tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:33:17 +0000Olsson's is a locally Owned & Operated, Independent chain of six book and recorded music stores in the Washington, D.C. area, started by John Olsson in 1972. Cate Hagman worked at Olsson's Bethesda store and focused particularly on classical music. Since 1995 she has been a political transcriber for a local independent newswire. Each week she blogs about classical CD releases and classic films on DVD.http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/noreply@blogger.com (Webmaster)Blogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-6493861748719439757Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:40:00 +00002008-09-24T23:20:38.613-05:00DVD: John Adams Anybody can play the president, Paul Giamatti noted when he picked up an Emmy Award for his portrayal of the title character in the series John Adams. That observation gets one to thinking about the casting decisions reached for earlier presidential biopics -- quickly now, which presidents did Anthony Hopkins and Kenneth Branagh play? -- as well as how well or poorly our http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/09/you-say-you-want-revolution.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-982916108991009330Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:36:00 +00002008-09-18T00:01:48.314-05:00 CD: Joshua Bell with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Test your memory: Name every violinist you can think of who's made his or her own recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It's a long, healthy, and varied list: Sarah Chang, Fabio Biondi, Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Gil Shaham. There was even a four-for-one effort on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/09/little-traveling-music-please.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-5131869363747340341Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:57:00 +00002008-09-11T00:30:56.064-05:00 DVD: Cranford Oh, what fortuitous timing in the release of the DVD of Cranford, the wonderfully watchable, witty BBC miniseries adapted from several novels by Elizabeth Gaskell. If you pick up a newspaper these days -- okay, open a website -- you'll encounter discussion of change, uncertainty, and anxiety about where we're going as a society. So you might ask why I'd be recommending tales http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/09/ladies-it-is-time-for-change.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-6591569743028749396Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:56:00 +00002008-09-04T08:02:54.263-05:00CDs:Georg Solti/Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Angela Gheorghiu and Frank Lopardo: Verdi: La Traviata Carlos Kleiber/Bayerisches Staatsorchester with Ileana Cotrubas and Placido Domingo: Verdi: La Traviata Back in the days before surtitles, when the thing to do before the matinee was take out Mom's LP and acquaint yourself with the material, I went to see my first opera http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/09/get-out-your-handkerchiefs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-3558678932948589074Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:38:00 +00002008-08-28T08:20:24.750-05:00 CD: London Madrigal Singers/London Baccholian Singers: Vaughan Williams and Holst: Choral Folksong Arrangements It was purely by chance -- or was it? -- that I sat down to write this entry on the 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams. And it's also sheer coincidence that the disc packaging features the image of a decidedly relaxed-looking flock of sheep. But it was a http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/08/come-away.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-3189412306876916297Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:39:00 +00002008-08-21T08:24:44.649-05:00DVD: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day I'm completely fascinated by movies that involve makeovers, which, I must confess, make for a pretty diverse group. They range from the 1980s drama Jacknife, with a scruffy Robert De Niro memorably transforming for girlfriend Kathy Baker, to Ernst Lubitsch's sexy pre-code The Smiling Lieutenant, in which Claudette Colbert performs an intervention for the http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/08/why-miss-pettigrew-youre-beautiful.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-6928877822230131261Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:21:00 +00002008-08-14T09:49:36.090-05:00CDs: Juan Diego Florez: Voce d'Italia: Arias for Rubini and Sentimiento Latino Whether you agonize over decisions or make them quickly, there remain certain things to which the answer invariably is "Yes. Oh, yes, please." For example: The Divine—yes, Divine, as in just and delicious—fair trade chocolate at the front counter of Olsson's. A screening of Mamma Mia! at the Avalon Theatre, which http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/08/like-chocolate-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-1072957129415964602Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:23:00 +00002008-08-07T13:07:36.269-05:00DVD: All About Eve (2-disc special edition) You have a point—an idiotic one, but a point. -Addis on DeWitt Remember great screenplays? Remember character actors? Remember movies for adults? I'd bet you do. The line for the cineplex forms that way, thank you very much, for anybody who wants to fork over 10 bucks for computer-generated images, explosions, and the studios' minimum weekend http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/08/get-your-dame-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-7122878999743164034Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:55:00 +00002008-07-31T08:41:24.951-05:00CDs:Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna: Angela & Roberto Forever Various artists: Opera New Generation -- Greatest Arias Various artists: Opera New Generation -- Great Duets This week I'm focusing on operatic vocalists again, but don't let the any of the titles fool you or, for that matter, limit your expectations. First of all, nothing lasts forever, not even the heat of summer. But that http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/07/is-this-private-sing-off-or-can-anybody.