Review

Opera Review: Beethoven’s “Leonore” — Upcoming Performances in New York City

February 27, 2020
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Music lovers should seize this rare opportunity to see Beethoven’s first (1805) version of Fidelio, complete with a reconstruction of Florestan’s original aria.

Theater Review: “A Tale of Two Cities” — Beware the Revolution!

February 27, 2020
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Given Dickens’ penny-a-word driven verbosity and his fondness for resolving every plot point with a flurry of coincidences, adapter McEleney seems undecided: is this history play a tragedy or a farce?

Concert Review: Marcia Ball and Sonny Landreth at ONCE — Plenty Rousing

February 26, 2020
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At 70, Marcia Ball is a non-stop pro, particularly at pacing. Early barn burners gave way to the slow blues of “Just Kiss Me.”

Classical CD Reviews: Luciano Berio’s Coro, Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass,” and Shostakovich’s “Babi Yar”

February 26, 2020
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The relative infrequency of big Berio releases makes new recordings of his major works into significant, contemporary music events; Dennis Russell Davies’ new recording of Bernstein’s Mass is done in by lax vocals and a paucity of emotional consistency; Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra supply a great Shostakovich Thirteenth Symphony.

Book Review: “Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz” — Prominent from the Start

February 25, 2020
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Perhaps the book’s most impressive accomplishment is to make a kind of systematic case for Leonard Bernstein’s larger compositional output.

Theater Review: “The Treasurer” — Lives of Quiet Disconnection

February 25, 2020
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Cheryl McMahon is quietly spectacular as Ida, who tries desperately to conceal her cognitive decline behind a wall of egocentric cheerfulness that borders on the frantic.

Concert Review: Steven Osborne and Paul Lewis — A Very French Duo Piano Recital

February 25, 2020
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It was as if the pianists were performing in a small drawing room for a few friends, not at Jordan Hall.

Film Review: “The Lodge” — The Horror of Indoors

February 25, 2020
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The Lodge suggests that our money, social privilege, and carefully-crafted stability are not enough to keep the wolves from the door, or to protect us from the dangers that lurk indoors.

Dance Review: Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group — Powerful Gifts

February 24, 2020
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There’s hardly a minute in this hour-long show that isn’t stirred by singing, clapping, stomping, and drumming.

Music Review: Drive-By Truckers — Triumph Over Tragedy

February 23, 2020
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The band has tackled the Trump era with an urgent political edge on two recent albums that have surely lost them a share of good ’ole boys who were part of earlier audiences.

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