Music
The Arvo Pärt compositions here showcase a composer of remarkable stylistic coherence—but never dramatic complacency or creative stasis.
Two good reads: Boston harmonica player Jerry Portnoy’s memoir is an unflinching look at life as a sideman musician; the other is a history that shows how, without the Black stars he heard in Memphis, there would have been no Elvis or rock ‘n roll as we know it.
It turns out that singer Jessica Vosk’s personality is just as big and colorful as her voice. Add to that her zigzagging brand of comic spontaneity, and you had an evening filled with joyous holiday spirit.
Converge bassist Nate Newton joked that, if it were left to him, he would have called this event “The Night of Seven Savage Weirdos”. Though when everything finally came together, even more weirdos were added to the mix.
Being a one-man or one-woman band while toiling in the shadows is not glamorous work. Over the last 13 years, producer Alex Lemski undertook this role and supplied a great deal of exciting, important music to the people of Boston.
New albums from Billy Hart, Phil Haynes & Free Country, Pat Thomas, Kalia Vandever, and the Webber/Morris Big Band.
Sun Ra was often deliberately far out, as we used to say, and also joyously entertaining.
Add these four remastered Ray Charles albums to your collection and remind yourself what the real thing sounds like when it finally comes along.
Paisiello, one of the most successful opera composers in Mozart’s day, offers repeated delight and surprises in this entertainment, thanks to a splendid cast of mostly youngish singers.
Locke’s List for 2025: Notable Operatic Recordings and a Few Non-Operatic Ones
First recordings of major works and splendid recordings of some others, from Handel to Raff and from Boston’s Musicians of the Old Post Road to the astonishing operatic soprano Aleksandra Kurzak.
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