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Sunday, April 10, 2016

Because You Can't Go Wrong With Beethoven.

That's the answer to a question Anthony Tommasini asks in his rave review of the Miró Quartet's Ginastera program:
Ginastera’s Third Quartet (1973) features a soprano singing settings of Spanish poems that deal with longing, desire and the power of music to vanquish monstrous darkness. The soprano Keira Duffy brought rich sound and gripping expressivity to the performance. How can this stunning piece not have become a staple of the repertory?
It's what Alex Ross has called "celebrity programming." See also: San Francisco Opera's 2016-17 season.

3 comments:

  1. Well, there are 20C works which have become staples of the repertory, so Beethoven can't be blamed for everything.

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  2. How do you argue this is "celebrity programming"? It's a Ginastera centennial year (today is the actual centennial), so really it's "anniversary programming."

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  3. "Celebrity programming" refers back to "you can't go wrong with Beethoven" (and the implied Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikowsky). As you note, performances of Ginastera are rare.

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