« February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »
(Photo Credit: Mysteries Abysmal Inc. Alfred Brendel takes his final Chicago bow.) The Mozart slightly plodded, but the Schubert D.960 will stay with me for a good while. Brendel's been coming to this city nearly every year since 1970, so rooted Chicagoans have to feel a little wistful to see such a familiar late-Winter staple depart for the last time.
Winds of change. Time Out Chicago, Mar 6 - 12. Note TOC's sleeker face to its website; the airier, less colorful approach seems to be chic for sites and blogs these days. I dig it.
And happy 32nd anniversary to Albert Bates and Kim Marie. Still the grooviest couple on the block.
Dundee University experts have taken Bach's skull and have tried to recreate his face. Why am I picturing South Beach instead of Leipzig?
(photo courtesy of BBC)
Alfred Brendel is retiring. When I was 19, his recital was the first classical concert I ever paid money to see (~$19 at Carnegie -- last row, or next to). Thanks to the Times archives, Allan Kozinn's review of that evening remains. Sadly, what I remember most was a sallow little geezer in front of me squirming throughout the Schubert sonata (Not Brendel, but a ticketholder). Actually I do remember the way Brendel's hands didn't seem to move during the Haydn and Mozart. Now, nearly a decade since, Brendel's farewell concert in Chicago will take place this Sunday at Orchestra Hall. And the same lineup of composers are to be programmed as when I saw him in '00. Today Alex Ross notes he performed the Schubert G-flat Impromptu (Op. 90) as an encore from a few weeks ago; according to Kozinn on my night, he did so as well. If he's maddeningly conservative, he's forgiven through grace.
