Classical Music

Classical CD Reviews: “Escales,” “Jeux de Miroirs,” and Liszt Symphonic Works

January 25, 2020
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John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London are one of the new decade’s most exciting partnerships; Javier Perianes’ album with the Orchestre de Paris is quite clever; Is Liszt’s music trash? The debate continues.

Classical CD Reviews: Ádám Fischer conducts Mahler, Mariss Jansons conducts Rodion Shchedrin & Respighi, and John Eliot Gardiner conducts Schumann

January 23, 2020
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Ádám Fischer’s reading of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is breathtakingly clean.

Opera Album Review: Oscar Wilde in the Opera House, Part 2 — Richard Flury’s Approachable “A Florentine Tragedy”

January 22, 2020
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Another operatic version of Oscar Wilde’s one-act love triangle that ends with the woman’s husband murdering her lover, to her enraptured delight.

Opera Album Review: Oscar Wilde in the Opera House, Part 1 — Zemlinsky’s Intense Setting of “A Florentine Tragedy”

January 21, 2020
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Salome is not the only strong opera based on an Oscar Wilde play. This one-acter by Zemlinsky deserves a place in the repertoire today.

Opera Album Review: The Operatic Artistry of Leonardo (Not “da”) Vinci

January 16, 2020
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A world-premiere recording of Siroe, King of Persia makes it clear that Leonardo Vinci (1690-1730) was as fine a craftsman as the painter with a similar name.

Opera CD Review: The Greatest Spanish Opera? — A New Recording of Enrique Granados’s “Goyescas”

January 14, 2020
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Imagine the excitement of experiencing, for the first time, an opera by one of the greatest composers to have come out of the Spanish-speaking world!

Opera CD Review: Carl Maria von Weber’s Wildly Assorted Candy Box — A Spiffy New Recording

January 9, 2020
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The rarely staged Oberon is easy to love and will fascinate admirers of early nineteenth-century music.

Opera CD Review: A Young, Immensely Assured Joan Sutherland in Weber’s “Euryanthe”

January 8, 2020
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The oft-neglected “other” great opera by Carl Maria von Weber, splendidly performed in 1955 and in remarkably clear and vivid sound. I hope this opera’s day will yet come.

Classical Music Album Review: Stephen Hough plays Brahms — The Final Piano Pieces

January 3, 2020
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This CD with British pianist Stephen Hough is a gem — and it was named Recording of the Month by Gramophone Magazine.

Classical Album Reviews: Andris Nelsons’ CBSO Recordings, and Mariss Jansons’ SACD Recordings

December 29, 2019
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A collection that provides a fascinating bit of context for how Andris Nelsons has developed as a conductor over the last decade-plus, and an honest, mostly flattering, tribute to a much-loved conductor, the late Mariss Jansons.

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