London-Symphony-Orchestra

December Short Fuses — Materia Critica

December 1, 2024
Posted in ,

Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

Read More

Opera Album Review: Meyerbeer’s Disturbing Look at a Demagogue, “Le Prophète” (1849) — at Bard Summer Festival and on a New Recording

July 19, 2024
Posted in , , ,

Long one of the most-performed French operas, “Le Prophète,” thanks to some splendid performances, feels as vivid and relevant as ever.

Read More

Classical Album Reviews: LSO Plays Britten Orchestral Works and “All These Lighted Things” from Antwerp Symphony Orchestra

May 17, 2024
Posted in , , ,

Sir Simon Rattle revisits the music of Benjamin Britten and Elim Chan once again draws on her remarkable ear for detail.

Read More

Classical Music Review: Osvaldo Golijov’s “Nazareno”

May 15, 2022
Posted in , , ,

Nazareno is bright, often joyous, and easy on the ears. That ought to count for something.

Read More

May Short Fuses – Materia Critica

May 3, 2022
Posted in , ,

Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

Read More

Listening During Covid, Part 7: Celebrating the Diversity of American Music

October 31, 2021
Posted in , , ,

New CD releases provide splendid performances of remarkable American music, from Barber and Bernstein to recently rediscovered Black composers Florence Price and William Grant Still.

Read More

Classical Album Review: “Adrian Boult: A Musical Legacy” — Introduction to a Special Conductor

January 8, 2021
Posted in , , ,

Sir Adrian Boult certainly had his ups and downs as a conductor, but these performances showcase him largely at his best.

Read More

Classical CD Reviews: The Tchaikovsky Project, Schumann Symphonies nos. 2 & 4, and Holst Orchestral Works

September 14, 2019
Posted in , , ,

Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic do justice to a lot of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral music, while John Eliot Gardiner and the London Symphony play Robert Schumann’s famously-dense orchestrations with clarity. But Michael Stern’s account of The Planets completely lacks mystery.

Read More

Classical Music Feature: Fifty Years Later, Jacqueline du Pré’s Elgar Remains the Gold Standard

August 14, 2015
Posted in , , ,

There is something undeniably affecting about Elgar’s composition and cellist Jacqueline du Pré realizes it all with an unbridled depth of feeling.

Read More

Classical Music Review: Gergiev Comes to Town

March 27, 2009
Posted in ,

By Caldwell Titcomb Conductor Valery Gergiev’s podium demeanor is rather bizarre, but his musicianship is first-class. Valery Gergiev is one of the busiest musicians in the world. Among other assignments the 55-year-old conductor has headed the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly the Kirov Opera) for two decades, is principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New…

Read More

Recent Posts