Classical Music
The performances made one thing clear: what had in Mozart’s day been a failed musical venture now makes for show-stopping pageantry.
Boston Baroque served up a lithe and vital performance of the Messiah that felt rich, personal, and gloriously lived in.
Our classical music critics supply their favorites, albums and concerts, from over the past year.
Though none of the works exhibit the stylistic flashiness of Fernande Decruck’s better-known contemporaries, they all suggest a musician of singular—and sometimes idiosyncratic—vision.
The Arvo Pärt compositions here showcase a composer of remarkable stylistic coherence—but never dramatic complacency or creative stasis.
Paisiello, one of the most successful opera composers in Mozart’s day, offers repeated delight and surprises in this entertainment, thanks to a splendid cast of mostly youngish singers.
On Christmas Night is a welcome alternative to the inescapable flood of tiresome holiday songs currently assaulting us from radios and shopping mall sound systems.
With youthful vigor, Yo-Yo Ma performed the complete Bach Cello Suites, intermixing the music with stories of personal success, wishes for future generations, and gratitude for all those who make the Commonwealth function.
Not only does Michelle Cann hold a seat in the upper echelon of stellar pianists, but she’s a great storyteller as well.
Locke’s List for 2025: Notable Operatic Recordings and a Few Non-Operatic Ones
First recordings of major works and splendid recordings of some others, from Handel to Raff and from Boston’s Musicians of the Old Post Road to the astonishing operatic soprano Aleksandra Kurzak.
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