Review

Opera CD Review: Two Splendid World-Premiere Recordings Rediscover an Exotic Master of Song — Reynaldo Hahn

April 5, 2021
Posted in , , , ,

Attention is being paid today to talented composers who have been sidelined or disdained because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Reynaldo Hahn qualifies on several counts.

Film Review: “Violation” – Rethinking Revenge

April 3, 2021
Posted in , ,

Violation utilizes extreme violence not to revel in a revenge fantasy but to deconstruct the genre’s militantly feminist appeal — “kill your rapist” — as a self-destructive endeavor offering no catharsis whatsoever.

Classical CD Review: Antoine Tamestit, Cédric Tiberghien, and Matthias Goerne play/sing Brahms

April 3, 2021
Posted in , , ,

One might risk hyperbole by saying so, but in this instance such recklessness is worth it: this album sounds like Brahms as he ought to be played and sung.

Film Review: “Lapsis” — A Satirical Sci-Fi Send-Up of the Gig Economy

April 2, 2021
Posted in , ,

This new satirical sci-fi fable is perfect for home streaming to channel (or perhaps exacerbate) your gnawing anxieties at a world slipping into anti-human automation and free-market desperation.

Book Review: “Klara and the Sun” — Dystopia Yes, But There’s Hope

April 2, 2021
Posted in , ,

Klara and the Sun is a dystopian novel worth recommending: it is a thought-provoking joy to read.

Watch Closely: “Tell Me Your Secrets” Is a Deft, Well-Acted Thriller

April 2, 2021
Posted in , ,

This series taps into the inevitable horror we would all feel if we learned that we had once loved a monster — or that the monster we fear might be inside of us.

Book Review: Alex Ross’s Dizzying, Engrossing, and Sometimes Overwhelming Exploration of Wagnerism

April 2, 2021
Posted in , , ,

For Alex Ross, Wagnerism is as profound and far-reaching an aesthetic ideology – for good, ill, and all degrees in between – as any.

Book Review: So Much More than Spirituality — “Bouquet of White Roses”

April 1, 2021
Posted in , ,

Those readers who embrace spiritual adventure — reincarnation as a mode of family therapy — will be illuminated and entertained by this book.

Classical CD Review: Daniel Hope and Alexey Botvinov Play Alfred Schnittke

April 1, 2021
Posted in , , ,

Fiddler Daniel Hope’s new all-Schnittke disc with pianist Alexey Botvinov brings with it a level of authority that demands respect.

Book Review: “In Memory of Memory” — Riven Recollections

March 31, 2021
Posted in , ,

It is the loss of memories and the meaning of memory that dominate, generating speculations that draw the reader into and through Maria Stepanova’s argument and interpretations.

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Categories

Archives