Jonathan Blumhofer
The performance of John Adams’s “City Noir” is swift and characterful, though sometimes pushed perhaps a bit too hard for its own good. The rendition of Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade” is clear but a bit too safe.
The Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich recording of Mendelssohn’s Symphonies doesn’t cast the composer as a radical, but the effort highlights the strengths of his music and finds ways to put distinctive interpretive stamps on several of these scores.
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin demonstrated a total command and control of his materials.
“There’s nothing better to do on Friday night than hear this orchestra play. What else would people do that would be better? Of course, people get very excited about the sports teams – and most of them lose. But this orchestra never loses. It wins every game!”
Ultimately, on some level, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Bruckner Ninth functioned as a study in approaching the unknown (and unknowable) with humility.
The Portland Youth Philharmonic’s East Coast tour allows the ensemble, whose membership is mostly drawn from the city of Portland, and its nearby suburbs, to showcase their artistry in venues that will do them sonic justice, including Worcester’s Mechanics Hall.
The Sinfonia of London and Susanna Mälkki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra release recordings filled with color and beauty.
Conductor Benjamin Zander put the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra to challenging work at Symphony Hall, while, on record, Isabelle Faust delivers a vital, urgent, and engrossing traversal of the Britten Violin Concerto.
The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra was violinist Liza Ferschtman’s equal partner for much of the performance, imbuing Alban Berg’s dense orchestral writing with warmth and shapeliness
Kellen Gray and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra continue its mission of bringing vital music to life; the Neave Trio releases an album of gems, a survey of piano trios by four women.
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