Review

Album Review: Arctic Monkeys — Music for the Wee Hours of the “AM”

September 9, 2013
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AM, the Sheffield band’s fifth album and their heaviest and danciest to date, isn’t for pre-gaming, or the start of the party. It’s for the wee hours, when the fog is thickest and you should really know better but just can’t help yourself.

Theater Review: A Devilishly Good “Major Barbara” at Canada’s Shaw Festival

September 8, 2013
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The quality of this production of Major Barbara and the seriousness which with the Shaw Festival addresses every aspect of theater makes the long trip from Boston to Niagara-on- the-Lake well worth the while.

Film Review: “Terraferma” — From Italy With the Best of Intentions

September 5, 2013
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Terraferma is well-meaning, properly on the side of human rights, but also schematic and thematically heavy-handed.

Classical CD Review: Pianist Leon Fleisher — A Box Set of Greatness

September 5, 2013
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Leon Fleisher was part of an outburst of great North American pianists. Many were ill-fated, but, as this commanding box set proves, Fleisher stayed the course.

Theater Review: Peterborough Player’s “Talley’s Folly” — Embraceable Jew

September 5, 2013
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The pleasure of Talley’s Folly is in its details, the give-and-take of the dialogue, the smaller and larger revelations they tease out of each other, the characterization of the two human creatures dancing their dance.

Jazz Review: Crazy about Kaze, Satoko Fujii’s Quartet at the Lily Pad

September 3, 2013
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Satoko Fujii’s quartet could go from 0 to 100 at the drop of a hat, but only once in a while, and nearly always at the perfect time.

Rock CD Review: Nine Inch Nails’ “Hesitation Marks” — Minimalism That Delivers Too Little

September 3, 2013
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In Hesitation Marks, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor foregoes trendy flourishes. He might have delivered a set of competently-made, stripped-back industrial tunes. But the end result is monotony.

Book Review: “Rainer on Film” — Indispensable Movie Criticism

September 2, 2013
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With a good critic like Peter Rainer, the opinion itself is the least interesting part of the review. It’s the contextualizing of the opinion. And the choice of words on paper.

Classical CD Reviews: Kent Nagano/ Bruckner Symphonies and Christian Gerhaher/ Mahler’s Orchestral Lieder

September 2, 2013
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Christian Gerhaher is, perhaps, the great Mahler baritone of his generation, while Bruckner is, perhaps, a surprising choice for conductor Kent Nagano, whose championship of new music is legendary.

Jazz Review: The Jussi Reijonen Quartet — Fascinating Eclecticism

September 2, 2013
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Jessie Reijonen’s eclectic and spacious approach to jazz is a deliberate attempt to investigate, not necessarily fuse, his disparate roots.

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