Opera Chic

Drei Cheers for Alex Ross

Alex Ross is the 2011 winner of the Belmont Prize for contemporary music, an award given every two years by the Forberg Schneider Stiftung for innovation in the arts. Ross' endowment surges at €20.000 ($26,700 USD at current exchange) which buys enough Katzen Milch to fill the Panama Canal for Penelope (above), a cat who knows more about Mahler and Schoenberg than you will probably ever learn in your entire lifetime. The award ceremony takes place on January 26 2012 in Munich.

Wilde At Heart: Alex Ross on Harvard's Uncensored "Dorian Gray"

Alex Ross on the greatness and the tragedy of Oscar Wilde (see the new uncensored, annotated "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Harvard University Press):

"How Oscar Wilde Painted Over 'Dorian Gray'"

Quote:

The transformation is almost dreamlike. Yet I doubt that Wilde would recognize in our world the utopia that he dreamed aloud in “The Soul of Man Under Socialism.” A man who steeped himself in the literature of the ancient Greeks, who modelled his being on the writing of Balzac and Stendhal and Pater, who read Dante every day in prison, might have seen a new kind of hell in the global triumph of American-style pop culture. Medicine prolongs life and slows aging, but personal satisfaction is as elusive a commodity as it was for Dorian Gray. Prejudice wanes, ignorance grows, the world spins forward and backward. Few of us would wish for the return of Wilde’s London, with its opulent surfaces and savage heart. But Wilde might have been content to stay there, savoring his joys and sorrows. No one lives happily ever after.

 

Alex Ross' Tosca Tour!

Alex Ross, on his Roman holiday, tackled the dizzying heights of Castel Sant'Angelo to see where Tosca jumped -- and lived to tell the tale! 

Alex Ross Goes To England

 
Alex Ross will make the Brits Listen To This in London, reading from his book at the British Library and at Foyles.

Listen to This, Purry & Furry Friends!

Alex Ross, with the help of his furrypants friend, show-off the UK edition of his latest awesomosity, Listen to This (or as we call it, "Yo! Check this Shizz Out!")

We got our red-blooded, all-beef American edition a while ago and read it in one sitting (ok, a few -- although we love The People's Court reruns, we're not Rainman). Ross' remastered and remixed essays from his dozen years at The New Yorker are engaging and energetic, which makes for a nice break between our November reading rush. We've written about Ross' cats before and now we kind of hope that his next book is on his whiskered friends because they're sooo googly!

Alex Ross for Wagner During NYC's Unofficial Wagner Month

(Above: photo from Robert Lepage's new Wagner Das Rheingold, opening tomorrow night at The Met. Photo credit Metropolitan Opera and Ken Howard) 

One of our personal heroes (who happens to be the music critic for The New Yorker), Alex Ross, makes his New York Times op-ed debut with an argument for Wagner, timely for tomorrow's Metropolitan Opera opening night with Wagner's Das Rheingold. 

Alex Ross, Honorary Neapolitan

The most beautiful sculpture (the Farnese Hercules), the most beautiful opera house (Teatro San Carlo), the yummiest food (the best pizza ever): Naples is concentrated awesomeness.

They also gave Alex Ross a very cool award.

(in the photo above, the cover of Alex Ross's next book, "Listen to This", out on Sept. 28.

Lost Music, by Alex Ross

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Unquiet Thoughts: More of Alex Ross To Love

Alex Ross double whammy: besides his usual The Rest Is Noise blog work, he's also launching a blog over at The New Yorker's website: "Unquiet Thoughts".

Cutting edge critical analysis, CD reviews, sound samples, love letters, advice. Reading "Unquiet Thoughts" makes you smarter by the minute. If you read it long enough, you'll get a Guggenheim Macarthur (whatevs!) Fellowship, too.

Opera Chic Name Checked by Alex Ross in The New Yorker

Opera Chic is honored to be name checked in Alex Ross's most recent article for The New Yorker, "Taking Liberties: Reviving the art of classical improvisation".

In Ross's piece, he mind-blowingly illuminated a handful of recent New York concerts where improvisational cadenzas ran (un)manicured (and were even encouraged): Will Crutchfield's bel-canto blow-out at the Caramoor Festival, which paired cadenze fetishists vs. purists in a passionate debate for Rossini's Semiramide & Donizetti's L'Elisir. While further south at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, both the pianist Robert Levin (via Mozart's Piano Concerto K.482) and the violinist Joshua Bell (via the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Opus 64) presented their own cadenze to the delight of the jaded crowds.

"Caramoor draws a knowing crowd — even Opera Chic, the mystery blogger of Milan, was said to be in attendance — but Meade caught the connoisseurs off guard: a murmur of amazement ran through the audience."

If you haven't yet read it, go make it happen. What Alex Ross doesn't know is that every post on Opera Chic actually contains an anagram of "The Rest is Noise" in it, which subliminally drives traffic back to his site. SEETHE IN IT ROSS!

Mahler Grooves: The Best 9.5 Symphonies (and Earth Song) You've Ever Heard

The Ninth, the Tenth, and Das Lied von der Erde are so superior to the rest of Mahler's output that they almost seem the work of a different, much greater composer. But then, as Alma knew very well, you love Gustav for his flaws, not despite them.

Alex Ross, that Mahler aficionado, has published his list of favorite recordings of the symphonies and of Das Lied Von Der Erde.

