My Father Knew Charles Ives and Harmonielehre make an excellent pairing on the Nashville Symphony Orchestra’s new, all-Adams album led by music director Giancarlo Guerrero.
Classical Music
Opera Preview: Donizetti’s “The Pariah” — One of the Most Significant Opera Releases of the Past Few Years
The long-forgotten Il paria (1829), a work that Donizetti himself prized more highly than many of his other works, has now been reconstructed by a scholarly team and given a splendid recording.
Classical Album Review: “Adrian Boult: A Musical Legacy” — Introduction to a Special Conductor
Sir Adrian Boult certainly had his ups and downs as a conductor, but these performances showcase him largely at his best.
Opera Album Review: Leonardo “no-dah” Vinci’s “Gismondo” — Quite Wonderful Stuff, Splendidly Performed.
Lovers of Baroque opera will want to scoop this one up quickly. I certainly have more respect and affection for Leonardo Vinci, now that I’ve come to know several of his operas.
Opera CD Review: William Alwyn’s Powerful Take on Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” — A Neglected Masterpiece
The second recording of William Alwyn’s searing opera confirms the work’s vitality and importance. It is one of the best and most accessible operas to have been written in the past few decades.
Arts Feature: Best Classical Recordings of 2020
The pandemic may have largely shut down live musical performances for 2020, but the recording industry remained alive and very active these past twelve months.
Classical CD Reviews: Listening During COVID, Part 3 –From Boston with Love (Performances of Haydn, Dello Joio, and Virgil Thomson).
Two new recordings and one much-welcome re-release contain first-rate performances of Haydn’s 1798 “Lord Nelson” Mass, Dello Joio’s opera about Joan of Arc, and Virgil Thomson’s astonishing musical portraits of Alice B. Toklas, Picasso, and others.
Classical CD Reviews: More Beethoven — Michael Gielen Edition, vol. 9 and René Jacobs conducts the “Missa solemnis”
A captivating and thought-provoking version of Missa solemnis from René Jacobs and his forces; the Michael Gielen Edition is one of this Beethoven anniversary-year’s highlights.
Classical CD Reviews: “Babel,” Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Mass for the Endangered,” and John Luther Adams’ “Become Trilogy”
Calidore String Quartet’s Babel is one of the year’s best albums; Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered offers an unsettling and beautifully direct rethinking of the traditional Roman liturgy; for John Luther Adams fans – and the Adams-curious – Become Trilogy is a must.
Classical CD Reviews: Russia’s Silver Age, “Amici e Rivali,” and Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony no. 3
Daniil Trifonov’s Silver Age pays bracing tribute to fin-de-siecle and post-Revolutionary Russian music; Jonathan Leshnoff’s Third Symphony is smartly-written and affecting. What happens when tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres team up for an album of duets and ensembles from various Rossini operas? Fireworks.