanchine, mastering his classical steps and distinct movement vocabulary. The all-Balanchine program presented on May 23 at the Mariinsky Theater included three ballets from three different creative periods of the choreographer: The Serenade (1935), La Valse (1951), and Ballet Imperial (1941).


Serenade is a music-inspired ballet set to Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C Major for String Orchestra. This is the first ballet Balanchine created in America and still one of his most popular and widely performed works. Pure dance without a storyline, it allows the audience to create its own interpretation of what happens on stage. Watching the simple, very classical choreography, I felt like I was watching a presentation of young ballerinas demonstrating their dancing talents.

Read more on The Dance Post...

Il Viaggio a Reims

Gioachino Rossini composed the opera Il Viaggio a Reims (The Journey to Rheims) in 1825 for the coronation of French King Charles X. It was a “for the event” opera, and shortly after the premier the composer withdrew it from further performances. French producer Alain Maratrat and designers Pierre Alain Bertola and Mireille Dessingy decided to shake the dust from this old and forgotten Rossini work. The new production of Il Viaggio a Reims premiered at the Mariinsky Theater proved to be a huge success with the audience. This opera was composed for the finest bel canto singers of the 1820s and requires considerable vocal resources. This fact didn’t worry the soloists of the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers. They tackled their parts like pros. This is a comic “party opera,” and this is exactly what the young cast of the Mariinsky demonstrated last Sunday: Il Viaggio is not so much about the traveling, it’s about fun and sheer entertainment.

Read more on Ionarts...

White Lotus

Друзья уходят как-то невзначай,
Друзья уходят в прошлое, как в замять.
И мы смеемся с новыми друзьями,
А старых вспоминаем по ночам,
А старых вспоминаем по ночам.


А мы во сне зовем их, как в бреду,
Асфальты топчем юны и упруги,
И на прощанье стискиваем руки,
И руки обещают нам: "Приду".
И руки обещают нам: "Приду".

Они врастают, тают в синеву,
А мы во сне так верим им, так верим,
Но наяву распахнутые двери
И боль утраты тоже наяву.
И гарь утраты тоже наяву.

Но не прервать связующую нить.
Она дрожит во мне и не сдается.
Друзья уходят - кто же остается?
Друзья уходят - кем их заменить?
Друзья уходят - кем их заменить?..

...Друзья уходят как-то невзначай,
друзья уходят в прошлое, как в замять,
И мы смеемся с новыми друзьями,
А старых вспоминаем по ночам,
А старых вспоминаем по ночам.

Vadim Egorov

The Arts Club of Washington

A new exhibit of members of the Arts Club of Washington is currently on display at the historical Monroe House on Pennn Avenue. This year's exhibit was curated by the Phillips Collection's Johanna Halford-Macleod.

St. Petersburg - The City

I love you, Peter’s great creation,
I love your view of stern and grace,
The Neva wave’s regal procession,
The grayish granite – her bank’s dress,
The airy iron-casting fences,
The gentle transparent twilight,
The moonless gleam of your nights restless,
When I so easy read and write
Without a lamp in my room lone,
And seen is each huge buildings’ stone
Of the left streets, and is so bright
The Admiralty spire’s flight,
And when, not letting the night’s darkness
To reach the golden heaven’s height,
The dawn after the sunset hastens –
And a half-hour’s for the night. -

wrote the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin about St. Petersburg in his poem "Bronze Horseman".

It's hard not to love this city with its history, architecture, and culture.



The city with the most amazing cathedrals...



and museums...



and the best Opera House in the world...



with the repertoire that will make you want to come night after night...



with very friendly people... who still wear period clothes...



(well, not everyone)



with the most beautiful women in the most beautiful dresses...



and with the most distinguished looking men...



And if someone tells you that there are no bears on the streets of Russia... Not true! They are very cute and love ice cream!

Back From Russia...

Going Home...

Set sail for St. Petersburg
Making use of my time
Cos in a day I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon...

Royal Sleeping Beauty

This is the photograph of one of the greatest ballerinas of all times, Margot Fonteyn, in Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. The part of Princess Aurora became her signature role. She danced it more than 200 times from 1939 to 1972.

On Monday, May 15 the London's Royal Ballet presented a revival of its famous 1946 production of Sleeping Beauty. More details on Ionarts.

