Classical Music
I know no more thoughtful disquisition, for the opera stage, on basic questions of life, death, war, love, power, and resistance.
As the composer moves from youth to middle age, Thomas Adès is unique among his contemporaries for his singular embrace of melody, harmony, and form.
Gil Rose’s team, headed by an incandescent Ellie Dehn as Catherine of Aragon, should help bring this major work back to the world’s opera-house stages.
Europa Galante is small enough to make touring financially viable, yet large enough to successfully undertake “larger” works in a variety of venues.
The season-long celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Benjamin Zander’s debut as a conductor, which gets underway later this month when the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) returns to the stage, doesn’t stint on festive spirit.
Augustin Hadelich has the feeling of this music – its bittersweet melodic phrases, dancing riffs, and restrained passion – well in hand.
This recording presents one of the most lucid and well-programmed portraits of John Adams to emerge, well, in a long while.
Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, at his best, was compelling. Granted, he wasn’t working at this level in every piece. But most of his bigger works are better than not.
For Derek Bermel fans, Intonations is a must. For new music enthusiasts and the otherwise curious – ditto.
Classical Critic’s Notebook: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2
Whatever Rachmaninoff’s conflicted feelings about writing symphonies were, there’s nothing ambiguous about the content of his Second Symphony. From start to finish, it’s a marvel of melodic freshness and brilliant instrumentation.
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