Review
Shannon Bowring is a wonderfully wise and compassionate writer, exquisitely alert to the varieties of human experience that exist at the end of the 20th century.
Not all of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conductor Nathalie Stutzmann’s ideas about Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony add up, but there is not much to argue with in Czech Philharmonic Orchestra director Semyon Bychkov’s take on Dvorak’s Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Symphonies.
Filled with B-movie puppet antics, “Frankie Freako” is a joyous throwback to the days where you could walk into a video store and rent one of a dozen Gremlins rip-offs about someone’s mundane suburban life being upended by a bunch of little guys.
We should be grateful for Ohad Talmor’s wide-ranging curiosity, not only because of the detective work he put into the Ornette Coleman/Lee Konitz recordings, but because of his uniquely varied presentations of these mostly unknown pieces.
It’s a rare treat to hear these three Francis Poulenc sonatas on a single program.
A corrupt media lies at the core of “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”‘s powerful condemnation of Iran’s politics, particularly their treatment of women, often in unexpected ways.
In Godwin Louis’s music, prayer seems best expressed in dance.
Carlos Simon’s gifts and voice are real even, as with every composer, his muse sometimes leads him down errant pathways.
There’s plenty in Magnus Lindberg’s viola concerto to occupy the ear, and pianist Claire Huangci makes the complex passagework of a trio of American composers speak with breathtaking ease.
To his credit, Mark Cousins does provide some insights into Alfred Hitchcock’s motifs and obsessions, from doors to staircases to creepy, dank interiors crammed with gizmos, gewgaws, and cobwebs.
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