Review

Concert Review: Boston Philharmonic Orchestra plays Mozart and Bruckner

April 29, 2024
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Ultimately, on some level, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance of Bruckner Ninth functioned as a study in approaching the unknown (and unknowable) with humility.

Book Review: “At the Vanguard of Vinyl” — Illuminating and Frustrating

April 28, 2024
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Other readers may be more sympathetic to this informative book’s broader conclusions about the rise of LP’s and the “erasure of black bodies and black aesthetics.

Book Review: “Get Off My Neck” — How the Judicial System Works, From a Former Insider

April 27, 2024
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Many of the circumstances and particular cases Debbie Hines discusses in “Get Off My Neck” are grim, even sickening. But her experience in the American justice system has taught Hines to choose hope and struggle over despair. And that is encouraging.

Television Review: “The Grimm Variations” — Intriguing But Vague

April 26, 2024
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So another season would be in order for “The Grimm Variations” — if it would strive to be less chaotic.

Concert Review: The Flaming Lips — Still Keeping the Pink Robots at Bay

April 26, 2024
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“Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” was the only record of the Flaming Lips that I knew in any real depth; it turns out that the band’s live show was  heartwarming, a buoyant and visually exuberant experience.

Gospel Album Review: Sister Rosetta Tharpe — A “Solid Sender”

April 26, 2024
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I admire Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s wit and daring, her singularly effective guitar playing, and the subtlety of her singing.

Theater Review: “Springtime for Hades”

April 25, 2024
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It’s an old tale, we know how it’s going to end, but we tell it again all the same

Book Review: Maya Arad’s “The Hebrew Teacher” — Balancing Conflict and Compassion

April 24, 2024
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This disturbing and beautiful book concerns itself mostly with Israelis living in America, and Maya Arad has brought her characters and their stories to life in meaningful and unforgettable ways.

Poetry Review: “Catullus: Selected Poems” — A Comfortable Intro to an Uncomfortable Poet

April 24, 2024
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Translator Stephen Mitchell serves Catullus best with the poems that don’t demand cleverness, where the sentiment is at least seemingly direct.

Book Review: “Out of Left Field: A Sportswriter’s Last Word” — Better Than Being an Accountant

April 24, 2024
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Throughout “Out of Left Field,” Stan Isaacs revisits events he covered decades earlier, some of them as significant as the World Series, some of them as silly as frog jumping.

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