David Allen

Cambridge

Freelance Classical Music Critic at The New York Times

Contributor at Freelance

Classical music @nytimes

Articles

'Die Tote Stadt' and 'L'Amant Anonyme' Return to Opera Stage

2 months ago | nytimes.com | David Allen |Joshua Barone

In New York, the Metropolitan Opera has begun a monthlong winter break. Elsewhere on the East Coast, though, opera rarities have returned to the stage. The Boston Symphony Orchestra performed Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Die Tote Stadt" in concert, while Opera Philadelphia presented Joseph Bologne's "L'Amant Anonyme." Here are reviews of both. Christine Goerke and David Butt Philip in the Boston Symphony Orchestra's production of "Die Tote Stadt" on Jan. 30. Credit...
Thomas Sondergard Brings Nordic Music and Hygge to Minnesota Orchestra

Jan 21, 2025 | nytimes.com | David Allen |Jenn Ackerman

Visitors stepping into Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on a recent, frigid Saturday were greeted with a roaring fireplace and Scandi furniture strewed with blankets. Snacks were on sale from Ingebretsen's, a local purveyor of Nordic goods, and pastries from the nearby Krown Bakery.
Michael Tilson Thomas Is Prolifically Himself on Disc

Dec 16, 2024 | nytimes.com | David Allen

The conductor Michael Tilson Thomas has always had a way with words, but one refrain of his is especially memorable. "I have encouraged people to color outside the lines, for lack of a better analogy," he told The New York Times in 2017, in announcing his departure from the San Francisco Symphony after a quarter century as its lauded music director. "We're not trying to reproduce the notation here.
Post & Beam is offering a bit of Peterborough in Boston

Nov 8, 2024 | sentinelsource.com | David Allen

Charlestown, Mass., and Peterborough may not have much in common, but now they’re both locations of Post & Beam pubs. The fixture in the G.A.R. Hall on Grove Street in Peterborough, which has been serving its craft brews locally since 2018, opened a satellite taproom in Boston’s oldest neighborhood, a few blocks from the Bunker Hill Monument, in September. Charlestown, founded in 1628, is actually older than Massachusetts itself.
Maurizio Pollini's Final Recording, Made With His Son

Oct 29, 2024 | nytimes.com | David Allen

The pianist Maurizio Pollini was still exploring, right to the end. Throughout his long partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, Pollini, who died in March at the age of 82, offered invariably accomplished, intellectually alert recordings of repertoire including Bach and Chopin, Schoenberg and Boulez.
At 200, Bruckner Is More Popular Than Ever. Why?

Oct 28, 2024 | nytimes.com | David Allen

Bruckner, Bruckner, everywhere. There was a time, as recently as three or four decades ago, when this composer was a relative rarity, especially outside Central Europe. His reputation preceded him. He was a religious man alien to the modern world, the author of monumental symphonies that many listeners found monumentally dull. He was a provincial, uncouth, hardly a sophisticate like Brahms or Mahler. There was the forbidding editorial history of his nine (or is that 11?
Star Trek-inspired escape room coming to Melbourne

Aug 15, 2024 | innercitynews.com.au | David Allen

A new escape room experience planned for Melbourne’s east will take a page from the Star Trek playbook. The creative minds behind Richmond’s Earthrise One escape room centre are planning a Kickstarter to launch Star Crew, a groundbreaking immersive gaming and roleplay experience. “Our engineer has gone all out on this one,” creative director Jack Nolan said.
The Conductor Who Bent Music History to His Will

Jul 22, 2024 | nytimes.com | David Allen

There is a passage in Serge Koussevitzky's final recording of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony that some listeners might hear in horror, but others with a degree of awe. He recorded the piece in 1949 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, during the last weeks of his 25 years as its music director. About two minutes from the end of the first movement, the symphony is doing its best to keep calm.
Maurizio Pollini, Celebrated Pianist Who Defined Modernism, Dies at 82

Mar 23, 2024 | nytimes.com | David Allen

His recordings of Beethoven and Chopin were hailed as classics, but his technical ability sometimes invited controversy. Maurizio Pollini, an Italian pianist of formidable intellectual powers whose unrivaled technique and unwavering interpretive integrity made him the modernist master of the instrument, died on Saturday morning in Milan. He was 82. His death, in a clinic, was announced by the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he performed frequently.
David James Allen - 'By The Summertime' Review

Feb 19, 2024 | livinglifefearless.co | David Allen |Ljubinko Zivkovic

Residing in Prince Edward, Ontario, David James Allen seems to be a very busy man. Doubling, or should we say, tripling as a producer, graphic designer, and singer-songwriter, Allen has in recent years been coming up with some nifty albums, that range from live acoustic recordings (Live at the Five & Dime) to lush, subtly orchestrated albums like his most recent one – By The Summertime.