Jonathan Blumhofer

Concert Review: Joshua Bell at Symphony Hall

November 19, 2013
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Violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Sam Haywood delivered a highly entertaining and substantive (if too short) Sunday afternoon recital.

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Classical Concert Review: The Boston Symphony Orchestra — A Searing Rendition of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem”

November 11, 2013
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In sum, this was one of those rare concerts in which everything clicked, musically and dramatically.

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Fuse Concert Review: Charles Dutoit conducts Ravel, Penderecki, and Elgar

November 4, 2013
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Charles Dutoit, one of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s favorite guest conductors, drew playing of high energy and vivid color.

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Concert Review: Daniel Harding and the BSO Perform the Music of Turnage and Mahler

October 27, 2013
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Saturday’s pairing demonstrated exactly the kind of risky programming the Boston Symphony Orchestra shouldn’t be afraid to explore, even when it doesn’t all quite come together.

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Concert Review: Discovery Ensemble Plays Mozart, Ligeti, and Sibelius

October 22, 2013
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Discovery Ensemble is one of Boston’s great musical treasures, a group that consistently reminds us not only that the music they play is important, but why that’s the case to begin with.

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Classical CD Reviews: Kevin Puts — Choral Music, Symphony no. 4 and Hanns Eisler — Songs (Harmonia Mundi)

October 17, 2013
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New discs from Harmonia Mundi: One explores the music of Pulitzer prize-winner Kevin Puts, the other focuses on the songs of Hanns Eisler, and it is one of the most fascinating albums to come from any label so far this year.

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Classical Album Reviews: The Nutcracker Suites (Harmonie Ensemble/New York and Steve Richman); Veni Emanuel (Choir of Clare College, Cambridge/Ross and Haigh)

October 16, 2013
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Two new releases from Harmonia Mundi celebrate the sacred and secular sides of the Christmas season.

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Classical Album Review: Martin Schlumpf’s “Streams”

October 14, 2013
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A new disc of music by Martin Schlumpf, one of the leading figures in Swiss contemporary music whose career focuses on “the borderlands between improvisation and composition.”

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Concert Review: Thomas Adés Conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra

October 13, 2013
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The Boston Symphony Orchestra lacks a composer-in-residence. There are many local composers the orchestra might draw on were it to establish such a position, but few have the international reputation of someone like Thomas Adés.

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Concert Review: The Boston Symphony Orchestra plays Mahler’s Symphony no. 2

September 28, 2013
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If Thursday’s performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus was marked by some untidiness, the broad picture to emerge was one of often thrilling, Apollonian grandeur.

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