Jonathan Blumhofer
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.
A terrific album, commandingly played, that adds to our knowledge and appreciation of this too-long neglected repertoire.
This was an epic performance of an epic piece, steeped in Brucknerian character.
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.
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.
For Benjamin Zander and his musicians – as for all of us – it was a strange, even desperate, several months.
This is an all-English album whose strongest moments are mighty and who’s most intriguing piece is a revelation.
Some tracks work better than others, but Maya Beiser’s larger effort succeeds in presenting Glass’s music in a more nuanced – and musically complex – light.
A thoughtfully conceived, technically excellent, beautifully recorded, and expressively rich album that celebrates 20th-century piano music by (mostly) American composers.
One could hardly ask for more persuasive Bruch advocacy than what the Nash Ensemble offers here.
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