Opera
Gounod was no mere purveyor of gentle sentiments. This 1881 opera, superbly performed, shows plenty of drama and grit.
Read MoreWhat if you took canonical Western works and reimagined them from an African perspective?
Read MoreThere can be little doubt that the urgency of the opera’s message about equality is as relevant as ever.
Read MoreThis is one of the zippiest, most life-affirming opera recordings I have heard in a long time. Well, this puts it a bit too blandly, because the work’s social satire also targets the smug self-satisfaction and careless cruelty of the powerful.
Read MoreOne of Saint-Saëns’s most important operas, Proserpine, has recently been given its world-premiere recording, and the result is a revelation.
Read MoreThis world-premiere recording of the 1826 Paris version of Gaspare Spontini’s Olimpie makes a powerful case for a composer much admired in his own day.
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This entertaining opera is a real soap opera, given that it chronicles the fallout of the passionate protagonist’s unrequited love.
The perversity of The Handmaid’s Tale oppressive allegory lends itself well to opera, and Boston Lyric Opera makes the most of the material’s emotional heights and depths.
Read MoreMassOpera’s updated version of Die Fledermaus pulls off a major feat.
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Music Commentary: A Mystery Solved on the 50th Anniversary of the Release of “Queen II”