Author Archives: Stanley Fefferman

Andras Schiff’s Heroic Oddysey with Bach and Beethoven reviewed by Stanley Fefferman

November 3, 2013. Koerner Hall, Toronto. My benchmark performance for Bach’s Goldberg Variations is the 1981 recording in which Glenn Gould presents his “discovery of slowness.” Gould put it this way: “ With really contrapuntal textures, one does need a certain … Continue reading

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Chamber Music Downtown to the Power of Eight: a review by Stanley Fefferman

October 31, 2013. Jane Mallett Theatre, Toronto. What an awesome octet is the Academy Chamber Ensemble. Packing the punch of two quartets, their sound is vivid: bright and highly saturated, it brought new life to Joachim Raff’s all-but-forgotten Octet in … Continue reading

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A Fun Night at the Opera Atelier’s ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO reviewed by Stanley Fefferman

October 29, 2013. Elgin Theatre, Toronto. Opera Atelier’s cheerful remount of its 2009 production of Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart’s most-popular-in-his lifetime opera), had much to make me happy. The cast members are extraordinarily good to look at in their … Continue reading

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Yuja Wang, Piano Super-hero in Black and White reviewed by Stanley Fefferman

October 27, 2013. Koerner Hall, Toronto. Yuja Wang was all in black and white—her zebra frock, the keys of her Steinway, and the scores she played that left you feeling nobody ever rendered music so black and white— so fragile … Continue reading

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Janina Fialkowska’s Adventure at the TSO with Lutoslawski’s Piano Concerto reviewed by Stanley Fefferman

October 26, 2013. Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto. It was a delight to witness Fialkowska undertake the adventure of sprinkling clusters of opalescent piano pitches into the concerto’s capricious opening twitter and scurry of harp and flutes. Subsequent sections introduced by … Continue reading

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Celebrating Esprit, Teng Li, Schnittke, Shafer,Vivier, and Moussa at Koerner Hall: a review by Stanley Fefferman

October 24, 2013. Koerner Hall, Toronto. Esprit Orchestra, Canada’s only full scale orchestra devoted to new music, dedicated last night’s concert at Koerner Hall to the Ontario Arts Council that has donated over 2 million dollars to Esprit over the … Continue reading

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Ben Heppner Shines in The Canadian Opera Company’s Stellar Peter Grimes reviewed by Stanley Fefferman

  Four Seasons Centre, Toronto.October 17, 2013. Ben Heppner is Peter Grimes, the eponymous dark star of Benjamin Britten’s folk epic, arguably the opera of our times. Grimes is dark because he is ‘the’ outsider in a tight community held … Continue reading

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Classic Britten and Beethoven from James Ehnes and Stéphane Denève with the Toronto Symphony

October 12, 2013. Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto. If there were a Nobel Prize for Violin, I would nominate James Ehnes. His playing of Britten’s Violin Concerto with the Toronto Symphony was drenched with emotions—pathos, irony, lamentation, sarcasm, tenderness and bliss—displayed … Continue reading

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