#leon botstein

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John Foulds A WORLD REQUIEM [World Premiere Recording]

Leon Botstein

Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet, Gerald Finley, Stuart Skelton

Now that we’ve entered the 21st century, there’s a lot more re-assessing of the 20th century.  One of the more appropriate re-assessments is to look at what we lost due to Fascism, in this case Nazi Fascism.

All four composers are those who were suppressed or were pushed out of German musical life in the 30′s -- two Jewish, two not.  (I know this stat because Botstein said as much in spoken remarks that opened the 2nd half.)

As usual with Botstein, not everything works, even though it’s all theoretically very interesting.  Best were the more substantial works -- Walter Braunfels’s “Sinfonia Brevis” was relatively compact at 30 mins, but pulled the most substance.  Hans Kauder’s “Symphony No. 1″ left as good an impression in the hall, but now I don’t remember it as much.

I do remember finding Adolf Busch’s “Variations on an Original Theme” to be more of a piece-d’occasion which was sentimentally a favorite because it was orchestrated by his grandson, the late Peter Serkin.  Hans Erich Apostet’s “Variations on a Theme by Haydn” was enjoyable, but also didn’t seem to dig that deep -- not someone I’ll explore further.

So, as usual, one or two composers worth exploring.  That’s a pretty typical Botstein output.

read the full article at http://newyorkarts.net/2017/07/dvoraks-rare-grand-opera-dimitrij-coming-bard-summerscape-beginning-july-28/

Dvořák's Rare Grand Opera, Dimitrij, Coming Up at Bard Summerscape, beginning July 28

read the full article at http://newyorkarts.net/2017/06/elgars-apostles-leon-botstein-american-symphony-orchestra-carnegie-hall/

Elgar's The Apostles, with Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

In 1997, Bard College President Leon Botstein published Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture. Botstein is a larger than life figure. A child musical prodigy, he attended the University of Chicago as an undergraduate and Harvard for a PhD in music history. He became president of Franconia College at the age of twenty-three and Bard in his late 20s. Along the way,…

An explosion of music in the Berkshires: Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now and Arthur Greene, Pianist, at Simon’s Rock; the Nieuw Amsterdam Trio at the Roe-Jan Library, Hillsdale, NY

  This coming weekend there will be an explosion of music in the Berkshires! and I can strongly recommend three concerts taking place on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon.  They are all free, but there is a suggested $10. donation for Saturday afternoon.  Read on… 1.  Friday, September 25 at 7:30 pm in McConnell Auditorium, Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock…