Classical Music

Classical Album Review: Pittsburgh Symphony plays Beethoven & Stucky

June 13, 2022
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We’ve got ourselves another winner in this ongoing Pittsburgh/Beethoven series. Warmly recommended.

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Listening During Covid, Part 12: Adventures in Ethnic and National Diversity

June 5, 2022
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I am honestly puzzled by the casualness or, at times, ferocity with which some people nowadays reject classical music as inherently narrow or elitist.

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Album Review: William Bolcom’s Complete Rags — Fantastically Inventive and Rigorous

May 28, 2022
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This is the definitive recording of William Bolcom’s rags, complete or excerpted: a triumph for the pianist and the composer – as well as a grandly spirited, accessible, inventive journey for any who care to join them on it.

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Listening During Covid, Part 11: Making Classical Music New in All Kinds of Ways

May 26, 2022
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Two exquisite sopranos bring us refreshing songs, arias, and cantatas; and a noted Broadway composer and a remarkable Black librettist offer a searing opera about police brutality.

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Classical Album Review: Orion Weiss’s “Arc 1” — Crafting a Strong Sense of Impending Doom

May 22, 2022
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The album serves up exceptional stuff, even if the program’s a touch macabre and pianist Orion Weiss’s well-written liner notes make uncomfortable connections between the world of pre-World War 1 Europe and our own pandemic-riddled age.

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Opera Review: “Champion: An Opera in Jazz” — Fought to a Draw

May 22, 2022
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The cast for this Boston Lyric Opera production was first-rate, and composer Terence Blanchard has worked in a wide variety of jazz styles and shifts gears to keep the score swinging throughout.

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Classical Album Review: The Claremont Trio’s “Queen of Hearts”

May 21, 2022
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What might be the most impressive feature of this disc: everything on it was written for The Claremont Trio since 2008. The album stands as a shining testament to their adeptness as an ensemble as well as their curiosity as musicians.

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Classical Music Review: Osvaldo Golijov’s “Nazareno”

May 15, 2022
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Nazareno is bright, often joyous, and easy on the ears. That ought to count for something.

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Classical Album Review: Violinist Lea Birringer plays Sinding and Mendelssohn

May 14, 2022
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Violinist Lea Birringer’s performance of the Christian Sinding selections are impressive. Her Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, though, is missing drive, excitement, and passion.

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Classical Album Review: “When There Are No Words…” — Do Music and Politics Mix?

April 28, 2022
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When There Are No Words presents six pieces written between 1936 and 1980 by composers responding (at least seemingly) to contemporaneous political events and situations.

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