Classical Music
We’ve got ourselves another winner in this ongoing Pittsburgh/Beethoven series. Warmly recommended.
I am honestly puzzled by the casualness or, at times, ferocity with which some people nowadays reject classical music as inherently narrow or elitist.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nazareno is bright, often joyous, and easy on the ears. That ought to count for something.
Violinist Lea Birringer’s performance of the Christian Sinding selections are impressive. Her Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, though, is missing drive, excitement, and passion.
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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