Superb discs from pianist Lars Vogt, violinist Francesca Dego, pianist Denis Kozhukhin, and violinist James Ehnes on the viola.
Beethoven
Concert Review: Cantata Singers Perform “Missa solemnis”
This performance was far more than special and crazily beautiful — it was extraordinary.
Commentary: 2017-18 Orchestral, Opera, and New Music Season Preview
Some institutions’ offerings aren’t as challenging as they could be, but there’s a healthy balance between the familiar and new.
Rethinking the Repertoire #10 — Mark-Anthony Turnage’s “Frieze”
Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Frieze is, without a doubt, one of the major symphonic scores of our century.
CD and Concert Review: Harnoncourt conducts Beethoven (Sony Classical), Bernard Haitink conducts Mahler
Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s final recording is the conductor at his best. Bernard Haitink helmed a great performance of Mahler’s Symphony no. 1.
Fuse Concert Review: Mozart and Beethoven from the Handel & Haydn Society
Working within the forms perfected by Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven early compositions managed to say some things that remain compelling to hear.
Classical Album Review: Manfred Honeck conducts Beethoven’s Symphonies nos. 5 and 7
This is truly exciting, world-beating Beethoven, played with gusto and a kind of musical intelligence that you simply can’t take for granted.
Concert Review: The Borromeo String Quartet @ 25 — Sublime
No other concerts I’ve heard this summer can come close to the thrill I experienced hearing the Borromeo Quartet.
Classical Music Feature: Listening to a Legend
Alfred Brendel was the first pianist to record all of Beethoven’s piano music in the 1960s and made many world tours with the 32 sonatas, which seemed like old, close friends. At times he would simply play a snippet here and there to illustrate a point, yet never long enough to satisfy this listener. I […]
Culture Vulture: In Search of Beethoven
Filled with great insights, musical and other, Phil Grabsky’s wonderful documentary on Beethoven depicts “a man of huge intellect and huge heart.” In Search of Beethoven, a documentary by Phil Grabsky (UK, 2009, 139 min). At the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, Wednesday Jan. 13 at 3:05 pm, Thursday January 14 at 5:10 pm., […]