Category: Music

• En Masse

  

  My review of Spoletio USA’s, Mozart Mass in C Minor, for Charleston’s Post and Courier.

  S.E. Barcus

  Choral, Music, Symphony

  2026, Amanda Quist, Charleston, Chelsea Helm, classical music, Mass in C Minor, Mozart, review, Spoleto, Spoleto Chorus

• A Contemporary Jig, a Modern Quintet, and a Romantic Masterpiece

  

  True to their M.O., the day featured a nice compliment of new, contemporary works alongside older classical ones, as well as a chance to see the Festival’s Composer-in-Residence, Allison Loggins-Hull, in action today as a flutist (and even an unprogrammed surprise piece composed by harpist, Charles Overton).

  S.E. Barcus

  Chamber music, Music, Piano

  Alexi Kenney, Allison Loggins-Hull, Arlen Hlusko, Ayane Kozasa, Chamber music, Charles Overton, Charleston, classical music, Jennifer Frautschi, Kristen Lee, Kronos Quartet, Mark O’Connor, Mendelssohn Piano Trio, Paul Wiancko, review, Soyeon Kate Lee, Spoleto, Villa-Lobos quintet

• Dido and A Circus

  

  My review of Circa and Spoletio USA’s, Dido and Aeneas, for Charleston’s Post and Courier.

  S.E. Barcus

  Contemporary Circus, Dramatic Performing Arts, Music, Opera

  Australia, Charleston, Circa, Contemporary Circus, Dido, Dido and Aeneas, Opera, Post and Courier, review, Spoleto

• Lang Lang Land

  

  Truly our day’s Pavarotti-turned-pianist, as Pavarotti himself told Lang Lang, so many years ago.  For myself, I have absolutely nothing wrong with him. Play as fast you want, Lang Lang. I love it. I love whenever I get the chance to go on a vacation to Lang Lang Land!  It’s such beautiful place!

  S.E. Barcus

  Music, Piano

  2026, 2026 tour, American tour, Benaroya Hall, classical music, Lang, Lang Lang, Lang Lang Land, music, pianist, piano, Piano recital, reviews, Seattle

• Venezuela, Fidelio, and Minneapolis walk into a bar….

  

  Gustavo Dudamel in his last season (literally passing the baton) with LA Phil, conducting a Ricardo Lorenz world premiere; followed by hot pianist Yunchan Lim performing Schumann’s piano concerto; and Tar — er, Kate Blanchett — performing as Goethe’s and Beethoven’s Narrator in Egmont’s incidental music, all with the fabulous LA Phil.  (Holy mackerel, man,…

  S.E. Barcus

  Dramatic Performing Arts, Music, Piano, Symphony, Theater

  2026, Beethoven, Cate Blanchett, Dudamel, Egmont, Humboldt’s Nature, LA Phil, Lim, Lorenz, Ricardo Lorenz, Schumann, Yunchan Lim

• Alexander Malofeev, the Golden Boy Pianist

  

  Overall, watch out for this fellow Malofeev.  He’s quite good, and it is slightly scary that he is not satisfied with “just” the piano.  In that recent interview, mentioned above, he revealed that he thinks symphonies are better (!) than piano because they are “bigger.”  Do I see a future where Malofeev is the next…

  S.E. Barcus

  Music, Piano

  2026, Alexander Malofeev, Grieg, Lourie, Malofeev, piano, Prokofiev, Rautavaara, Scriabin, Stravinsky, Vienna

• Tan Dun’s Soundscape Monument for Mothers, Daughters, and Sisters

  

  Tan Dun has called his Nu Shu a “soundscape monument for mothers, daughters, and sisters.”  “Monument” is a good word choice.  Despite all of the amazingly ambitious and wonderful music this composer has already made throughout his life, I can’t imagine anything will top this piece, and all of the real, human mythology surrounding it. 

  S.E. Barcus

  Music, Symphony

  2025, classical music, Nu Shu, review, Seattle, Seattle Symphony, Secret songs, Tan Dun, Water Concerto, Xavier de Maistre, Yuri Yamashita

• My Interview with Philip Glass, and His, “New-World-Fusion-Chamber-Music-Quartet-Extravaganza!”

  

  “CP: How insulting is it to you when you hear “New Age” or “trance music”? PG: “Oh, I don’t care, really. I’ve been called all sorts of things. Those things come and go.”

  S.E. Barcus

  Music, Piano, Symphony

  Charleston, Philip Glass, Spoleto, Suso, The Screens

• John Adams and the Noir of January 6

  

  Composer John Adams conducts the Seattle Symphony on the anniversary of the insurrection, January 6, 2022.

  S.E. Barcus

  Music, Piano, Symphony

  City Noir, January 6, Jeremy Denk, John Adams, Must the Devil, review, Seattle Symphony, Short Ride in a Fast Machine

• Seattle Symphony’s Pastiche of Germans … And a Scot

  

  The imaginative and variegated quality of tonight’s program is truly appreciated.  Three completely different styles, a little something for everyone, tied together with a theme.  Tonight, the theme was Germans, and heroes.  While the contemporary German composer, Widmann, wrote his “Con brio” in honor of his hero, Beethoven, Ludwig himself wrote the 5th piano concerto…

  S.E. Barcus

  Music, Piano, Symphony

  Beethoven, Edusei, Jörg Widmann, Seattle Symphony, Steven Osborne