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-4179562708417408998Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:49:00 +00002008-07-24T00:16:08.071-05:00CD: The Essential Leon Fleisher We spend a great portion of our lives either trying to recapture things, or setting up things to achieve. And in doing so, we often fail to live the now. Leon Fleisher I'm getting a little tired of the media's constant emphasis on intergenerational warfare these days -- newer, louder, faster, younger! As if there's any substitute for experience. Moreover, http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/07/three-degrees-of-leon-fleisher.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-4754177058372518998Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:04:00 +00002008-07-17T09:06:56.799-05:00CDs:David Daniels: Handel: Operatic Arias Renee Fleming: Handel: Opera and Oratorio Arias Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: Handel: AriasThis is definitely one of those surreal weeks. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been propelled from unannounced press conferences (That wasn't on our morning schedule!) to Metrobus meetings to a continuing series of articles of the decline of civilization, ashttp://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/07/americas-got-handel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-3150168854423336595Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:59:00 +00002008-07-09T22:27:18.068-05:00CD: Denis Matsuev: Unknown Rachmaninoff So this Siberian guy walks into a Swiss villa... No, it's not the beginning of a rather lame joke. It's what actually happens when you round up the winner of the 1998 International Tchaikovsky Competition and set him loose at the personal piano of another Russian composer, Rachmaninoff, with some early compositions by the same. And so with this CD younghttp://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/07/rach-steinway.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-6777225276009296770Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:40:00 +00002008-07-10T08:30:12.182-05:00DVD: A Passage to India (2-disc set) In Kenneth Branagh's Midwinter's Tale (AKA In the Bleak Midwinter), Michael Maloney, as an actor-director brought to the end of his tether during rehearsals for a holiday production of Hamlet, explodes before his horrified cast and wonders, rather profanely, why there's any point in going on living. At which one of his actors (Mark Hadfield) says http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/06/enigmas-and-epics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-376671731384088435Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:12:00 +00002008-06-25T11:28:58.172-05:00CD: Bertrand de Billy/Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon: Puccini: La Boheme I've got mortality on my mind, and art. It's been that kind of a week, or maybe even month, or perhaps even year. Ars longa, vita brevis, and all that. It's the beauty of the last half of June -- perfectly mild nights, that double rainbow across the sky last week -- and also the http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/06/out-out-brief-candle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-7636932382507896288Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:46:00 +00002008-06-18T13:34:24.164-05:00CD with DVD: Natalie Dessay/Evelino Pidò with Concerto Köln: Italian Opera Arias Is it the season for overreacting? Temperatures are soaring, water mains are breaking, the kids are out of school, everyone seems to be on a job hunt or vacation, and of course there are all those wedding invitations begging for an RSVP. So if you crave a little escapism, it's entirely understandable. In fact, http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/06/surviving-coloratura-crisis.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-1405232540849786471Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:24:00 +00002008-06-12T12:05:19.571-05:00Hyrbrid SACD: Frommermann: Music of the Comedian Harmonists Some years back I ran across the German language version of "Happy Days Are Here Again," rendered as "Wochenend' und Sonnenschein" ("Weekend and Sunshine"), recorded of course by the Comedian Harmonists back in Germany, and covered many years later by the King's Singers. Depending on your generation, you might associate "Happy Days http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/06/happy-days-are-here-just-when.