Tchaikovsky competition winners announced

June 30, 2011 Leave a comment

Daniil Trifonov (photo: http://www.daniiltrifonov.com)

The results are in, and the first place winners in each category are:

  • Piano:  Daniil Trifonov.  The 20-year old Russian pianist had already made a name for himself, initially by taking third place at the Chopin competition  late last year, and then following it up with a first place finish and gold medal at the Artur Rubenstein competition this past May.  Trifonov is currently a student of Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
  • Violin:  No winner.  The jury decided not to award a first prize for violin, the fourth time this has happened overall, and notably the third time it has happened in the last five competitions.  Sergey Dogadin and Itamar Zorman shared second prize.  Californian Nigel Armstrong was awarded 4th prize.
  • Cello:  Narek Hakhnazaryan.  Earlier this week, the Armenian cellist was known for being at the center of some of the controversy; now he can be known as the winner.  (UPDATE:  Click HERE to read Bob Thomas’s review of Hakhnazaryan’s appearance with the Pasadena Symphony earlier this year)
  • Voice (female):  Sun Young Seo
  • Voice (male):  Jong Min Park.
It will be interesting to follow their careers.  Many previous winners have gone on to successful solo careers, some winning great fame; others, um, not so much.
If you want to get a head start on seeing how these budding classical music stars perform, you can watch the streaming video feed of the Gala concerts for the winners by clicking HERE on the following dates/times:
  • Friday, July 1st, 7pm Moscow time (i.e. 8am Pacific Daylight Time)
  • Saturday, July 2nd, 7pm St. Petersburgtime (i.e. 8am Pacific Daylight Time)

Filed under Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with , , , , ,

Happy Birthday, Esa-Pekka!

June 30, 2011 Leave a comment

As we await the final results from the XIV Tchaikovsky International Competition, let me take a moment and wish Esa-Pekka Salonen a very happy birthday.  The Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic turns 53 today.

Mrs. CKDH always loved the publicity poster of E-PS where he held is baton up so that you could see his flexing bicep peeking out from his ubiquitous black polo shirt. I couldn't find that picture, so she'll have to settle for this one. (photo: Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times)

Filed under Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with ,

Thanks and Tchaikovsky on a Thursday

June 30, 2011 Leave a comment

First of all, I must say, “Thank you very much” for all of you who have visited All is Yar since I began it twenty one days ago.  I’m glad you have taken some of your busy time to see what I’ve shared, and I hope you come back often.  Special thanks must go to these four people:

  • Timothy Mangan, music critic and writer extraordinaire, for not only putting up with my comments on his blog for many years, but for discovering All is Yar in its infancy and taking the time to comment before any one else did.
  • Brian (Out West Arts) and Lisa Hirsch (Iron Tongue of Midnight), longtime voices of musical opinion here on the West Coast, both of whom generously welcomed me into the blogosphere with mentions on their own well-visited sites.
  • MarK, the distinguished and frequent contributor (via comments) on many well known musical sites — including all three mentioned above — and with whom I’ve had the pleasure to share some comments on these sites, for bringing his musical expertise, intelligence and wit to bear by joining in discussion at All is Yar too.
I am humbled by everyone’s engagement and encouragement.
Now, on to the matter at hand . . . The winners of this year’s XIV Tchaikovsky International Competition are scheduled to be announced on June 30th at 8pm Moscow Time (i.e. right about now).