One is, obviously, unlikely to resist. Here are Opera Chic's favorite recordings:

Mahler I: Ormandy, Philly -- Appropriately vulgar

Mahler II: Klemperer & Ferrier, Concertgebouw -- Best Mahler conductor & best mezzo ever

Mahler III: Barbirolli, Berliner -- Shakespeherian in its majesty

Mahler IV: Haitink, Berliner -- Bernie shines

Mahler V: Temirkanov, St. Petersburg  -- The most delicately, intricately woven version

Mahler VI: Sinopoli, Philharmonia -- The greatest intellectual of the podium at work

Mahler VII: Solti, Chicago -- Simply classic

Mahler VIII: Chailly, Concertgebouw -- Merciless, elegant order out of chaos

Mahler IX: C. Abbado, S. Cecilia -- Re Claudio, the philosopher King

Mahler X: Harding, Wiener Philharmoniker -- Young Daniel joins the major league

Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde: Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker -- Lenny lives

When Alex Met Tim: The Twentieth Century According To Ross & Mangan

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The Rest Is 50% Off: Alex Ross Blowout Sale

Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise, triumphant on both sides of the Atlantic, is enjoying a big sale on Amazon UK -- 48% off the just-out paperback, and 52% off the hardcover

There's also a free .pdf of Ross's listening guide.

The Inextricable Link: Kaija Saariaho & Dawn Upshaw News

As we type, Alex Ross is preparing to ambush American soprano Dawn Upshaw as part of The New Yorker Festival in a tête-à-tête that we're all invited to. But, when I say you are invited, you actually have to buy a ticket first. And be in NYC on Saturday, October 4.

Will they talk about her 4 Grammy Awards? Her experiences at the Metropolitan Opera? Her battle with cancer? Her interpretations of modern works by composers like Esa-Pekka, Henryk Górecki’, John Harbison, Osvaldo Golijov, or Kaija Saariaho?

Speaking of that foxy Finnish composer, Ms. Saariaho recently released a live concert recording with Finnish-specialty label, Ondine. The CD includes a cello concerto called "Notes on Light", which is sung by our favorite half-naked soprano la signora Karita Mattila, cellist Anssi Karttunen [who the piece was written for], and Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Orchestre de Paris. It's soooo on our playlist rite now. Our lukewarm <3 of Saariaho was set ablaze this summer when we saw Upshaw in the NYC premiere of La Passion de Simone.

Being adrift in Milan, we can only hope that the transcript is released or some intrepid fan y00tubes the whole thing. We can wait...

Alex Ross Is Officially A Genius

General MacArthur says so.

But we all knew that already didn't we.

It's Alex Ross's World...We Just Live in It: The Rosster Takes Over The Guardian Front Page

Checking out yesterday's Guardian OC had a moment of  wtfsomeness: there was Alex Ross  just there ON THE FRONT PAGE omg omg!

And he tore up the usually b0ring G2 section in a two-page marathon interview about his voyage into the heart of XX Century music (.mp3 interview here)

Mad propsicles to Teh Rosster!

The Rest Is The National Book Critics Circle Award: Alex Ross FTW

The normally awesome Alex Ross has now moved on to the next level of the musical criticism videogame by pwning the other nominees (Joan Acocella, Julia Alvarez, Susan Faludi, and  Ben Ratliff) and proceeding to win the  National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.

teh rosster ftw

Alex Ross Brings In The Rest Is Noise

Never mind the -- however impressive -- Bjork blurb: Opera Chic has exclusively interviewed some of the twentieth century's greatest minds and has obtained some awesome The Rest Is Noise quotes.

Now, all jokes aside, our maddest props to signor Ross for his accomplishment: the book officially comes out today.

Advice to our readers: buy it, don't download it!

"I’ll drown my book": Sibelius Awesomeness in The Rest Is Noise Excerpt

Alex Ross teaser in the New Yorker; a Rest Is Noise pawst here.

Finally came the music for “The Tempest,” commissioned by the Danish Royal Theatre, in 1925. Perhaps Sibelius felt some conscious or unconscious identification with the figure of Prospero, who, at the end of the play, decides to set aside his magic powers and resume a semblance of normal life:

 
But this rough magic
I here abjure. And when I have required
Some heavenly music—which even now
I do—
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I’ll drown my book.

As a Sibelius fangirl, Opera Chic can only say "yay". In Finnish.

Cutest Proofreader Ever

Sweet photo of Alex Ross's intern/proofreader.

Book -- cat hair NOT included -- to be released on Oct. 16

The Ross Is Nice

Mad props to signor Alex Ross: his forthcoming book and future NYTimes bestseller, The Rest Is Noise (aka "Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Music, Ev4r") has a cover and an Amazon page.

Cheers!

Symphony Orchestra websites and blawgs

Our dear signore Alex Ross reviews redesigned (and not so much) websites of American orchestras: which reminds Opera Chic that the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has a blog (blogspot!), where they  write, among other things, about their European tour (OMGEurope!) with the always cool Roberto Abbado.

Complimenti Alex Ross!

Tonight I'd like to give a big shout-out to Alex Ross for completing the Herculean task of writing his book (correction: NOT a novel) "The Rest Is Noise", which you can read about here. 

Tonight, I would also like to congratulate Mr. Ross for having the cutest cats ev4r.