Hello again! While scavenging for much more info of music to
share with you guys I came across a blog (http://ionarts.blogspot.com)
that may be interesting for all of you interested in Classical Music. Written
by Jens Laurson and Michael Lodico the blog puts out news regarding the
Classical Music industry as well as reviews of the big concerts in town. So if
you’re in the DC area, definitely check these guys out for ideas of the best
classical music concerts in town.
A little taste of what you guys can expect from the many
reviews that it offers:
The performance on Thursday, March
7th, answered such speculation in the negative. The production—fresh and
engaging—can still be as powerful as it was fifteen, thirteen years ago.
Another aspect has come full circle: Waltraud Meier struggled at the beginning
of her shift into Isolde-territory with the heights, and she does so again. On CD,
hers would have been a weak performance, in and out of audibility when Kent
Nagano allowed the Bavarian State Orchestra to cover her with an orchestral
performance that was level-headed but less transparent than Nagano’s Wagner can
be. But on stage, it was (still) marvelous. It is a role she created and she
invests all her very considerable dramatic ability into it. Rarely are the
subtlety, the wit, the sarcasm, the irony, the insinuations of the text so
evident as in the first act of this production—ocean liner and all. In it,
Meier gets to bristle, coo, appeal, and revile. She proved to be particularly
biting, fierce, vulnerable and sweet this night, ever depending on what the
situation demanded.
-Review
of Tristan and Isolde
In addition to offering reviews of the concerts currently in
town, the blog posts a “regular Sunday selection of links to online audio,
online video, and other good things in Blogville and Beyond.” For me, I found
this particularly engaging in giving me all of the best in Classical Music. It
has clearly become my one stop shop for everything musical.
Anywho, about the creators of this blog. Jens Laurson, born
in Munich, quickly fell in love with music. Some of his family members thought
he would be a prodigy of some sort but managed to only be proficient at best at
the recorder and piano. Though he didn’t achieve the greatness his family hoped
for him to attain he still became involved with all aspects of music, most
notably as a reviewer of concerts and classical CDs. Michael Lodico, on the
other hand, took a completely different approach to music than Laurson did. He
studied the piano and organ throughout his life ultimately becoming Directors
of Music at several music schools. Clearly, both individuals have gotten to
where they are completely different from each other but they both shared the same
passion we have for music.
Next time you become frustrated searching the web for new
concerts or recommendations for all things Classical Music definitely check out
IONARTS with its clever motto “something other than politics in Washington,
D.C. As for me, the next time I’m in D.C. I’ll make sure I make it to one of
the concerts Jens and Michael have so strongly recommended.
