Jonathan Blumhofer
My Father Knew Charles Ives and Harmonielehre make an excellent pairing on the Nashville Symphony Orchestra’s new, all-Adams album led by music director Giancarlo Guerrero.
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Sir Adrian Boult certainly had his ups and downs as a conductor, but these performances showcase him largely at his best.
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The pandemic may have largely shut down live musical performances for 2020, but the recording industry remained alive and very active these past twelve months.
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A captivating and thought-provoking version of Missa solemnis from René Jacobs and his forces; the Michael Gielen Edition is one of this Beethoven anniversary-year’s highlights.
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Calidore String Quartet’s Babel is one of the year’s best albums; Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered offers an unsettling and beautifully direct rethinking of the traditional Roman liturgy; for John Luther Adams fans – and the Adams-curious – Become Trilogy is a must.
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Daniil Trifonov’s Silver Age pays bracing tribute to fin-de-siecle and post-Revolutionary Russian music; Jonathan Leshnoff’s Third Symphony is smartly-written and affecting. What happens when tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres team up for an album of duets and ensembles from various Rossini operas? Fireworks.
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Violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong’s Beethoven violin sonatas feel and sound absolutely right; Quatuor Ébène’s comes up with one of this anniversary year’s few, true benchmark releases; Nikolai Lugansky’s traversal of three of Beethoven’s late piano sonatas is often admirable.
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Uri Caine’s score about the life and murder of a 19th-century civil rights icon is direct and potent; touching documentation of Richard Pittman’s advocacy for the inventive composer Bernard Hoffer and a demonstration of the sheer musical excellence of Boston Musica Viva; Igor Levit’s keyboard playing is dynamic, precisely articulated, vividly felt, and beautifully voiced.
Read MoreClassical Album Reviews: Petrenko conducts Elgar, Britten’s “Saint Nicolas,” and “Italian Postcards”
One of Vasily Petrenko’s most successful Elgar releases; there’s an edge to the Crouch End Festival Chorus’ performance of Britten’s Saint Nicolas ; Quartetto di Cremona’s new album is nothing if not overflowing with Mediterranean personality
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Seiji Ozawa’s Symphony no. 7 and Leonore Overture no. 3 offers a memorable blend of color, atmosphere, purpose, and soul; François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles serve up a satisfactory, period-instrument Symphony no. 5; Thomas Adès’ take on Beethoven is concentrated and energetic, if a bit impersonal.
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Arts Commentary: Rich in Creativity — But Nothing Else