Music
Odyssey Opera revels in the glittering wit and touching moments of this full-length chamber opera by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, better known for his Hollywood film scores and some wonderful guitar pieces.
For all the teen-pop trappings, however, there is an old-fashioned sensibility to Rex Orange County’s 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.
Overall, Light Blue is an impressive album: its ensembles simultaneously tight and graceful, its solos expressive.
So, after three original albums (plus a re-imagining of Joni Mitchell’s Blue) that fell short of wide acclaim, perhaps it was only a matter of time for them to think big.
With this album, post-rock sextet Caspian pulls off the tricky maneuver of infusing blood and emotions into carefully assembled and deliberately delivered songs.
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.
Cécile McLorin Salvant understands that she is heroic.
Apart from Claudio Roditi’s musical skill, what stood out was his warmth.
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