Classical Music
Richard Muti draws playing of full-blooded passion from Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Thierry Fischer conducts Camille Saint-Saëns with a sure hand, and violinist Tasmin Little’s new recording of neglected violin-and-piano pieces by mid- and late-Romantic women composers is terrific.
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Chopin and His World establishes multiple new starting points for further studies of one of the world’s greatest composers, yet it can be read with pleasure by people who merely(!) love the music.
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Our critic’s year-end tally of the classical albums that, in looking back over 2018, stand tallest – plus a few that didn’t make the bar.
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Aequa is one of the year’s standout new-music albums. Philip Glass’s Symphony no. 11 suggests that the veteran composer has more than a few tricks left up his sleeve. And Neave Trio’s Celebrating Piazzolla is a thoroughly delightful, engaging album.
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Visions Take Flight is one of those rarest of accomplishments: a contemporary music album that’s a sheer joy to listen to, from start to finish. And John Cage on guitar? Why not?
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An impressive collection of nine new releases (seven of which are reviewed here). While some might not displace the classic recordings of Debussy already out there, this gathering offers some welcome and fresh interpretive contrasts.
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A list of the most memorable opera and vocal recital recordings of the year.
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Our critic’s twelve favorite classical music performances that he reviewed this past year.
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The Tallis Scholars are unquestionably today’s most renowned exponent of Renaissance sacred music.
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Classical Music Commentary: Poetic Narratives in the Concert Hall, and a New Recording of Dvořák’s “The Spectre’s Bride”
A reflection on the whole tradition of combining longish narrative poems to music, especially for performance in a concert hall by large forces (e.g., singers and orchestra).
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