Reveries and Passions
Esa-Pekka Salonen previews the Reveries and Passions Festival
For conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the repertoire he has selected for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s French Reveries and Passions Festival is…
Debussy, Ravel and their new kind of ‘inward’ theater
Until recent decades, opera in Paris followed twin tracks of very different provenance and purpose. The Opéra, deriving from court…
Stéphane Degout, the Pelléas of his generation, reflects on French style
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s recent spring festivals have explored the unusual. In 2013, the focus was Rivers: Nature, Power, Culture,…
Messiaen’s ‘Turangalîla-symphonie,’ a song of love — as cataclysm
When we hear the phrase “love song,” it’s understandable if our minds turn to sentimentality, to hearts and flowers, to…
Orchestra Hall morphs into mythical Allemonde for ‘Pelléas et Mélisande’
Last performed locally in 1992, Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande exhibits “not simply a new manner of writing opera, but a new kind…
Alliance française: Jean-Yves Thibaudet on his bond to Ravel and Messiaen
Jean-Yves Thibaudet is a man on a mission. Known for his championing of unusual repertoire, the French-born pianist moves into…
Messiaen’s ultimate act of faith, his ‘Quartet for the End of Time’
Scholars, historians and music lovers have long pondered the correlation and connection between a composer’s life and musical works. The…