April 27, 2008

by: Randy Kinkel

April 27, 2008

Tenor Matthew Polenzani

( Phoenix, AZ )
•Hindemith Concerto recording debut
•Rattle in or out in Berlin?
•Polenzani wins Sills award

It's this week in classical music, an update on what's happenning in the classical music world, I'm Randy Kinkel.

A Hindemith Concerto locked away for decaades will finally get it's first recording tonight in Philadelphia with the Curtis Symphony Orchestrat. The work, Hindemith's Piano Music with Orchestra, written in 1923 for the one-armed Concert Pianist Paul Wittgenstein, was never played by the soloist, and was kept under wraps in his widow's pennsylvania farmhouse until it's discovery after her death in 2002. the work had it's concert debut in Berlin in 2004. Leon Fleischer, who's the soloist for tonight's recording, and was also the soloist for the piece's debut in Berlin, said, "It's highly inventive, with a very special third movement," There's an extraordinary duet between the piano and English horn that anticipates Ravel by 10 years." Ravel's Piano Concerto in G has an eerily similar effect. Christoph Eschenbach, who will conduct Sunday, goes so far as to describe the piece as "very lively . . . not very complicated."

The Berlin Philharmonic may be voting conductor Simon Rattle off the podium soon. The conductor, who took over in 2002, has a contract that runs until 2012 but his relationship with the players has been turbulent. Philharmonic Spokesman Stephan Stanke said, "The Orchestra and Sir Simon are in the process of negotiating...the Orchestra has a very democratic tradition. It's often called the Orchestra Republic... the musicians decide their chief conductor themselves." Rumors of unrest emerged after the 53-year-old conductor announced the orchestra's program for the upcoming year. Rattle has been criticized by some for his programming of contemporary music. The Musicians of the Philharmonic will reportedly be voting on whether to Keep Rattle at the helm in the next few days.

Tenor Matthew Polenzani has won the $50,000 Beverly Sills Artist Award for young American Singers at the Metropolitan Opera. The Award is meant to further the careers of gifted singers between the ages of 25 and 40 who have appeared in featured solo roles at the Met. Polenzani, who has sung 27 roles with the company, made his Met Debut in 1997 as as Krushchov in "Boris Godunov", and is currently appearing as Belmonte in the Met's production of Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio.

For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, kbaq.org, be listening each week at this time for another update, and join me every weekday at noon for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. I'm Randy Kinkel, for KBAQ's "this Week in Classical Music", on 89.5 KBAQ phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.

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