Witold Lutoslawski / Rent

 

On this day in classical music: Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski was born in Warsaw in 1913. One of the major European composers of the 20th century, Lutoslawski composed a large body of music, including four symphonies, a Concerto for Orchestra, a string quartet, several instrumental concertos and orchestral song cycles. By the 1950s, his compositional style combined contrapuntal forms with aleatoric practices and his own approach to twelve-tone technique. Listen to Nelson Freire and Martha Argerich perform Lutoslawski’s “Paganini Variations.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFsvmq-C9Kk

On this day in the musical theatre: Jonathan Larsen died an American composer and playwright Jonathan Larsen died of an aortic aneurysm just hours after the dress rehearsal for his musical “Rent.” A contemporary musical that explored such social issues as multiculturalism, addiction and homophobia, “Rent” won four Tony Awards, including one as Best Musical. The musical, which ran more than 12 years, also won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Listen to the Broadway cast perform “Seasons of Love” from Jonathan Larson’s “Rent.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj7LRuusFqo 

Musical musings: Two months, one Pulitzer Prize and acres of magazine and newspaper pages later, the waiflike hopes of the American musical are living in fancier digs. “Rent,” Jonathan Larson’s luminous, youthful musical that started off at the tiny New York Theater Workshop on East Fourth Street in February, opened on Broadway last night at the Nederlander Theater, after previews that drew such paparazzis’ dreams as Billy Joel, David Bowie and Ralph Fiennes. The vibrant 15 cast members are actually even better, as if they had found fresh reserves of energy in the glow of mainstream starlight. And the ingenuity and dexterity of Mr. Larson’s rock-pop score, translated with loving skill by Tim Weill’s onstage band, are, in fact, more evident now. The second act still feels more awkward than the first. But there’s no denying that Mr. Larson discovered a winningly accessible and ground-breaking musical formula that combines rock’s drive, pop’s memory-grabbing melodiousness and the leitmotifs and harmonic counterpoints of opera. And when the whole ensemble sings of making the most of limited time in “Seasons of Love,” the heart still melts and the eyes still mist. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times

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