Filed under Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with , , ,

Orchestra programming: some are just better at it than others

June 28, 2011 Leave a comment

After spending some time chatting on Tim Mangan’s blog about how the Pacific Symphony chose to put together its 2011-2012 season, I was reminded of a little contest that Sam Bergman and Sarah Hicks of the Minnesota Orchestra decided to hold a couple of years ago.  The concept, in short, was to “put yourself in the shoes of the music director” to program five separate orchestral concert programs with the following stipulations:

  • Be innovative and forward thinking, but keep in mind that you actually have to sell tickets to the concerts
  • The five concerts should preferably not have an overarching theme
  • No more than one concert should adhere to the traditional “Overture-Concerto-Intermission-Symphony” (OCIS) format
  • Don’t piss off your musicians by your programming, or as they said:  ”Exhibit A:  ask 100 orchestra musicians what they think about playing film scores instead of Beethoven”

They made a number of positive references to Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Phil, and given my affinity with what the local band had been doing, I figured I’d toss my hat in the ring.  After mulling a variety of options and making efforts to keep in mind the rules above, I submitted my entry along with 20 other people, and . . .

Read more of this post

Filed under Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Pacific Symphony 2011-2012 season announced; I give my $0.02 about it

June 25, 2011 3 Comments

The Pacific Symphony announced details of their 2011-2012 winter season.  Timothy Mangan, music critic and blogger extraordinaire, refrained from comment (for now, at least) but invited others to share their thoughts instead.

I couldn’t resist. Click HERE to see what I thought.

The allegedly "renowned" Christoph König must have been cold during this photo shoot. Hopefully, they'll get the thermostat set properly at Segerstrom Concert Hall when he conducts the Pacific Symphony Feb. 2-4, 2012 (photo by Schmidt Artists International, Inc.)

Filed under Music (News & Reviews), Pacific Symphony Tagged with , , , ,

Wine and a Weekend of Celebration

June 25, 2011 1 Comment

Typically, when the weekend comes around, Mrs. CKDH & I tend to open a bottle of wine (or perhaps two or six bottles, depending on which folks we happen to be drinking with).  Since last weekend was a particularly celebratory one filled special occasions with family, friends, and lots of yummy cuts of USDA prime beef, I went into the celler and pulled out a couple of Cabs that had been laying down for a little while.  I’ve been asked a couple of times by the wonderful folks with whom we dined to remind them what we drank — my apologies for the week-long delay:

  • 1995 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, right before the U2 concert at Angel Stadium, coinciding with the wedding anniversary of me & Mrs. CKDH:  Once it opened up a little,  still lots of great fruit on the nose; on the palate, nice and complex, though the tannins were quite a bit softer compared to how I remember the last bottle of ’95 we opened last year.  Smooth and long lasting finish.  The prime rib and steaks that we ordered at Prime Cut were decent, but undistinguished; what can you expect from a place where burgers take up almost as much room on the menu as the steaks; still, we weren’t expecting anything much more than we got.
  • 2001 Groth Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville, Father’s Day dinner at Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse:  First bottle of ’01 Groth that we’ve opened.  Quite big, even after all this time, but not overpowering.  Complex and a bit spicy, drank very well on its own, paired exceptionally well with the dry-aged New York that is the specialty of the house whether I took the bite plain or with some Maytag blue cheese sauce, and even complimented the bread pudding we had for dessert. Yummy. Very yummy.  So glad I’ve got more bottles left.

Filed under Drink, Food, Wine, Wine Tagged with , , , ,

Ford initial quality takes a dive; no one is surprised by this, right?

June 23, 2011 1 Comment

It looks easy enough in photos -- until you're actually trying to drive a car with all that mess going on.

J. D. Power and Associates (JDPA) released the 2011 results of their much-watched Initial Quality Study (IQS).  The noteworthy findings are:

