Music
In honor of Big Ears’ tenth edition, here’s a look at ten of my favorite festival moments.
Earl Lee, the BSO’s assistant conductor, pulled off a memorable debut. Let’s have him back in the subscription series again, and soon.
While one is willing to grant a 27-year-old conductor some benefit of the doubt, there’s little here to suggest that the Great Nordic Hope of Classical Music isn’t simply out of his depth.
Touring to support their 20th anniversary CD, 20 Printemps, Le Vent du Nord delivered a master class in musicianship.
These superb recordings provide ample proof that Oscar Hernández is at the pinnacle of his career as the leader of two divergent musical aggregations.
This gripping and engaging release from HK Gruber and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra manages to thread the needle between the various strands of Kurt Weill’s musical personality.
Allen Shawn is one of the great composers of piano music in America today, with seven piano sonatas, various suites and shorter pieces. An astounding concerto of his has been recorded by the remarkable Ursula Oppens.
This BBC Symphony Orchestra series, dedicated to Ralph Vaughan Williams’ nine symphonies, comes to a triumphant end with this disc.
Terri Lyne Carrington, on her home turf (she’s a native Bostonian and holds several positions at Berklee, including being founder and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice), augmented her six-piece band with three guests.
Jazz Album Review/Commentary: “Don Quixote’s Adventures in the World of Jazz” — Is Jazz Intrinsically Quixotic?
It’s hard to think of music that is more foolishly impractical than jazz, even with its pursuit of lofty ideals.
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