On Wednesday (8/19) at New York classical radio WQXR, Amanda Angel singles out seven recent classical videos that for WQXR represent “seven of our favorite unexpected moments from the summer. Denis Matsuev wings it at Verbier. The Russian pianist’s … encore of his solo recital [featured] a lively improvisation that was more Duke Ellington than Dmitry Shostakovich. Joyce DiDonato serenades Wigmore Hall as part of her recital with accompanist Antonio Pappano [performing] a quirky love duet of sorts to the Irving Berlin standard ‘I Love a Piano.’ … Under founder and director Iván Fischer, the Budapest Festival Orchestra [gives an] open-air performance with dozens of dancers from local schools…. The Minnesota Orchestra made a video of its historic tour of Cuba this past May [that] even includes a snippet of Osmo Vänskä playing clarinet with the legendary Latin music ensemble, Orchestra Aragon.” Also cited are videos of tenor Juan Diego Flórez singing “Besame Mucho” in Salzburg; pianists Orion Weiss, Anna Polonsky, and Emmanuel Ax performing on one piano at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival; and a choreographed light show on the exterior of Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland, to a recording of John Adams’s Harmonium.
Posted August 20, 2015
