Brahms, Goethe and Beethoven
True Concord offered rarely performed work by Johannes Brahms, Alto Rhapsody, at a recent concert in Tucson. It was book-ended by two Beethoven pieces, the controversial Mass in C...
Beethoven on Nature
“All art constantly aspires to the condition of music.” So said the literary and art critic Walter Pater in 1888. But according to Beethoven, his 6th Symphony is “more...
A New Angle on La Bohème
La bohème operates on a dual level. The first two acts are full of joie de vivre and exhibit a carefree attitude to love and life that reflects the...
World Premiere in Esperanto
It may not be a unique event, but certainly the premiere of a choral work for symphony orchestra in the Esperanto language is a great rarity. To have such...
The Foundations of American Music
The Great American Songbook is usually regarded as the sine qua non of American music, but as True Concord shows on their latest Tucson concert, it is just one...
Beethoven X2
The latest offering by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra came with a world premiere: Imagining the Dance by Dan Coleman, the symphony's composer in residence. For this concert, held at...
The Shadow of Beethoven
Even as he was about to play Concerto No. 2 for Piano by Saint-Saens, pianist Sean Chen spoke in some awe of Ludwig von Beethoven.
“After Beethoven died in 1827...
Music for Leonardo da Vinci’s 500th Anniversary
To mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, a multimedia symphony by Jocelyn Hagen is being performed across the United States this year. This audio-visual...
Forms in a Cloud
On the surface it appears the three compositions performed by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra this weekend have little in common. But perhaps inspired by Remembrance Day on Nov. 11,...
Toby Keith: We Need Cowboys to Clean Things Up
Toby Keith ended his 2019 tour, entitled That's Country Bro!, right here in Tucson. The concert, at the Casino del Sol AVA amphitheatre, was a sold-out lively affair with...
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Charade or Theatre?
According to the dictionary, a charade is “an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance.” The opening play at the Rogue...
CULTURAL ARCHETYPES, Part 3 of 4
Civilization is complex, and philosophers often use archetypes like general laws in order to simplify complex realities. I am not a philosopher, but I...
Poetry in Archaic Greece
When one thinks of Ancient Greece, the mind goes at once to the so-called Classical Period, when Athens flourished, great philosophy was written, and...
