Jonathan Blumhofer
A pianist with an uncommonly sensitive touch, Garrick Ohlsson’s playing encompasses poeticism and technical strength in just about equal measure.
Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra present a probing and excellent version of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 6.
It’s not Prokofiev at his finest, but his “very good” was above just about everybody else’s best.
The nearly 10 year wait for the premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s string quartet Homunculus was worth it.
Matthias Goerne offers proof that he is the Wagner baritone of the day. And Thierry Fischer’s understanding of Mahler deserves our admiration.
Highlights include an excellent Tchaikovsky symphony cycle in modern sound and one of the year’s best chamber-music albums.
A hell-for-leather approach to Schubert has its drawbacks; for all the sheen of Juan Diego Flórez’s singing, he doesn’t always seem at home in the music.
Music Commentary: Top Classical Performances and Recordings of 2017
A line-up of concerts, performances, and recordings that, as 2017 draws to its close, I can’t, for one reason or many, shake from my memory.
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