Jonathan Blumhofer
Nash Ensemble’s new album captures much of what makes Claude Debussy’s chamber music so fresh and beloved. Orion Weiss’s Arc III is smart, timely programming, dispatched with insight and care.
Sir Simon Rattle and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra solve the riddle of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7. The conductor and the London Symphony Orchestra also offer a refreshingly impish, characterful traversal of music by Kurt Weill.
Volume 1 in a new series from the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and John Wilson whets the appetite for more music by the late-19th-century American composer Edward MacDowell.
The keyboard wizard’s latest album both continues a trend of expansive projects that take the long view and celebrates the decade-plus the virtuoso has resided in the United States. It is a blast.
Violinist Kristin Lee revels in ragtime; pianist Jihye Chang commissioned a series of keyboard etudes from eight Boston-based composers.
Conductor Robert Treviño celebrates what we might call the dawning of the North American vernacular school; composer Ethan Iverson displays a fascination with instrumental color.
Wow. Stewart Goodyear can play Prokofiev. The Czech Philharmonic and Tomás Netopil are compelling advocates, playing Dvořák with plenty of rhythmic zest and tonal warmth.
There are already countless fine documents of the Sibelius Concerto, but Canadian violinist James Ehnes finds new angles from which to examine this favorite; Frank Dupree is a dexterous keyboardist whose grasp of Nikolai Kapustin’s jazzy style is assured.
The whole effort culminated in the finest orchestral performance these ears have heard in Boston since, well, the last time the Berliner Philharmoniker was here.
Arts Commentary: Art, Music, and the New Age of Anxiety
However late the hour and however long the road ahead, the cause of standing for justice, knowledge, and freedom isn’t yet doomed. Along the way, let the arts comfort, inspire, instruct, and help lead. That’s what they’re here for.
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