Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Avie
Classical Album Review: Pianist John Wilson’s “Upon Further Reflection”
Pianist John Wilson, like his mentor Michael Tilson Thomas, is a servant of the music rather than its dictator and he knows both when and how to step back and let it speak.
Classical Album Review: Nico Muhly’s “Stranger” — Searching for Commonalities
Nico Muhly’s writing in Stranger is of a type of post-Minimalism: often pulsing (or undulating) and rhythmically driven, though anything but harmonically simplistic.
Classical Album Reviews: “Reflections: Scott Joplin Reconsidered” and New York Youth Symphony plays Price, Coleman, and Montgomery
Two first-rate albums: pianist Lara Downes successfully reconsiders Scott Joplin and the New York Youth Symphony plays Florence Price and others with panache.
Classical Album Reviews: Petrenko conducts Elgar, Britten’s “Saint Nicolas,” and “Italian Postcards”
One of Vasily Petrenko’s most successful Elgar releases; there’s an edge to the Crouch End Festival Chorus’ performance of Britten’s Saint Nicolas ; Quartetto di Cremona’s new album is nothing if not overflowing with Mediterranean personality
Classical CD Reviews: Anna Clyne’s “Mythologies,” Simone Dinnerstein’s “A Character of Quiet,” and Hélène Grimaud’s “The Messenger”
Composer Anna Clyne’s new disc displays her maturity as a composer and brilliance as an orchestrator; pianist Simone Dinnerstein builds a number of bridges between Philip Glass and Franz Schubert; pianist Hélène Grimaud’s interesting program is marred by some uneven Mozart.
Classical CD Reviews: Philip Glass, “Music in Eight Parts,” Thomas Adès, “In Seven Days,” and Anna Clyne, “Dance”
Music in Eight Parts is a welcome and inviting addition to the Philip Glass canon; the Summer of Thomas Adès continues with a stirring new recording of the British composer’s keyboard work; Anna Clyne’s Dance is, without a doubt, one of the finest pieces I’ve heard this year.
Classical CD Reviews: Christian Tetzlaff plays Beethoven & Sibelius, Rachel Barton Pine takes on Dvorak & Khachaturian, and Wagner’s “Siegfried “
Christian Tetzlaff’s brilliant account of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto makes for a great album; Rachel Barton Pine’s versions of Dvorák and Khachaturian violin concertos are songful; orchestrally, Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra’s Sigfried is unfailingly colorful and fresh.
Fuse CD Reviews: Jan Vogler plays Tchaikovsky, Benjamin Beilman’s “Spectrum,” Kenneth Woods conducts Elgar
Spectrum is a stylish, intelligent, and enjoyable disc played by a couple of musicians from whom we can expect big things.