In My CD Player

This is one of my favorite CDs with Rachmaninov's piano works. This 2 CD set is absolutely amazing. If Boris Berezovsky deserves a better rating for the performance of Preludes... Dmitri Alexeev is incomparable in playing Morceaux de fantaise Op. 3 and Moments musicaux Op. 16. At least, I haven't heard a better performance yet. My personal favorite is Elegie (the first morceau de fantasie). As I once said it's "the saddest music ever written." And Alexeev does it all to bring the melancholy of the music to its extreme. Almost heartbreaking! Yet I cannot get enough of his performance.

Maurizio Pollini at the Strathmore

The American Ballet Theater: Summertime in New York

The American Ballet Theater is spending the first half of the summer in New York City. The rehearsing and performing will be held at the Lincoln Center, at the Metropolitan Opera House to be exact. Click here for details.

Man in Black is Back

(Bang-shang-a-lang)
Felt like holdin' dynamite now
(Bang-shang-a-lang)
What's that ringin' in my ear?
(Bang-shang-a-lang)
Tell me ain't those bells I hear!
(Bang-shang-a-lang)

Bang bang!
Shang-a-lang
Bang bang!
Shang-a-lang

Bang bang bang!
Shang a lang a lang
Bang bang bang!
Shang a lang a lang

“It was the most vigorous piano playing I’ve ever heard,” a woman sitting next to me remarked after the end of the piano recital of Lang Lang at the Strathmore Concert Hall on April 13. She was right. Lang Lang’s playing was all about the speed and the strike. He was striking the keys fast... and loud!

On my way home I was thinking: if I were to write about his performance what should be the title? The one I could think of immediately was “Lang Lang: Bang Bang.” I thought that was the best possible name to describe what I heard in the Strathmore that evening. To my disappointment after I google my idea (the only way to find out how original it was) I discovered that I wasn’t the first one to think “Bang Bang” when it comes to “Lang Lang”.

The program ( Mozart (K330), Schumann (Fantasy Op. 17), 6 Chinese Traditional pieces, Enrique Granados (Los requiebros), and Liszt (Isolde’s Death Scene from Tristan and Isolde and Hungarian Rhapsody N6)) as you can see was quite diverse. His ‘Mozart’ was cold and numb... and it was almost excruciating to listen to... especially when the memory of the Mozart miracle of Mitsuko Uchida, who played on the same stage back in October, is still lingering. I have to admit, his ‘Schumann’ did grab my attention. “If he recorded the Fantasy – I’ll buy the recording,” I thought as he played. After the intermission, the pianist decided to introduce the Traditional Chinese part of the program to the audience first with the microphone and then on the piano. Have you ever heard Lang Lang talking? His accent is as heavy as a D-model of the Steinway he was playing. I was a bit surprised by this choice of the music - Chinese tunes squished in between Mozart, Schumann and Liszt. I thought "Traditional" would have been a wonderful choice for the next season of the Embassy Series. As he continued banging his program to the end, I kept thinking about his beautiful performance of Chopin’s piano concerto at the Kennedy Center... Then came 'the Liszt'. This probably was the only time when I didn’t mind the way he played: The composer was one of the best bangers himself.

And he bangs, he bangs
Oh baby
When he moves, he moves
I go crazy...

Like no one in history
He bangs, he bangs!

Lang Lang’s manners... or better mannerism. What a clown! He was swinging his entire body back in forth so vigorously that at some point I thought he would not be able to keep his balance and would fall from the piano bench. (As Vladimir Horowitz once said: “On stage you are the king and you should try to look like one. “ )

Encores. Numerous compatriots (almost 60% of the audience) couldn’t let the pianist leave the stage without playing a few extras. This is where the redemption came... with the sound of Chopin Etude 3 Op. 10...

Hopefully, one day Lang Lang realizes that it’s possible to impress the audience without unnecessary accentuating and extravagant body movements. He moves his fingers fast... no questions about it. Playing from the heart... this is when true virtuosity shines at its best.

Lang Lang can be seen and heard in Washington on May 20 at The Washington Performing Arts Society Gala and Auction (at undisclosed time). It will be held at The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. The tickets starts at $500. I wonder how many residents of the China Town will be in attendance...

Rain N' Roses

Never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold Spring rain...

Click here to continue...

