Review

Classical Album Review: “Pictures from Finland” — Roll Over Sibelius?

November 16, 2025
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Though Sibelius’s music has come to define whatever Finnish music is supposed to sound like, he certainly wasn’t the country’s only active, turn-of-the-20th-century composer.

Jazz Album Reviews: Sounding Freedom — Two Journeys Through the Avant-Garde and History

November 16, 2025
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Two jazz albums whose uncompromising visions succeed.

Visual Arts Review: The Spirit and the Street — Allan Rohan Crite’s Portrait of Community

November 16, 2025
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As an artist, Allan Crite was always observing, drawing, and thinking about his Boston—the buildings, streets, parks, and playgrounds of Lower Roxbury and the South End.

Jazz Album Reviews: From Savoy Records With Love

November 16, 2025
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All three records were recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s famous studio. The sound is what one would expect from Van Gelder, clear, bright and close: these LPs were made with care at every stage. I recommend all three.

Film Review: “Sentimental Value” — The Art of Family Strife

November 15, 2025
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Director Joachim Trier is a masterful arbiter of storytelling conceits and tones: by turns subtle, ironic, melodramatic, cold, and, often, heartbreaking.

Classical Album Review: Third Coast Percussion Turns 20 — “Standard Stoppages”

November 15, 2025
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“Standard Stoppages” is a veritable cornucopia of sounds experienced in multifarious combinations, showcasing a diversity of fresh, inventive, and satisfyingly expressive voices operating at full tilt.

Television Review: PBS’s “The American Revolution” — It’s All in the Details

November 14, 2025
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Directors Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David P. Schmidt, along with screenwriter Geoffrey C. Ward, make learning history both accessible and enjoyable.

DocTalk: Wicked Queer Festival — Make Your Body Talk

November 14, 2025
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The word made flesh at WQ: Docs

Book Review: Canceling Equality — Julia Ioffe’s Personal and Political History of Russian Women

November 13, 2025
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This heartbreaking book documents the history of contemporary Russia through its women.

Poetry Review: Pennie for Your Thoughts — Social Media, Abuse, and Scottish Verse in “poyums annaw”

November 11, 2025
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This is poetry that sets its goals, finds the right language to reach them, hits hard, and recovers an ancient purpose for verse that has fallen by the wayside in recent times: consolation.

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