Classical Music
None of the opera recordings I have reviewed this past year beats this Cradle for dramatic vitality, musical imagination, and ongoing political relevance.
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Handel & Haydn Society’s Haydn and Mozart is about as good as it gets; Martyn Brabbins’ recording of A Sea Symphony is one of the year’s best releases; and for elegance and technical command, you can’t go wrong with Tilson Thomas and his San Francisco Symphony.
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Pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet delivers some fine Mozart; conductor Hannu Lintu brings rhythmic energy and textural transparency to the music of Witold Lutoslawski; Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra don’t do right by Berlioz.
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American String Quartet’s disc features the premiere recording of Robert Sirota’s String Quartet no. 2, American Pilgrimage.
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I was excited, moved, impressed, and surprised by Handel & Haydn Society’s performance of The Messiah under the exacting baton of Bernard Labadie.
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When it comes to raising high spirits, the BEMF’s delightful Alcina was an inspired choice.
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Without question, this BPYO rendition of Shostakovich Ten was one of the most urgent and necessary of any symphonic score I’ve heard all year.
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This recording challenges our settled sense of what art music, in conjunction with colorful spoken and sung verse, can accomplish.
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This was a truly great performance, one that fully suited the BPO’s season-long, dual commemorations.
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Next summer promises to be a safe one, musically, at Tanglewood.
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Arts Commentary: Rich in Creativity — But Nothing Else