The lights dimmed and Susan Graham strode onstage dressed in a form-fitting, an almost blindingly white dress which made her look simultaneously sexy and angelic. Accompanist Malcom Martineau followed behind her in white tie. She smiled, graciously acknowledged the audience's applause and they immediately went into Henry Purcell's "The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation (Tell Me, Some Pitying Angel)"-
More >
Now that the holidays are over, the San Francisco Symphony can get back to celebrating their Centennial Season and they certainly got the new year off to a good start with last night's concert featuring a rock star performance by violinist Christian Tetzlaff in Gyorgy Ligeti's violin concerto and a sumptuous account of Tchaikovsky's first symphony. The promotional materials for the concert emphasi
More >
Five years ago James Conlon led the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus in an absolutely stunning performance of Verdi's Requiem that remains high on my list of all-time favorites, so I wasn't at all disappointed when it was announced he would be replacing Fabio Luisi on the podium. For those performances, the soloists were Christina Brewer, Stephanie Blythe, Frank Lopardo and Vitalij Kowaljow- a fo
More >
The LA Philharmonic rolled into town today, the first of six visiting American Orchestras as part of the San Francisco Symphony's centennial season. They brought a staggering amount of musicians with them, and not one, but two composers were in the audience, which was a complete sell-out. Talk about star power.The American Orchestras programming features two performances on consecutive evenings.
More >
Yefim Bronfman has quietly become my favorite pianist to hear in performance. Unassuming, devoid of any pretense, affectation or mannerisms, he obviously he lacks the sex appeal of Yuja Wang and the mysterious allure of Martha Argerich, but in the past few years I've seen him give a number of staggeringly good, straightforward performances and last week at Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall he did it agai
More >
Sunday was a difficult day. Amid the glory of the weather and the Blue Angels thundering overhead across the City, I was just trying to sort out the pieces of something smashed and move forward, knowing I wasn't going to be able to put it back together. I was glad when the day began to dim and the time came to make my way to the BART station to meet Chad Newsome in Berkeley to see the Kronos Quart
More >
As hard as it is for me to admit this, I've recently become one of those people who listen to music on my phone via a set of headphones as I walk down the street. It's usually rock, heavy on the Stones, 70's era Bowie and Lou Reed, sometimes some James Brown. Yesterday I started the queue before leaving my apartment, with "Sweet Jane" off of "Rock and Roll Animal" pumped pretty loud. The almost r
More >
"Erin Brockovich? With a polka band?" Isabella asked."No, not Erin Brockovich. Goran Bregovich... and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra," I replied."Since when does Erin Brockovich have a polka band? This should be fun- my father loved polka bands," she said."I don't know.""Are jeans okay?""As long as you're not a Slav, yes.""Why?""Because they'll be dressed a little differently. But you can wear
More >
Although no one has designated it as such, the performing arts season of 2011-12 may well end up being remembered as "the year of the pianists." An extraordinarily talented and legendary number of jazz and classical musicians have passed through the area lately and more are on the way. On the jazz front we've already seen McCoy Tyner, Brad Mehldau and Herbie Hancock. Ahmad Jamal will be performing
More >
On his most recent album, the impressive Double Booked (Blue Note, 2009), pianist Robert Glasper splits the tracks between The Robert Glasper Trio and The Robert Glasper Experiment. The Experiment tracks have a distinct hip-hop vein running through them, propelled by the drumming of Chris Dave and are, well, experimental. Based on personnel, it was the Robert Glasper Experiment that showed up to p
More >
Two weeks ago I was reading the New York Times article about Laura Marling and for some odd reason, even though the description of her music didn't really appeal to me, I clicked on the stream to listen to her new album A Creature I Don't Know. The first two songs, "The Muse" and "I Was Just a Card" sounded good enough- better than I expected for an artist unfortunately tagged as an "English folk
More >
One of the seminal hip-hop recordings. A must.
More >
Since it seems like Dmitri Hvorostovsky has been one of the world's most popular baritones for at least ten years, how is it that his recital last Sunday night at Davies Symphony Hall suggested that not only is he better than he's ever been, but perhaps he hasn't even reached his prime?Hvorostovsky, accompanied by pianist Ivari Ilja, began the program with four songs by Gabriel Faure: "Automne," "
More >
Prince came to Oakland for three nights and though I didn't plan on it, I ended up going to every show. When he announced this tour Prince said every night was going to be different. That proved truer than I would have ever expected. While it's true no two concerts or performances are ever alike, the Purple One gave this maxim an unprecedented spin.The first night Prince was in kind of a Teddy Pen
More >
The second night of Prince's Welcome 2 America tour layover in Oakland was far superior to Monday night's show. Though Fet Kuk will think I'm saying this just because he wasn't there, a comparison of the setlists will tell you all you need to know. Too bad if you missed this one. The Superstud seducer from the first night was banished, replaced for this show by a ringleader/MC ready to throw a ser
More >
I may not be a die-hard Prince fan like Anne Enigma, but my history as ardent admirer goes back quite a ways. Here's an interesting "less than six degrees of separation" story for you. Back in 1981, KROQ started playing tracks off of "Controversy"- I thought it was great stuff, the title track and "Let's Work" especially, and soon I was playing Prince regularly at my DJ gigs. At the time I was kin
More >
Last Sunday evening L.V. and I strolled over to Herbst to hear Yasmin Levy, an Israeli vocalist whose specialty is Ladino- the music of Sephardic Jews, a label also referring to a distinct language and culture. Many of these songs are hundreds of years old, yet in Levy's care they have a timelessness quality. If you like Portuguese Fado, Greek Rembetika, Robert Johnson or Roma music, you'll recogn
More >
Saturday night I had the pleasure of seeing Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester perform for the first time. The dapper Raabe crooned his way through the two-hour set while the twelve piece orchestra dazzled the audience with exquisite renditions of songs from the 20s and 30s. The setting, Oakland's Paramount Theatre, added an aura of authenticity to it all and was buzzing with people in period dres
More >
What is this? The MOG Music Network is MOG's community of the best music blogs from around the internet. The network is growing rapidly and we're always looking for more great music blogs to add to our roster, so if you think your blog should be part of the MOG Music Network, APPLY HERE!
© 2006-2012 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
Locating MOG account...