Jonathan Blumhofer

Classical Album Review: Florence Price’s Symphonies nos. 1 & 3

November 14, 2021
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Florence Price’s voice and the richness and complexity of an almost-entirely neglected body of symphonic music by Black American composers can be heard in this excellent recording.

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Classical Music CD Review: Hensel & Mendelssohn String Quartets

November 13, 2021
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This is an album of real spirit and vigor, a mix of the thoughtful and the exciting, all bracingly recorded.

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Classical Concert Preview: Symphony Pro Musica Plays Walton, Dawson, and Elgar

November 11, 2021
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This weekend’s concerts all add up to a quintessential Symphony Pro Musica event: a mix of the familiar and unexpected, with various old friends coming by to visit along the way.

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Book Review: “Mr. Beethoven” — Alternative Musical History

November 7, 2021
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Beethoven never left Europe. But he could have. And the possibility that he might have visited Boston is the basis of Paul Griffiths’ touching, witty, and thought-provoking new novel.

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Classical Concert Review: New England Conservatory Philharmonia’s “Making Choices”

November 5, 2021
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May the Boston Symphony – which just concluded its annual weekend celebrating the music of Black composers by shunting them off on their own, away from Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Beethoven, and Friends – take note: this is how it should be done.

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Classical Album Review: A Completely Refreshing “Americascapes”

October 18, 2021
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A terrific album, commandingly played, that adds to our knowledge and appreciation of this too-long neglected repertoire.

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Classical Concert Review: Boston Philharmonic Orchestra plays Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8

October 16, 2021
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This was an epic performance of an epic piece, steeped in Brucknerian character.

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Classical Concert Review: Boston Symphony Orchestra plays Strauss and Mozart

October 12, 2021
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Andris Nelsons’s conception of Strauss’s Tod und Verklärung was impressive, marked by strong contrasts of character, flexibility of phrasing, and a commendable grasp of musical space.

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Classical Music CD Review: The Aptly Named “Enigma” String Quartet

October 10, 2021
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I’m not entirely sure if Enigma just adds up to the sum of its parts or if it, in fact, exceeds them. Either way, it is music of stirring, striking originality.

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Classical Music Preview: Catching Up and Looking Ahead with Benjamin Zander on the BPO/BPYO Season

October 9, 2021
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For Benjamin Zander and his musicians – as for all of us – it was a strange, even desperate, several months.

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