  • Lexus has the fewest problems of any brand in the industry.  The leading seller of luxury vehicles in the US won highest-quality awards in every segment in which they were eligible, with ES, GS, GX, and — most notably — the LS, which was the best vehicle in the entire industry with only 54 Problems Per 100.  Just to put that in perspective, that means that roughly half of the LS’s that roll of the assembly line have no problems whatsoever — no paint chips, no cupholder failings, no glitches in the fancy electronics.  Nothing.
  • Honda was second overall and the leading non-luxury brand, walking away with wins in six categories (they tied themselves in one of the categories, so they actually won seven awards)
  • Toyota rebounded from an off-year by jumping back up into the Top 10 (gee, you think the recall scare was just a bit over-hyped??).  The juggernaut was the highest ranked full-line manufacturer (making cars, trucks, SUV’s, vans, etc. . . . Honda doesn’t make real trucks)
  • Ford dropped like a rock, ending up way below the industry average and all the way down to 23rd place.  Negativity centered around Ford’s touted Sync and MyFordTouch system(s).  As Dave Sargent of JDPA said, ““Ford’s decline in the study is primarily driven by consumers reporting both usability problems and actual functionality problems with the MyFordTouch system. . . . Some consumers are saying the system is, let’s be kind here, more complex than they would like.”

Mr. Sargent is definitely being kind.  For anyone that’s used MyFordTouch, it is an utter trainwreck.   Read more of this post

Filed under Automotive Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Trying to ignore The Ring (nah, nah, nah . . . I can’t hear you!!)

June 21, 2011 Leave a comment

Many people enjoy Wagner’s Ring.  Some are even devoted to it enough trapse across the globe to see full productions of it.

I am neither of those types of people.

I’ve always respected it when critics were willing to acknowledge their inherent biases against a particular composer or performer.  The late great Alan Rich made a point of admitting to his dislike of Brahms and Sibelius whenever reviewing concerts containing either of those composers.  Therefore, let me say very clearly:  I don’t like Wagner, and I don’t like The Ring.

Mind you, I don’t hate it, I just don’t want to devote that much time in my life listening to it just to learn it thoroughly enough so that I’d be able to appreciate sitting through the endless hours of a full Ring Cycle; it makes Bollywood movies seem downright improv-comedy-sketch length by comparison.  I, of course, can appreciate the amount of influence that The Ring has had on musical and theatrical history, and I certainly respect the power and impact that a good production can have on one’s mind, body, and soul (so I’ve been told).  The biggest hurdle for me is that despite my intellectual respect for Wagner’s music, there are so many other composers — Mahler, Stravinsky, Berg, Schubert, Shostakovich, Lutosławski, just to name a few — whose music I’d really rather to get to know better before Wagner even approaches the veritable top of the queue.

For now and into the foreseeable future, I prefer my Ring — my Wagner, in general — in small snippets:  the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s concert from last November with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting and Bryn Terfel as soloist was a good example:   I went home humming the Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin and all was well (BTW:  shouldn’t that concert have come out on iTunes by now as originally promised??!!!).

So with all that in mind, you’ll forgive me if I didn’t make a drive up to War Memorial Opera House to check out the latest version of Wagner’s epic done by our friends at San Francisco Opera.  For those of you who may care, here are some links to the reviews of those more willing to endure  Wagner:

  • Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times HERE
  • Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times HERE
  • Joshua Kosman in the San Francisco Chronicle HERE
  • Philip Kennicott in the Washington Post HERE  (UPDATE:  Anne Midgette’s unofficial review on her blog)
  • Brian reviews Siegfried in Out West Arts HERE, with other operas in the cycle earlier in his blog
  • Lisa Hirsch for San Francisco Classical Voice HERE 
  • Opera Chic posted portraits taken of the performers

Filed under Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with , , , ,

LA Phil comings and goings (part 2 of 3): In search of a new Principal Trumpet

June 19, 2011 2 Comments

LA Phil Principal Trumpet, Don Green

Peter Stumpf is not the only Los Angeles Philharmonic principal taking next year off:  Donald Green, the orchestra’s Principal Trumpet, will begin a sabbatical at the end of this summer’s Hollywood Bowl season before returning to the orchestra next summer, and then retiring.  In anticipation of Mr. Green’s retirement, the orchestra will be holding auditions for his replacement in July.  The audition list is daunting.

The eventual winner will be following in some serious footsteps.

