Review
Peter Frase envisions how our current bedeviling social contradictions and economic abuses may play out in the future.
Isabelle Faust makes Arnold Schoenberg’s thorny Violin Concerto sing; Mariss Jansons lends heft to Saint-Saëns’ Symphony no. 3, and John Wilson continues to be your go-to conductor for Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
English writer Ian Shircore’s book-length study gives Clive James’ poems the loving attention they deserve.
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin’s pairing of Beethoven with Knecht is intelligent, programmatically and musically, but Thierry Fischer’s Symphony fantastique is a disappointing misfire.
Netflix’s Ares is a glossy sociopolitical/supernatural thriller from the Netherlands.
Last Desert proves that guitarist Liberty Ellman and his group can dance when they want
Little Fires Everywhere borders on being binge worthy; it’s a shame Hulu didn’t release all the episodes of the series at once.
Eschewing ostensible flash and musical sleight of hand, Without Deception is a treat for connoisseurs.
Whatever might be dark about these stories may also be — since they’re reliably witty and frequently very funny — a welcome distraction and relief from current events.
The practice of re-using large chunks of an opera for a new plot and new words may sound implausible to us, but in Rossini’s hands the result is delightful and surprisingly coherent.
Arts Commentary: What Historical Fiction Can Teach Us About America