Bis
This gripping and engaging release from HK Gruber and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra manages to thread the needle between the various strands of Kurt Weill’s musical personality.
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Missy Mazzoli’s scoring is generally airy and virtuosic, yet Dark with Excessive Bright doesn’t seem to add up to more than the sum of its parts.
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Soviet Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, at his best, was compelling. Granted, he wasn’t working at this level in every piece. But most of his bigger works are better than not.
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A young ensemble, the USE is a technically accomplished one and, regardless of the interpretive strengths or weaknesses of each reading, the group’s sheer skill level is evenly impressive.
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This disc highlights various, early-20th-century works inspired by the Kalevala, the Finnish creation epic. It is a fantastic demonstration of creative programming and invigorating orchestral performance.
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Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
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Here is an outstanding recording from the Escher String Quartet of music by two stylistically divergent 20th-century American composers, Samuel Barber and Charles Ives.
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A welcome entry in complete sets of Camille Saint-Saëns’ five symphonies — a composer of his caliber deserves a wealth of viewpoints.
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If this is your first Bluebeard’s Castle, Susanna Mälkki’s recording makes for a fine, occasionally inspired, introduction.
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There’s much to admire in the color, character, and urgency of the Minnesotans’ playing and the overall strong direction from conductor Osmo Vänskä.
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