  • Green joined the orchestra in 1982 as Associate Principal, eventually being promoted to Principal in 2001 after a two year search that saw the likes of such distinguished trumpeters as John Wallace (current head of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, former Principal Trumpet of the Philharmonia and the London Sinfonietta),  and James Thompson (former Principal Trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony and Montreal Symphony), along with other younger players such as Jack Sutte, sitting in as guest principal.  Green previously served as Principal of the Detroit Symphony from 1975 to 1982, and before that he had been Associate Principal Trumpet in the Houston Symphony, Second Trumpet in the Seattle Symphony, and Assistant Principal Trumpet in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.  Green has had notable solos on a number of the LA Phil’s recordings, including:   the posthorn solo in the Mahler 3rd Symphony (Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting); the cornet obligato in the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique second movement and the third movement of City Noir by John Adams, both under Gustavo Dudamel (BTW:  it is worth noting that the audition list for the new Principal  includes the solo work in City Noir).
  • When Green was promoted to Principal, he took over the position from the legendary Thomas Stevens — under whom Green studied at USC.
  • Prior to Green joining the orchestra as Associate Principal, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had two Principal Trumpets:  Stevens and Robert DiVall.  DiVall was featured on the posthorn solo in the Los Angeles Philharmonic recording of the Mahler 3rd conducted by Zubin Mehta, and can also be heard on countless movie and television soundtracks.
UPDATE:  Thomas Hooten, currently Principal Trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony, has been offered a two-week trial with the orchestra.  Click on the link below for more details:

Filed under Auditions & Appointments, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

LA Phil comings and goings (part 1 of 3): As the Principal Cello chair turns . . .

June 15, 2011 7 Comments

Peter Stumpf (photo courtesy of Indiana University)

News came today of Peter Stumpf, currently Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a member of the Johannes String Quartet, accepting a full-time position at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music after having served as adjunct faculty for the past two years, flying back and forth between Los Angeles and Bloomington to fulfill his commitments.  Word on the street is that Stumpf will take a one-year leave from the orchestra for the 2011-2012 season to teach in Indiana (and likely also to spend more time with the Johannes).  It remains unclear what Stumpf will do after this coming season is done.

Stumpf took over the Principal Cello chair from Andrew Shulman.  When Ronald Leonard retired in 1999 after 24 years as Principal Cello with the orchestra, the initial round of auditions to find his successor resulted in no winner, leaving the position vacant for a year.  Shulman, who came to Los Angeles after being Principal with both the Philharmonia and the Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London, was then invited by Esa-Pekka Salonen to try out for the LA Phil position.  Shulman’s tenure began with much fanfare, and based on the first few months of concerts, the hoopla seemed justified.  The cellos always played elegantly under Leonard, but under Shulman they seemed to have more presence in the concerts I attended.   Read more of this post

Filed under Auditions & Appointments, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with , , , , ,

Reviews from Ojai Festival 2011

June 14, 2011 2 Comments

Dawn Upshaw with Australian Chamber Orchestra (photo by Timothy Norris) (Ventura County Star)

The reviews are in from this year’s Ojai Music Festival, and most are quite positive overall.  Music director Dawn Upshaw not surprisingly got most of the praise, with the rest of this year’s guests — Richard Tongetti & the Australian Chamber Orchestra, red fish blue fish, Maria Schneider & her orchestra, among many others — getting their fair share of kudos.  As Rita Moran wrote in the Ventura County Star, “Is this year’s Ojai Music Festival music director Dawn Upshaw the luckiest person in the world because she has so many multitalented collaborative friends, or are the friends the luckiest because they have Upshaw to urge them on in rewarding directions?”

For the details . . .

  • Mark Swed wrote two reviews in the Los Angeles Times, one on Friday and the other on Sunday
  • Rita Moran in the Ventura County Star HERE
  • Charles Donelan in the Santa Barbara Independent HERE
  • Brian in Out West Arts also posted two reviews HERE
  • Diane Sippl in kinocaviar.com HERE
  • Tim Mangan has yet to post his reviews, but we know he was there based on his blog posts
  • UPDATE: Tim Mangan said it was “a so-so Ojai Festival as Ojai Festivals go, a little soft around the middle perhaps, but still an enchanting thing, and over too soon.”  Read his full review for Musical America HERE.

