Arts

We Asked For Six Songs, We Got Thousands

Credit istockphoto.com

Music by the Beatles appeared on many "Six Songs of Me" lists.

By Tom Huizenga

Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 10:00 am

Last week we asked you to do some musical soul-searching — and boy, did we get responses. In the first day, 250 people commented on the blog post "You Are What You Hear: What Your Favorite Music Says About You." Several thousand more comments have since rolled in via social media.

11:54 am

Tue August 14, 2012

Making A Case For Massenet, The Misunderstood Sentimentalist

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Credit Topical Press Agency / Getty Images

French composer Jules Massenet died 100 years ago, leaving the opera world with a wealth of elegantly composed dramas.

Credit Decca

By Tom Huizenga

Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 10:07 am

Poor Jules Massenet. How could the most successful French opera composer of his generation fall so far out of fashion? Perhaps the new 23-CD box set of Massenet's music, marking the 100th anniversary of his death (yesterday), holds some clues.

10:40 am

Mon August 13, 2012

Tanglewood At 75: A Gala Concert

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Credit Hilary Scott / courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Yo-Yo Ma offered a graciously warm performance of Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile for cello and strings with student musicians.

Credit Hilary Scott / courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter gave a vigorous reading of one of the showiest works in the repertoire: Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy, which she played with the student artists of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.

Credit Hilary Scott / courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Nelsons led a sharp and colorful performance of Ravel's La Valse, the composer's pungent commentary on the Viennese waltz and the society from which it came.

Credit Hilary Scott / courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Emanuel Ax, a longtime friend of Tanglewood, teamed up with the young musicians of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and conductor Stefan Asbury in two movements from Haydn's Piano Concerto No. 11 in D Major.

Credit Hilary Scott / courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

James Taylor, who has made summertime performances at Tanglewood one of his staples in recent years, sang three standards with the Boston Pops and conductor John Williams.

Credit Hilary Scott / courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Yo-Yo Ma offered a gracious and warm performance of Tchaikovsky's Andante Cantabile for cello and strings with the Tanglewood fellows.

Credit Hilary Scott / courtesy of the Boston Symphony Orchestra

On this evening, 33-year-old Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons made his Tanglewood debut; within the classical music business, many are talking about Nelsons as a prime contender to succeed James Levine as the BSO's music director.

By editor

Originally published on Tue August 14, 2012 12:48 pm

PROGRAM:

Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man

Bernstein, Three Dances from On the Town

"Over the Rainbow," "Shall We Dance" and "Old Man River" (with James Taylor)

Tchaikovsky, Andante cantabile for cello and strings (with Yo-Yo Ma)

Sarasate, Carmen Fantasy (with Anne-Sophie Mutter)

Two movements from Haydn's Piano Concerto No. 11 in D Major (with Emanuel Ax)

Ravel, La valse