Music
This Sunday’s BPYO concert tied together a number of highly personal strands, presenting music connected to two of conductor Benjamin Zander’s mentors — Benjamin Britten and Gustav Holst.
John Corigliano’s take on goodbyes is, if not exactly bitter, then full of sorrow: few happy memories to be had here.
Smartly, Vanessa Ruben has gathered a strong group of collaborators, a number of whom knew Tadd Dameron personally and all of whom knew his music well.
Asked what the experience was like to go back and revisit his earlier recordings, Alan Parsons explained, “It’s actually very pleasurable, like stepping back in a time machine.”
Two highly recommended recordings by well-known artists performing some rather off-the-beaten-path repertoire.
Bread-and-butter of the orchestral repertoire though this music may be, there was no complacency to be heard in the orchestra’s playing of it.
Rosa Parks: Pure Love is a serious, substantial, and long work, alternately harsh and calming, one that I am sure should be seen as well as heard.
It would appear that Martin Phillipps and company are experiencing a late-career renaissance that bodes well for their future.
Beethoven reportedly told Rossini to stick to writing comic operas. But new recordings of two of Rossini’s major serious operas bring great pleasure to the listener—and let us hear some splendid young singers.
The seven-man musical wrecking squad from Austria called Mnozil Brass has created a combination circus band, village band, marching band, and vaudeville orchestra.
The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll at Mid-Year: Warming Up a Riff — How It Happened, and Why It Matters