Filed under Music (News & Reviews), Other classical music concerts and recitals (in So Cal and beyond) Tagged with , ,

Video humor: Whole Foods Parking Lot

June 13, 2011 Leave a comment

Classic.  ”Pay my 80 bucks for my six things and get out”

Filed under Food, Humor Tagged with

Dawn Upshaw leads Ojai Festival 2011

June 12, 2011 Leave a comment

I remember June 1999, the first time I went to Ojai for its annual Music Festival: Esa-Pekka Salonen was festival Music Director that year and was being joined by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and many of his famous friends, including fellow Finns Anssi Kartunnen, Magnus Lindberg, and Olli Mustonen.  While those folks represented many good reasons to go that year, the real draw for me was the chance to see Dawn Upshaw in such an intimate place; add in the fact that she was going to be singing the world premiere of Salonen’s “Five Images After Sappho” and it was a no brainer.

Dawn Upshaw at Ojai Festival 2011

Dawn Upshaw (photo by Brooke Irish for the Ojai Festival website)

Alas, Upshaw ended up requiring emergency back surgery and withdrew from her Ojai dates.  Laura Claycomb stepped in to sing the world premiere, doing an admirable job and making a compelling case for Salonen’s song cycle in her own right.  More importantly, Upshaw eventually recovered and ended up recording the Sappho before going on to resume her successful and noteworthy career.  That said, it would have been good to see her in Ojai.

This weekend, Upshaw returns to the Ojai Festival not just as a performer but as Music Director, plus Ojai is inaugurating their newly renovated Libbey Bowl (whose architect, David Bury, sadly passed away on the eve of the festival’s opening).  Prior commitments kept me from attending this year’s festival, so I’ll have to miss Dawn in Ojai again and live vicariously through the various internet reviews.

Photos from Ojai via Tim Mangan’s blog HERE and HERE.

Christopher Hawthorne’s architectural review in the LA Times HERE

Filed under Architecture, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews) Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Beer with drinking instructions on the cork

June 11, 2011 Leave a comment

I ordered a bottle of “Damnation” by Russian River Brewing Company.  Surprise #1 was that it came with a cork like a bottle of sparkling wine.  Upon popping it open (turn the bottle, not the cork), Surprise #2 was that there were instructions for choosing the proper glasswork printed right there on the side of the cork.  First time I’ve seen that from any beverage that wasn’t a can or bottle of Guinness Draught.

As it turns out, the beer turned out to be a Belgian Style strong golden ale — Surprise #3.  As I’m not a fan of this type of beer, this surprise was not quite as amusing as the first two.  If only the drinking establishment had grouped it with the other Belgian-style beers, I would have gone with something more like an Boont Amber, Racer 5, or an Alley Cat.  As it stands, I learned something new at the expense of $8.

Filed under Beer, Drink Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Why only now?!

June 10, 2011 1 Comment

Welcome to “All is Yar,” a blog devoted to enjoying life in all ways big and small, cheap or expensive, highbrow and low. I finally decided to start writing my own musings and rants after years of reading and commenting on what others — professionals and opinionated amateurs alike — have written about music, food, drink, architecture, clothes, gadgets, cars (. . . is it me, or is this list is starting to sound like Maxim magazine’s original raison d’etre that they used to put on the top of every issue?).

My parents were not born in this country, and when I was growing up in Southern California, if I were late or took too long to get something done, they would ask in annoyed/angry fashion, “Why only now?!” I never thought that it was proper English, but I grew to love the phrase anyway. Since they were the ones who taught me how to live “THE Good Life” by living “A Good Life,” I dedicate this to them.

Filed under Humor

%d bloggers like this: