Jonathan Blumhofer
A series of new and recent recordings by Boston orchestras demonstrate that, in the right hands, symphonic music since 1945 remains alive and well, still powerful, fresh, and vibrant.
Taken together, it’s a bracing, provocative, and – perhaps above all – fun survey of music for the stage from, for England, the conspicuously abundant 20th century.
Radius Ensemble’s final performance of the season touched on examples of musical fantasy, worldly angst, and spiritual transcendence.
There was new music, of which Nelsons’s an uncommonly gifted interpreter; old music that mostly sounded lively; and a big, loud, late-Romantic warhorse that let him and the BSO show off.
Saturday’s was the most electrifying, exciting, spontaneous-sounding, inevitable performance of this warhorse (Beethoven’s Violin Concerto) I’ve heard.
Ascending Light is, by far, the most serious orchestral score of Gandolfi’s I’ve heard and it succeeds to a considerable extent thanks to its expressive honesty.
New England’s oldest continuously-active opera company brings to Boston a rare performance of one of Tchaikovsky’s less-familiar operatic scores.
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein’s new album, Broadway-Lafayette, features her on three pieces, all written since 1924, that celebrate musical ties between France and the United States.
The opportunity to hear Leoš Janáček’s magnificent score live ultimately trumps any reservations I have about the production as a whole.
Classical Music Commentary: On Andris Nelsons’ First Season in Boston and a Look Ahead at 2015-16
By the end of Andris Nelsons’s inaugural season he had the BSO playing with lots of energy and like they really care, night in and out.
Read More about Classical Music Commentary: On Andris Nelsons’ First Season in Boston and a Look Ahead at 2015-16