Classical Music
Our classical music critics supply their favorites, albums and concerts, from over the past year
I encourage anybody interested in the current state of opera to get to know Michael Dellaira’s “The Leopard”.
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.
The opera repertory is so much richer than what gets staged nowadays; many of the most exciting recordings that came my way are of somewhat or entirely forgotten operas from past eras.
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 group presented a program of edgy music with the bloom of youth.
Kevin Puts’s mesmerizing song cycle probes the passion, loss, and resignation in the relationship between the artists Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz.
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.
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