MISCELLANEOUS POSTINGS

This folder includes miscellaneous articles on jazz and other musical subjects, including performance and album reviews, written by Eric Myers, which may or may not have been published elsewhere. Readers can click on the INDEX button to peruse a list of contents in this folder.

SIMONE YOUNG CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN’S CHORAL SYMPHONY

Reviewed by Eric Myers

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, November 29, 2025

 I felt that this performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, was a historic occasion. A number of milestones were in play. First, this was the last of five performances of the Choral Symphony which closed the SSO’s 2025 season. Second, this particular Beethoven symphony was the first orchestral work that conductor Simone Young performed – long ago in 1991 in Cologne - and third, moreover, these 2025 performances were the first time that Young has presented this Beethoven masterpiece in Sydney. Still, this sense of occasion was, for me, stymied to some extent by a reality that always is potentially present for the unsuspecting reviewer. After decades of reviewing musical performances, I’ve learnt that much depends on where one sits in a particular venue…

BEETHOVEN’S FIFTH SYMPHONY AT THE CONCERT HALL

Reviewed by Eric Myers

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, June 17, 2026

This splendid SSO performance on June 17, 2026, was described by the friend who  accompanied me as one of the most enjoyable concerts she’s attended for some time. It was a beautifully balanced program, with a delightful curtain-raiser, an exotic little work by Australian composer Melody Eötvös; a concerto featuring the impressive young Belarusian cellist Ivan Karizna; and of course the coup de grace in Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No 5, a work which is still triumphantly alive today…

BENJAMIN BEILMAN PERFORMS MENDELSSOHN’S VIOLIN CONCERTO

Reviewed by Eric Myers

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, July 9, 2026

This concert on July 9, 2026, was opened in splendid style by the superb American violinist Benjamin Beilman, playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. This work, now an acknowledged masterpiece, was premiered in 1845 in Leipzig, two years before the composer died in 1847, aged only 38. Even though Mendelssohn died young, he is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era. We can only wonder what he might have achieved had he been able to live a longer life. This concert featured an attractive combination: a work by a relatively young composer in Mendelssohn, played by a relatively young performer of similar age in Beilman. There certainly was an aura of youth in the air…