MUSIClassical ALLEGRO
Topic: NEW CDs
A tribute to America's first great classical violinist, played by one of her musical descendants, on this week's Billboard classical chart. Making its debut at no. 12 is American Virtuosa: Tribute to Maud Powell
, performed by violinist Rachel Barton Pine with pianist Matthew Hagle. Powell (1867-1920) was once renowned for her virtuosity on both sides of the Atlantic — conductor Leonard Slatkin has described her as "the female Fritz Kreisler" (and Barton Pine prefers to think of Kreisler as the male Maud Powell) — and was a star of both the concert stage and the 78 RPM recording. This new CD is a collection of turn-of-the-20th-century miniatures for violin and piano which Powell made staples of her touring repertoire; many of them are arrangements she made herself.
The queue outside the Royal Albert Hall meanders down the stone stairs into Prince Consort Road, past the Royal College of Music and the ice-cream vans. People of all varieties perch on the parapets; some are first-timers, others turn up every day, every summer. Anoraks muddle together with posh frocks; golf umbrellas rub spokes with Woolworths' finest. The doors open, and there's a civilised stampede as the Promenaders surge in to bag the best spots. The central ethos of the Proms, which open tonight, is the same as ever: cheap tickets for standing places to hear great music-making. The result is a celebratory atmosphere in which a flood of enthusiastic takers each pay less than the price of a one-day travelcard on the Tube. 
Jerry Hadley’s career soared like his tenor voice at the start of the 1980s, quickly taking him to the world’s major opera houses. His career flourished. But in recent years, as he moved into his 50s, the bookings waned, and he was overtaken by financial worries and depression, musical colleagues, friends and the police said. Early Tuesday morning, the police said, he put an air rifle to his head and fired, causing severe brain damage. Hadley created the title role in composer John Harbison's "Great Gatsby" at the Metropolitan Opera, as well as the lead in Paul McCartney's "Liverpool Oratorio." And Leonard Bernstein had chosen Hadley to sing the main part in a 1989 production of Bernstein's musical "Candide." ... 
Conductor Leonard Slatkin soared in St. Louis but struggled in DC Can he work his magic in Nashville? by John Pitcher The sound of the Nashville Symphony ... 
Toscanini was more than a great music master. He was also uncompromisingly anti-fascist at a time of Mussolini's rise to power in his native Italy in the 1920s followed by Hitler in 1930s Germany. Though non-political overall, throughout that period and during WW II, he was distinguished for his views as a symbol of freedom and humanity when so little of it existed at a time of global war on three continents. 
Luciano Pavarotti reacting well to treatment for pancreatic cancer ...
Ever since the art of opera developed—its first stars were castratos who became fat after being snipped— singers both fat and thin have gained stardom. Luisa Tetrazzini (1871-1941), the Italian coloratura soprano after whom a caloric chicken-and-pastadish was named, would say in her later years: “I am old, I am fat, but I am still Tetrazzini.” Indeed, her buoyant, exuberant performances may be enjoyed on CD reissues from Pearl and Nimbus. 
Estonian-born Järvi is Cincinnati Symphony music director Paavo Jarvi's younger brother and very much his own man. Writer Mary Ellyn Hutton of the Cincinnatti Post caught up with him at a café in Tallinn in May, where he conducted a show-stopping "Aladdin" Suite by Carl Nielsen on a concert honoring their father Neeme Jarvi's 70th birthday. With him were his two sons, Finn Byron, born in February to Kristjan and his wife Hayley Melitta, and Lukas, 7, from his first marriage to violinist Leila Josefowicz. 
The Fourth Great Mountains International Music Festival, which combines classical music performances of top-notch musicians from around the world with classes and competition programs for international young talent, will take place from Aug. 3-26. Largely based in YongPyong Resort, nestled in the scenic resort area of Gangwon Province, the three-week annual festival will include about 50 performance programs, some scores of which will be performed for the first time in Korea or even in the world. 
This is an expertly played, beautifully recorded take on Gershwin standards. One way to look at the panoply of recordings of the "Piano Concerto in F" and "Rhapsody in Blue" is to consider the respective weight of the classical and jazz/pop aspects of Gershwin's language in each one. This disc, perhaps surprisingly in view of the jazz background of Rochester Philharmonic conductor Jeff Tyzik, doesn't play up the jazziness of Gershwin. Listen to the finale of the piano concerto: it is brisk and sharp but not brassy. California pianist Jon Nakamatsu elaborates the work in ways related to Romantic pianism rather than to jazz, most noticeably with a good deal of tempo rubato. Given that these performances stress Gershwin's symphonic aspect (which was how 1920s audiences encountered these pieces, the rediscovery of the small-orchestra versions of the "Rhapsody in Blue" coming only much later), the listener will find them among the very best available in that style. These readings are detailed and subtle -- not words always used in connection with Gershwin, but this recording finds those qualities in his music. 