Jonathan Blumhofer

Classical Album Review: Martin Fröst’s “Ecstasy and Abyss” — A Mixed Bag of Mozart

May 27, 2023
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The best items in this all-Mozart album are the concertos.

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Classical Album Review: Violinist Maria Ioudenitch’s “Songbird” Soars

May 26, 2023
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Violinist Maria Ioudenitch seems to know how to get directly at the expressive core of this fare without devolving into showboating or histrionics.

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Classical CD and Livestream Reviews: Mahler 2, Two Ways

May 9, 2023
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In both performances tempos are fleet but not rushed. The big moments – from the hellish apex of the first movement’s development to the screaming climax of the Scherzo and the cathartic resolution of the finale – pack heavy punches.

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Music Documentary Review: “Music Under the Swastika” — Uncomfortably Timely

April 23, 2023
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The road to ultimate destruction is lined by spiritual apathy, intellectual carelessness, and moral equivalency.

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Classical Music Album Review: Klaus Mäkelä conducts Stravinsky

April 9, 2023
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While one is willing to grant a 27-year-old conductor some benefit of the doubt, there’s little here to suggest that the Great Nordic Hope of Classical Music isn’t simply out of his depth.

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Classical Album Review: HK Gruber conducts Kurt Weill

March 31, 2023
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This gripping and engaging release from HK Gruber and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra manages to thread the needle between the various strands of Kurt Weill’s musical personality.

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Classical Music Album Review: Martyn Brabbins conducts Vaughan Williams

March 30, 2023
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This BBC Symphony Orchestra series, dedicated to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ nine symphonies, comes to a triumphant end with this disc.

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Classical Music Album Review: Bamberger Symphoniker’s “Liebestod” — Anything But Sleepy

March 12, 2023
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Don’t let the redundancy of much of this album’s repertoire dissuade you. On all the vital metrics, Liebestod delivers

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Classical Album Review: Missy Mazzoli’s “Dark with Excessive Bright”

March 11, 2023
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Missy Mazzoli’s scoring is generally airy and virtuosic, yet Dark with Excessive Bright doesn’t seem to add up to more than the sum of its parts.

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Classic Music Album: Quatuor Diotima — György Ligeti’s “Metamorphosis”

March 8, 2023
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Quatuor Diotima evince a thorough command of György Ligeti’s style, as well as a breathtaking grasp of the demands he makes on the instruments.

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