Jonathan Blumhofer

Classical Music Album: Radius Ensemble’s Spirited “Carnival”

August 31, 2026
Posted in , , ,

On its lively new recording, the Boston chamber group gives buoyant, colorful, and sharply characterized performances of three works by a longtime MIT composer.

Classical Album Review: Duo Gazzana plays Prokofiev, Pärt, and Schnittke with Bracing Insight

August 29, 2026
Posted in , , ,

The sisters’ new ECM recording catches the volatile interplay of lyricism and menace in a compellingly programmed set.

Classical Music Album: Anne-Sophie Mutter’s Restless New-Music Advocacy

August 21, 2026
Posted in , , ,

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter’s latest Alpha recording pairs two late works by André Previn with Sebastian Currier’s witty, searching “Ringtone Variations.”

Film Review: “Bernstein’s Wall” — A Vivid Portrait of the Artist as Activist

August 9, 2026
Posted in , ,

Douglas Tirola’s documentary draws on a remarkable archive to make Leonard Bernstein’s musical, political, and moral commitments feel urgently contemporary.

Classical Album Review: Film Composers in the Concert Hall

August 2, 2026
Posted in , , ,

A Singapore Symphony Orchestra recording of compositions by John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, and Hugo Friedhofer quietly punctures old prejudices about film composers and “serious” music.

Classical Music Review: “An American Dream?”

July 31, 2026
Posted in , , ,

Soprano-conductor Barbara Hannigan’s semiquincentennial album reframes familiar American classics through a lens of wistfulness, insight, and quiet defiance.

Classical Music Album Review: Gershwin Among Modernists

July 3, 2026
Posted in , , , ,

A thoughtfully curated program uncovers surprising connections between George Gershwin and Vienna’s early 20th-century avant-garde.

Classical Music Album Review: A “New World” Reconsidered

July 2, 2026
Posted in , , ,

With Carlos Simon’s “Four Black American Dances,” the Pittsburgh Symphony offers a thoughtful and resonant recontextualization of Dvořák’s Ninth.

Classical Music Album Review: Mahler’s Fifth, Without Urgency

June 30, 2026
Posted in , , ,

Andris Nelsons and the Vienna Philharmonic deliver a polished but curiously inert reading of a symphonic powerhouse.

Classical Album Review: Paul Huang Performs Korngold & Barber Violin Concertos

June 19, 2026
Posted in , , ,

A polished, detail-rich account of two lyrical concertos, distinguished more by clarity and refinement than by risk or fire.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives