Marc Minkowski’s recording of Jacques Offenbach’s La Périchole pays the composer a handsome tribute in his birthday year; violinist Baiba Skride’s new all-Bartók disc is one of the year’s best.
Music
Classical CD Reviews: Seattle Symphony plays Strauss & Langgaard, Offenbach’s “Folies symphoniques,” and Salonen conducts Beethoven & Strauss
The Seattle Symphony does right by Langgaard but not Strauss; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Beethoven is micromanaged to death; Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester offers an ideal off-the-beaten-path Offenbach disc.
Classical Music CD Reviews: Strauss/Korngold’s “Eine Nacht in Venedig,” Berlioz’s Requiem, and Ethel Smyth’s Mass in D
Among the reviews: a terrific, important release that celebrates one of the most interesting – and hitherto overlooked – composers of the late-19th- and early-20th centuries in style. Don’t miss it.
Concert Review: Boston Philharmonic plays Mozart, Brahms, and Bartók
There was nothing sleepy or commonplace about the ensemble’s performance of favorites by Mozart, Brahms, and Bartók.
Blues Album Review: Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ “Cypress Grove” — Old Fuses With New
In Cypress Grove, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ deep Bentonia guitar remains pure and present, while his vocals, which have never sounded better, are solid and vibrant throughout.
Jazz Album Review: jaimie branch’s “FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise” — Into the Outer Reaches
jaimie branch knows music has to be wild and dangerous and beautiful to cut through all the distractions of our times.
Music Interview: Talking to Rocker Amy Rigby — Musician Turned Author
“I’ve put out records by myself before, but this is like 10 times the work!”
Music Interview: “Going to the Place That’s the Best” — Norman Greenbaum Returns Home to Malden
The hit 1969 song “The Spirit in the Sky” by Malden’s own Norman Greenbaum is the inspiration for one of several new works of public art.
Classical CD Review: “Free America!, Early Songs of Resistance and Rebellion” — Fight the Power!
Enjoy Boston Camerata’s Free America! for its high spirits and its crafty, delicious way of making the iconoclasm of the past come alive.
World Music Review: Tinariwen’s Saharan Grooves
Tinariwen’s music exudes determination, the soulful energy of ethnic resilience.
