Jonathan Blumhofer
The Boston Modern Orchestra Project is in the habit of making convincing arguments for just about everything it plays and its performers do so again in these three CD releases featuring music by composers with a New England connection.
There are fistfuls of notes and some tremendous technical skill. But, with a couple of notable exceptions, the readings of some of the cornerstones of the solo piano repertoire by each pianist lack direction.
So we’ve got a mixed bag. If you get this Lang Lang disc, it should be for the Bartók, but not the Prokofiev: as things stand, the competition there simply blows Lang out of the water.
Two discs released by Harmonia Mundi benefit from the dramatic flair of conductor René Jacobs.
Last year, Arts Fuse Critic Jonathan Blumhofer was awarded a grant to support a concert of his music performed by the Worcester Chamber Music Society.
Violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Sam Haywood delivered a highly entertaining and substantive (if too short) Sunday afternoon recital.
In sum, this was one of those rare concerts in which everything clicked, musically and dramatically.
Charles Dutoit, one of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s favorite guest conductors, drew playing of high energy and vivid color.
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.
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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