Classical Music
Arnold Rosner’s writing in each act is strongly contrapuntal, metrically unpredictable, and idiomatically scored. The music is marked by constantly shifting colors, a strong sense of rhythm, and a healthy dose of lyricism.
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.
Ádám Fischer’s reading of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is breathtakingly clean.
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.
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.
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.
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!
The rarely staged Oberon is easy to love and will fascinate admirers of early nineteenth-century music.
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.
This CD with British pianist Stephen Hough is a gem — and it was named Recording of the Month by Gramophone Magazine.
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