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-1210720758779170609Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:02:00 +00002008-06-03T10:16:00.267-05:00CD: Herbert von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic: Beethoven: Complete Symphonies (1963) The other day I had Classic Arts Showcase on and had gone into another room on some errand when I heard a performance by a soprano. It was a most beguiling voice. I dropped whatever it was I was doing and headed back towards the TV to find that the soprano soloist in question was Gundula Janowitz (The clip was http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/06/can-you-hear-me-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-4627247941474601338Tue, 27 May 2008 01:38:00 +00002008-05-28T22:19:07.115-05:00DVD: 12 Angry Men: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition As I begin this blog, word has just come of the death of producer, director, and actor Sydney Pollack. The film world is poorer for his absence, and his work will be with us as long as movies are shown. Consider this: He directed Out of Africa, produced The Talented Mr. Ripley and Sense and Sensibility, and had his turn in front of the http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/05/black-and-white-and-shades-of-gray.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-130358758533146827Tue, 20 May 2008 03:38:00 +00002008-05-23T14:08:26.293-05:00CD: Placido Domingo with Miguel Roa conducting the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid: Pasion Espanola I'm on something of a Pedro Almodovar movie kick these days -- I have a lot of ground to make up between Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Live Flesh -- and if you have seen any of his films, you probably remember how popular songs insinuate themselves into those trademark Almodovarhttp://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/05/tenor-on-verge.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-182014797648931265Sat, 03 May 2008 21:10:00 +00002008-05-07T23:04:45.927-05:00CD: Rebel — Corellisante: Sonatas for Two Violins & Basso Continuo by Corelli & Telemann I'll confess I'm being dragged kicking and screaming into the Brave New World. Cell phone? Don't have one. Text messaging? No. Wearing flip-flops to work? Only if I get a job as a lifeguard (not likely, with my 30 SPF habit). But this I like: Mozart shakes up the Saudis. Now there's some societal upheaval Ihttp://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/05/we-all-want-to-change-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-7755647590174972144Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:25:00 +00002008-05-01T12:09:16.154-05:00CDs:Piffaro: Canzoni e DanzeNathan Gunn: Just Before SunrisePeople, get ready. May's a-coming. This evening Classic Arts Showcase once again ran the clip of the King's Singers performing "O Lusty May," which is as choice a bit of synchronicity as I've experienced, since that's the precise title of an upcoming concert by the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble. Under the sure direction of Mark Cudek, http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/04/look-alive-people.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-1092837914112221892Tue, 22 Apr 2008 02:41:00 +00002008-04-23T00:42:11.317-05:00 DVD: Eight Men Out (20th Anniversary Edition) I guess spring is finally here, and you know what that means. Play ball! Even the pope couldn't stay out of baseball stadiums during his recent visit. Did you notice? But if your game is rained out -- a very real possibility the last few days, when I swear I saw a man collecting two of each kind of beast -- then it's time to break out the baseball http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/04/heres-pitch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-5169424587392804381Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:57:00 +00002008-04-15T23:23:48.999-05:00 DVD: Sir Colin Davis/Royal Opera House Covent Garden Orchestra with Damrau, Keenlyside, and others: Mozart: The Magic Flute (Naxos) Why does it take me so long to catch up with things? First there was last week's blunder with the Terezin/Theresienstadt CD, which, as I had forgotten, is listed on Byron, Olsson's computer system, as The Theresienstadt Project. Apologies all round to any staffhttp://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/04/and-im-not-going-to-take-this-anymore.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-3300622110026563690Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:47:00 +00002008-04-08T23:54:59.998-05:00Anne Sofie von Otter, Christian Gerhaher, Bengt Forsberg, and Daniel Hope: Terezin/Theresienstadt It is rather daunting to approach this new release from Deutsche Grammophon, not because of the material itself -- indeed, it is full of surprises and charm -- but rather because all but two of the composers represented died in the Holocaust. Most of you are likely familiar with the story of http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/04/i-shall-see-you-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35703297.post-5643176587934873959Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:34:00 +00002008-04-03T13:09:45.631-05:00CD: Richard Bonynge/London Symphony Orchestra with Milnes, Pavarotti, and Sutherland: Verdi: Rigoletto The Confessional for the Culturally Clueless is now open, and we're ready to hand out penances. Come on now; it's not so bad. I've been there a few times myself, mispronouncing composers' and singers' names, not knowing one Dutch painter from another. You know who you are, you movie http://www.olssons.com/classicalcorner/2008/03/power-of-compassion-and-of-curse.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Cate Hagman)