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Live on tape, seven great maestros, a man who made waterfalls, and me
Vintage audio rediscovered

July 3, 2019

Commenting on John Mauceri's book Maestros and Their Music: The Art and Alchemy of Conducting last year, I had occasion to reminisce about my live series "Conductors in Conversation" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1993-94. Just now, my friend Michael Stiefel informs me that six of the seven talks are available on demand on the website of WNYC, the station that broadcast them years ago. The six are Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, and Sir Georg Solti. Pierre Boulez is missing in action.

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Scrambling to catch up
Catch of the Day, revisited (March 30, April 7, June 2)

June 17, 2019

Here, listed in the order in which we played them, are the tracks featured on Catch of the Day on March 30, April 7, and June 2. Underscored italics in a header and commentary in bold indicate--surprise!--a recommended release.

In the last few months, we lost several slots to preemptions and travel. But for now, we're hopeful that our schedule going forward will be steadier, with shows at noon Hawaiian time the first and last Sundays of each month. Click here for the station's home page and links for live streaming. Mahalo for listening!

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· Courante (version 1)

· Courante (version 2)

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Over the moon with Rossini's Rosina, in the dumps with a Verdi Leonora
On the road ago, part 2 - Catching up with Ms. Berghaus, getting to know Mr. Kratzer

20 Jun 2019

Jump straight to the notes on the operas if you like, commentary upon which begin two paragraphs down. First, though, I'll digress to say that spring in Northern Europe was chilly this year but intoxicating. Everywhere I went—other stops were Fredrikstad (outside Oslo), Helsinki, and London—the tulips, lilacs, irises, and chestnut trees alone would have justified a journey halfway around the world, even before I wandered into Kew Gardens and the Chelsea Flower Show, awash in even more dizzying tulips and irises, not to speak of roses, peonies, orchids, gladiolas, and so much more.

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Franco Zeffirelli
Follow the links

June 15, 2019

"Some people think that once you bury a person, the person is gone," he once told me over the telephone. "No, no, no, no, no!" his voice continued, skipping down the scale like a singer's. "There are people you cannot live without consulting, even if they are dead."

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Hobnobbing with Sellars and Aimard in Herrenhausen
On the road again, part 1 - Top of the world with Messiaen's birds...

18 Jun 2019

Europe wasn't in my sights this year until Ingo Metzmacher, maestro and impresario, invited me out of the blue to appear at the tenth edition of the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, the wildly eclectic arts bazaar he directs each May in Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony. By happenstance, my arrival in German and my departure synched up with the season's final performances of operas I was glad to catch: Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin, and Verdi's La Forza del destino at Oper Frankfurt. I'll have things to say about those in a separate post.

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Books by Matthew Gurewitsch