Classical Music

Classical Music Commentary: Making Sense of the BSO’s “Decoding Shostakovich”

May 9, 2025
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Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was both a rebel and a conformist, a fascinating hybrid of courage and cowardice.

Opera Album Review: In a New Recording, Faust Is Damned Again — Early-Modernist Style

May 9, 2025
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Ferruccio Busoni’s century-old (or -young) Doktor Faust, inspired by Christopher Marlowe and other pre-Goethe sources, offers a fascinatingly hellish ride.

Concert Review: Pianist Evgeny Kissin — Note-Perfect and Nonpareil

May 2, 2025
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Heard live, pianist Evgeny Kissin offers the kind of rare, heart-altering listening experiences that give one hope for our woefully fractured world.

Concert Review: Radius Ensemble — A Special Occasion

April 30, 2025
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After more than a quarter century, with an impressive new venue serving as a platform, Radius Ensemble continues to expand its musical reach.

Classical Music Album Review: “Symphonic Chronicles Vol. IV” — A Treasure Trove of the New

April 24, 2025
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The not-to-be missed “Symphonic Chronicles IV” is a very welcome alternative to much of the atonal, modern classical music currently flooding the market.

Concert Review: Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Plays Mahler

April 22, 2025
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This was a “Resurrection” Symphony for today: urgent and unsettled, yes, but also searching, persevering, and, ultimately, triumphant. If the weekend turns out to have marked conductor Benjamin Zander’s last go-around with this masterpiece, what a way to finish.

Classical Music Album Review: Brahms & Schumann and Mozart & Bruch

April 14, 2025
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It is serendipitous that James Ehnes added Brahms’ two viola sonatas to his repertoire; Patrick Messina, Lise Berthaud, and Fabrizio Chiovetta’s new recording of Bruch’s “8 Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano” serves the piece admirably.

Classical Music Album Reviews: “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” and Jean-Yves Thibaudet Plays Khachaturian

April 13, 2025
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A conspicuously inviting account of Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, and a welcome surprise: Aram Khachaturian actually wrote a pretty good piano concerto.

Opera Album Review: A Delightful Three-Character Opera by Paisiello Recieves Its World-Premiere Recording

April 10, 2025
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A renowned 18th-century master struts his stuff, helped by a skillful young Italian tenor, in an opera first performed in Russia.

Concert Review: The Boston Symphony Orchestra Plays Mozart and Arvo Pärt

April 3, 2025
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Guest conductor Dima Slobodeniouk and the Boston Symphony Orchestra invited listeners to a meditative evening of music. 

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