These stories occupy their own, distinctive spaces but they share something intangible. A kind of humanity, maybe? Perhaps.
Cedille
Classical Album Review: “When There Are No Words…” — Do Music and Politics Mix?
When There Are No Words presents six pieces written between 1936 and 1980 by composers responding (at least seemingly) to contemporaneous political events and situations.
January Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Classical Album Review: “Here With You” — Fitting Music for the End of a Bittersweet Year
Johannes Brahms’s wistful 1894 Clarinet Sonatas receive fantastic performances.
Classical Music Review: “Dreams of a New Day — Songs by Black Composers”
The young baritone Will Liverman’s performances are full of spirit and a wide range of moods.
Classical Album Review: Lincoln Trio’s Splendid “Trios from the City of Big Shoulders”
One of the year’s stand-out releases: full of wonderful music, all of it well worth getting to know, and played to the hilt.
Classical CD Reviews: Andris Nelsons conducts Shostakovich, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto, Project W
Arguably, the strongest entry in the BSO’s complete Shostakovich symphony cycle thus far; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s 2016 Cello Concerto is emotionally direct and, at times, simply gorgeous; the resurgence of interest in the music of Boston-educated composer Florence Price is a good thing.
Classical CD Reviews: “Visions and Variations,” “Songs From Chicago,” and Giuseppe Sinopoli conducts Beethoven and Ravel
A triumphant disc from A Far Cry, some fresh thinking from Giuseppe Sinopoli and the Israel Philharmonic, and Thomas Hampson, a great purveyor of American song, focuses on Chicago.
Year-end CD Round-up, Part 1: Rosanne Philippens’ Prokofiev, Dover Quartet’s “Voices of Defiance,” Longleash’s “Passage,” Michael Gielen Edition Vol. 4, and Barbara Hannigan’s “Crazy Girl Crazy”
Reviews of performances that are energetic, immediate, muscular, and simply breathtaking.