Classical Music

Classical Album Review: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Orchestral Works

August 24, 2025
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This fine album demonstrates that the music of neglected, mixed-race English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor is well worth resurrecting.

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Opera Album Review: A Stirring “Samson,” Written a Decade Before Saint-Saëns’s, Receives Its Premiere Recording

August 17, 2025
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Joachim Raff, widely hailed for his instrumental works, is finally being recognized as a significant opera composer as well.

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Concert Review: The Mercury Orchestra Goes Down Memory Lane

August 10, 2025
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The Mercury Orchestra explored nostalgia, via performances of rare Finzi and familiar Respighi compositions.

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Opera Album Review: A World-Premiere Recording of a Sprightly Three-Act Operatic Comedy from 1882

August 1, 2025
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By Ralph P. Locke Joachim Raff’s energetic and characterful Die Eifersüchtigen hits its mark, in its first production ever. Joachim Raff: Die Eifersüchtigen (The Jealous Ones) Serafina Giannoni (Donna Rosa), Raìsa Ierone (Donna Bianca), Mirjam Fässler (Ninetta), Benjamin Popson (Don Claudio), Batthias Bein (Beppino), Balduin Schneeberger (Don Giulio), Martin Roth (Don Geronimo). Orchestra of Europe,…

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Concert Review: John Williams’ Piano Concerto Pays Homage to Jazz Legends

July 30, 2025
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John Williams’s concert music may be intended to enrich and edify, but there’s always room for a little fandom, particularly on occasions like this. At 93, and after a lifetime of firsts, the composer deserves every accolade.

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Classical Album Reviews: Price & Dvorak Piano Quintets and Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues

July 27, 2025
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Pianist Yulianna Avdeeva’s recording of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Preludes & Fugues is a testament to that rarest of syntheses: a total identification of a musician with her repertoire. Pianist Marc-André Hamelin and the Takács Quartet release an album that, on so many levels, is simply a joy.

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Concert Review: Amy Beach’s Piano Concerto Revived on the Esplanade

July 26, 2025
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Music by Amy Beach, Leonard Bernstein, Florence Price, John Harbison, and John Williams: this Boston Landmarks Orchestra concert had a little something for everyone.

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Opera Album Review: A Near-Forgotten Czech Opera Via a Vivid 1959 Recording Available in Stereo!

July 26, 2025
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The world-renowned tenor Ivo Židek leads a spirited cast, and reminds us how involving opera can be when sung by native speakers.

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Classical Album Reviews: Jordi Savall Conducts Schumann and Bruckner and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s “The Planets & Earth”

July 25, 2025
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What business has a period orchestra got playing the music of Anton Bruckner? And why can’t conductors and orchestras just leave Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” alone?

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Concert Review: Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra Plays Prokofiev and Berlioz

July 23, 2025
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Mother Nature provided singular and poetic assistance during Sunday’s afternoon outing at Tanglewood.

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