Classical Music
Dohnányi and Schnitzler’s “pantomime” The Veil of Pierrette receives its first, and resplendent, recording.
Seiji Ozawa’s Symphony no. 7 and Leonore Overture no. 3 offers a memorable blend of color, atmosphere, purpose, and soul; François-Xavier Roth and Les Siècles serve up a satisfactory, period-instrument Symphony no. 5; Thomas Adès’ take on Beethoven is concentrated and energetic, if a bit impersonal.
Mariss Jansons’ ultimate performance, taped live at Carnegie Hall, shows the maestro at the top of his game; François-Xavier Roth’s new recording of pieces by Ravel and Debussy is a bit of a hit-or-miss affair; Diana Damrau’s Tudor Queens, a survey of heroines from three Donizetti operas, is nothing short of terrific.
Nothing to recommend in Daniel Lozakovich’s take on the Beethoven Violin Concerto, but Midori’s performance of the piece is completely unpretentious, natural, and exciting. Gidon Kremer & friends serve up a terrifically flexible version of Carl Reinecke’s adaptation of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.
A delightful and compact opera — from a generation before Mozart — that cuts various social types down to size.
Composer Anna Clyne’s new disc displays her maturity as a composer and brilliance as an orchestrator; pianist Simone Dinnerstein builds a number of bridges between Philip Glass and Franz Schubert; pianist Hélène Grimaud’s interesting program is marred by some uneven Mozart.
Terrific performances, blazing with color, character, and wonderful technique from Neeme Järvi and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; John Williams and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra offer considerable pleasure with some misteps; another triumphant release from Gil Rose and the BMOP.
Françoix-Xavier Roth delivers a must-have cycle of Robert Schumann’s symphonies; Herbert Blomstedt’s Brahms’s Symphony no. 1 is spacious, restrained, and – too often – dull; Daniel Barenboim’s latest Elgar installment features a regrettably unsung masterpiece.
A trio of recordings help us rethink and rehear composers as varied as Barbara Strozzi (from the seventeenth century), Chopin, and Mahler.
Metropolitan Opera stars Ildebrando d’Arcangelo and Liudmyla Monastyrska headline a new recording that reveals Verdi operatic mastery five years before Rigoletto.
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