WETA FM 90.9 Blog

Nikolaj Znaider has one of the most beautiful tones—especially in his confident pianissimos—among violinists his generation, and hearing him play a ‘just-off the beaten path’ 20^th century violin concerto like Elgar’s under Elgar-certified Leonard Slatkin is worth getting to the Kennedy Center for. So is hearing Slatkin return to the podium after his heart problems earlier this year, and hearing him return to the NSO: Freed of the baggage that ground the last two years of his tenure down, this should be liberating music-making with a punch in Holst’s The Planets. Thursday, January 7^th through Saturday, January 9^th.

You should be an unambiguous Brahms-lover to go to the Kennedy Center Chamber Players’ Brahms-Sonata bonanza on Sunday, January 10^th, 2PM (Terrace Theater ): The Viola Sonata (a.k.a. Clarinet Sonata) op.120/2 and to some extend even the Violin Sonata op.108 are more likely to delight a Brahmsian than to make one of you if you’re not already. The Cello Sonata differs in this respect; it’s not only a masterwork, like Brahms chamber works generally, but also highly accessible even to the Brahms-skeptics that are allegedly out there.

Michael Stern is currently the conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, and apparently he’s making waves in the landlocked state of Missouri. He will be available to enjoy your scrutiny at the Kennedy Center between January 14^th and 16^th, conducting my favorite Sibelius Symphony—his most conventional, the Second—Barber’s Symphony no.1, and Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto won’t hurt, either, with Manny Ax playing.

Iván Fischer conducting the NSO in Mahler is obviously unmissable: Das Lied von der Erde with Christianne Stotijn and Stig Andersen between January 21^st and 23^rd at the Kennedy Center. Added bonus: Mozart’s Symphony no.38.
Any chance to hear Menahem Pressler on ivory before you see him in pine.  Mozart and Dvořák with Alexander Kerr, Kim Kashkashian, and Antonio Meneses promise a genial evening at the Library of Congress on Thursday, January 21^st, at 8PM.

The Candlelight Concert Society may not have an even remotely professional web-presence, but their recitals are everything but amateurish. In fact, for the next few months, trips up to Howard Community College’s Smith Theatre in Columbia might become mandatory for chamber music aficionados. The reason is their 2010 Beethoven string quartet cycle, split over two seasons and among three top notch string quartets. You can’t get much better a spread than the Pacifica Quartet, the Quatuor Èbéne, and the Artemis Quartet as your performers. The Pacifica Quartet gets to start, on Saturday, January 23^rd at 8PM.

If the half dozen shopping centers on Rockville Pike don’t get you to North Bethesda, Radu Lupu should. WPAS presents him in a recital of Schubert (D.959), Beethoven (“Appassionata”), and Janáček (“In the Mist”) at the Music Center at Strathmore. Wednesday, January 27^th, 8PM.

Whether Lenksy’s Aria from “Eugene Onegin” , transcribed for cello and orchestra, is required listening I doubt… even when Mischa Maisky is responsible for it. But Tchaikovsky Roccoco Variations will be nice to hear in concert and Dvořák with Iván Fischer—the 8^th in this case—should never be missed. NSO, Kennedy Center, on January 28^th through January 30^th.

I liked what Schubert I heard of Matthias Soucek in the Embassy Series recital almost four years ago, and for Schubert’s birthday he is back with lots more. Again at the Embassy of Austria, on Friday, January 29^th, 7.30PM.

Has the National Philharmonic so risen in status, or Leon Fleisher so fallen, that they are now playing together? Let’s hope for the former and find out in one of their two concerts notable for featuring Prokofiev’s Fourth Piano Concerto (for left hand). Musical additives include popular—populist—Musorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique”. Piotr Gajewski conducts. Saturday, January 30^th, 8PM and Sunday, January 31^st, 3PM. Strathmore.

Scarlatti, Olivier Cavé

Olivier Cavé from Switzerland makes his US debut at the Phillips  Collection with a recital of my perennial love, Scarlatti—sprinkled amid Bach (Concerto Italiano) and Albéniz. Sounds like a great reason to make it a leisurely Sunday at the museum, arriving some time before the recital’s start at 4PM.