Country Supper is a beautifully produced album, a cohesive musical and artistic statement that will appeal to serious fans of the blues, country, and indie rock.
Music
Album Review: Slauson Malone’s “Vergangenheitsbewältigung” — Struggling to Cope with the Past
Vergangenheitsbewältigung only runs 24 minutes: it is a compact, thought-provoking, and rewarding sensory experience.
Classical CD Reviews: More Beethoven — Michael Gielen Edition, vol. 9 and René Jacobs conducts the “Missa solemnis”
A captivating and thought-provoking version of Missa solemnis from René Jacobs and his forces; the Michael Gielen Edition is one of this Beethoven anniversary-year’s highlights.
Classical CD Reviews: “Babel,” Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Mass for the Endangered,” and John Luther Adams’ “Become Trilogy”
Calidore String Quartet’s Babel is one of the year’s best albums; Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered offers an unsettling and beautifully direct rethinking of the traditional Roman liturgy; for John Luther Adams fans – and the Adams-curious – Become Trilogy is a must.
Arts Feature: Music That Sustained Us Through the Year of the Pandemic
With concerts all but wiped off the calendar by the pandemic, our critics naturally spent their time with recordings (and virtual live shows).
Arts Feature: Significant Jazz Experiences, 2020
The magazine’s jazz critics look back over the past year and highlight their favorites — performances, recordings, and books.
Classical CD Reviews: Russia’s Silver Age, “Amici e Rivali,” and Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony no. 3
Daniil Trifonov’s Silver Age pays bracing tribute to fin-de-siecle and post-Revolutionary Russian music; Jonathan Leshnoff’s Third Symphony is smartly-written and affecting. What happens when tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres team up for an album of duets and ensembles from various Rossini operas? Fireworks.
Arts Remembrance: Charley Pride — The Man Who Sang Honky-Tonk Best
When Charley Pride did display anger, it concerned how the country music establishment treated older artists.
Classical CD Reviews: Beethoven Chamber Music, Part 2 – James Ehnes plays Violin Sonatas, Quatuor Ébene’s “Beethoven Around the World,” Lugansky Performs the Late Piano Sonatas
Violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong’s Beethoven violin sonatas feel and sound absolutely right; Quatuor Ébène’s comes up with one of this anniversary year’s few, true benchmark releases; Nikolai Lugansky’s traversal of three of Beethoven’s late piano sonatas is often admirable.
Film Review: “Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story” — The Life of a Jazz Phenomenon
Trumpeter Doc Severinsen had the right combination of talent and showmanship to reach and stay in the spotlight, and he adjusted the pieces of his life to maintain his singular place.