Jonathan Blumhofer
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.
Here is an outstanding recording from the Escher String Quartet of music by two stylistically divergent 20th-century American composers, Samuel Barber and Charles Ives.
For Joan Tower fans, this disc is a must; for the Tower-curious, it offers an excellent introduction to the composer’s wider work, all of it compellingly played.
Interpretively, this installment in the BSO’s cycle of Dmitri Shostakovich’s fifteen symphonies is occasionally (and a bit surprisingly) spotty.
One of the year’s stand-out releases: full of wonderful music, all of it well worth getting to know, and played to the hilt.
BMOP’s performances of three John Adams chamber symphonies, all conducted by music director Gil Rose, offer welcome, distinctive takes on the triptych.
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