The Washington Ballet: From Barre To Bach and the Beatles

The Washington Ballet is back on its feet, presenting two world premieres united under a title “Bach/Beatles Project” at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. “How wonderful to be back in the studio!” remarked Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet Septime Werbre before the curtain rose after the newly negotiated labor contract finally put an end to a lengthy period of cancellations, uncertainty, and unemployment for the company’s 20 dancers, returning them on stage.

The rest of the review can be found on Ionarts. My debut.

The Washington Ballet

Washington, D.C., the Nation’s Capital has it all: a symphony orchestra called “The National Symphony Orchestra”, an opera house – “The Washington National Opera”, and a ballet company – “The Washington Ballet” (that’s right we do have a ballet here in Washington.) It’s a small 20-dancer company with 60-year history, exciting new programs and more than $800,000 loss in tickets revenue posted this season.

The Washington Ballet was in a state of emergency for many months. The company was going through legal battles and economic hardship since the beginning of the year. Last December the management of the company had to cancel a half of the scheduled performances of “The Nutcracker”. Instead of dancing on stage, all members of the ballet marched outside the Warner Theater demanding improvements in employment, health and safety conditions. For dancers, whose salaries average about $27,000 a season, as they claimed, money wasn’t an issue. They demanded better working environment.
Very long and often extremely physically challenging rehearsals were taking its toll on the performers resulting in an unusually high rate of injuries that often required surgical procedures. For months the management and the union (all 20 dancers became members of the American Guild of Musical Artists last year) had been trying to reach a common denominator. For almost two months the dancers were unemployed. The cancellation of “The Nutcracker” was a deadly blow to a company’s budget. Not being able to finance future performances, the managment halted the rest of the season productions, canceled engagements at the Joyce Theater in New York and a summer tour in Italy. (State of emergency, unemployment, legal battles, budget deficit… The word “National” is just begging to be in “The Washington Ballet” title.)

Fortunately, this legal saga had a happy end. With the ratification of the first union contract in the history of the Washington Ballet in late March dancers and choreographers went back in studios. On March 27 the Artistic Director Septime Webre announced plans for the company’s 2006-07 season. “The Nutcracker” will make come back to the Warner Theater during holiday seasons for just three- instead of four-week period and will be the only full-length ballet in the repertoire. However, the upcoming year promises variety of short works: “Carmina Burana”, “Noche Latina!” and “Juanita y Alicia” (all choreographed by Mr. Webre); “In the Upper Room” and “In the Night” (choreographed by Twyla Tharp and Jerome Robbins, respectively.) At the end of the season, as usual, the troupe is presenting its signature program “7x7” – seven miniature ballets (each dance lasts about 7 minutes) and this time it will be all about Shakespeare.

Tonight the Washington Ballet is back on its feet presenting two new programs titled “Bach/Beatles Project” at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater.

On the Podium: Vladimir Jurowski

Vladimir Jurowski. 34. Russian. Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2007/08 season.

"Jurowski is more than a cut above the rest. His clarity, subtlety, intelligence and well-preparedness - added to uncommon maturity - turn the Prokofiev into a balletic tour de force..." Financial Times

"He has Ormandy's fine sense of string-sound cultivation. He has all the emotional fire of Muti - expressiveness without tasteless exaggeration. He has Sawallisch's authority, absolutely legible stick technique, and an ability to fix ensemble problems with a series of quick gestures..." The performance of the Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony clearly was "among the most magnificent musical achievements of the Philadelphia Symphomy Orchestra's last dozen years - right up there with Simon Rattle's Gurrelieder, Riccardo Muti's Respighi, and Wolfgang Sawallisch's Bruckner."
Philadelphia Inquirer

This just announced appointment of Vladimir Jurowski to be a Principal Conductor of the LPO next season is a perfect answer to my question.

Man in Black

Lang Lang was never in my top 100 favorite pianists list... until last December. On December 2, 2005 he performed Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra led by Leonard Slatkin at the Kennedy Center. I was eager to hear the Walton’s First Symphony and had no expectations about this pianist. After the concert I came home and wrote the following letter to someone who shared my negativism towards Lang Lang (I was laughing while writing it... since I was crazily happy after that concert.)

