August 13, 2006

by: Randy Kinkel

August 13, 2006

Steve Reich

This Week in Classical Music

( Phoenix, AZ )
•Reich premieres new piece at 70th BD fest
•Ozawa returns to Tanglewood
•Pianos purged in Russia

It's KBAQ's "This week in classical music" --- an update on what's happening in the classical music world... I'm Randy Kinkel.

Steve Reich turns 70 this fall. But the minimalist composer is far from retiring from the world of music. In fact, he's been working on a piece based on a modern-day tragedy, the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl by terrorists while he was researching links between Al Qaeda and Pakistani intelligence services. Called "The Daniel Variations", the piece interweaves words from the book of Daniel in the bible with Pearl's own words. The piece will be premiered at London's Barbican center during Steve Reich's birthday festival in October.

Seiji Ozawa returned to Tanglewood this weekend after a six-month absence from the stage. The 71-year-old conductor led the orchestra last night in Mahler's "resurrection" symphony in the 1200-seat multi-million –dollar music hall that bears his name. Ozawa, who led the Boston Symphony for three decades after leaving in 2002 for Vienna, is credited with bolstering attendance at the summer festival.

Russians who once were encouraged to practice Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky on the family piano are now getting rid of those pianos in record numbers. Many are being given away to make room for Ikea Furniture and Japanese Stereo systems. During Communist rule, pianos were inexpensive and encouraged as a way for citizens to become cultured.

For more information on these and other items and events, go to the KBAQ website at KBAQ.org... be listening every week at this time for another update, and join me at noon every weekday 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.

Permanent link |