Dmitri Shostakovich
This collection of ten items by the Soviet-era great manages to be more than a parade of mere curiosities.
A major release by a pianist who, just in his mid-thirties, is already one of the most intelligent and satisfying musicians on the circuit.
Interpretively, this installment in the BSO’s cycle of Dmitri Shostakovich’s fifteen symphonies is occasionally (and a bit surprisingly) spotty.
Despite Shostakovich’s often-dissonant approach, the Fourteenth has always been highly-regarded if infrequently-played.
One of Andris Nelsons’ great gifts as an interpreter is his ability to shape and develop large-scale musical forms.
It is my sad duty to report that an evening which looked so promising was hardly a worthy homage to an important musical figure of the 20th century.
That Shostakovich left such a musical testament is, in its own way, miraculous; and it continues to speak to us with immediacy and power.
Book Review: “Time’s Echo” — Listening to the Voices of the Past
Jeremy Eichler calls on hearers to engage in “deep listening,” by which he means engaging the mind and heart not just with the music, but also with the historical, cultural, and artistic contexts that gave rise to it.
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