This is "Love" in Chinese. I came to hear the Walton. I didn't care about the pianist... It had been a really long day and I was extremely tired ... I slept through the Schubert [Overture to Rosamunde, D. 644] - so I can't say whether the performance was good or bad. When I woke up the piano was already rolled up on the stage. And then Slatkin returned and took his place on the podium... And then I saw HIM. Man-In-Black...black shirt, black jacket, black pants, and long black hair (he does have his hair rather long these days). Orchestra began playing... and then was his turn to start and he did... striking the keys with absolutely weightless hands which seemed didn't even belong to his body -- it was just hands playing the most difficult passages absolutely effortlessly with such a grace, warmth, and perfection that... I thought I was just dreaming. OK, now seriously. I am afraid I am about to disappoint you... Lang Lang was simply irresistible. And I will be very surprised if anyone who will review his performance tomorrow is going to say less than "phenomenal" and "astonishing". On stage -- he was a star... and he knew it. After he played the last note -- audience just stood up. There was no "waiting time" - everyone just got up. The house went wild! It was one of the loudest standing ovations the Concert Hall had ever witnessed...

“What a fascinating performance!” I thought. I just couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. Lang Lang was very dignified at the piano without his usual mannerism. He didn’t swing his body back and forth and most importantly ... he didn’t bang! I was simply stunned! I left the Kennedy Center with "the Walton" in my head and with Lang Lang in my heart.

After that concert I changed my opinion on Lang Lang. No, I didn’t go to the store next day to buy his records. I just called the WPAS and bought a ticket for his April’s recital at the Strathmore Concert Hall.

$95 Million "Dora"

Yesterday the Top 1o Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold list got revised. Un undentified buyer ("He sounded Russian," was said by those who sat near him) spent $102.7 million at Sotheby's last night. (Well, it does sound like "New Russian," indeed!) He walked out as a lucky owner of a Picasso portrait of his mistress Dora Maar (for which he paid $95 million), an 1883 Monet seascape ($5 million) and later a 1978 Chagall biblical scene, "Paradise," ($2.5 million.) $95 million for "Dora" became "the second highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction, after "Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice)," a 1905 painting from Picasso's Rose Period, which brought $104.1 million at Sotheby's in May 2004."

555 Masterpieces: The Interpreter

The next day after I heard the performance of Scarlatti’s K466, I was in the local music store browsing through numerous recordings and looking for what would be my first ever recording of Scarlatti’s sonatas. Finally I found what I was looking for. “Horowitz Plays Scarlatti” read the title of the CD... I can’t help smiling writing this now. I didn’t know at that time that this $12.99 CD would have such a profound effect on me. With this CD I discovered Domenico Scarlatti and re-discovered Horowitz. No, let me say it differently: With this CD I became “Scarlatti-addict” and “Horowitz-crazy.” In my opinion, this is the single greatest piano recording ever made.
“Never had Scarlatti been more fortunate in an interpreter. Horowitz transformed these pieces from sonatas for harpsichord into virtuosic piano gems. He imitated orchestral colors and explored a wide range of rhythmic and percussive effects. These performances represent virtuosity at its best.” Listening to this Horowitz’s Scarlatti’s album was a total revelation.

"I maintain that there will come a time when Scarlatti will often be played in concerts, and people will appreciate and enjoy him," once said Frederic Chopin. Vladimir Horowitz made it possible. He adored Scarlatti’s sonatas enormously. He played them in his the most prominent recitals. In November 1981 Horowitz played in the Metropolitan Opera House. “He began with one of his favorite people, selecting five comparatively unfamiliar sonatas from the deep reservoir of Scarlatti's pieces as well as one, the songfully flowing B minor (Longo 33), that most pianists have struggled over. Mr. Horowitz's Scarlatti has long been the despair of other pianists and the delight of audiences. The right hand's figurations, whether imitating a guitar's delicate arpeggios or a drum tattoo, were crystalline in their clarity; and yet the left hand argued its points and counterpoints so crisply that the debate never got one-sided. This was breathtaking in its own way, a kind of contemporary rococo pianism, if you will, that exalted exquisite detail over design and structure,” wrote New York Times about his performance. The recording of this concert was my next acquisition.

Then I got the DVD “Horowitz in Moscow.” He was 82 years old. And he hasn’t been in Russia for more than 60 years. For many Russians it was “a dream come true” to see him performing live. The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory was overfilled. Horowitz got on stage. Bow tie. Big smile. He looked at the audience. And I was so sure that he was going to say something... like “Hello! Here I am... ” or something like that. But he just sat at the piano.... paused... and started playing. I heard the quiet sonority of Scarlatti’s K87. It was Horowitz’s way of saying to his adoring Russian fans: “ I know it took me a long time. But I am here now...”