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LSO Live

Classical CD Reviews: Mariss Jansons’s “The Final Concert,” Ravel & Debussy Orchestral Works, and “Tudor Queens”

Mariss Jansons’ ultimate performance, taped live at Carnegie Hall, shows the maestro at the top of his game; François-Xavier Roth’s new recording of pieces by Ravel and Debussy is a bit of a hit-or-miss affair; Diana Damrau’s Tudor Queens, a survey of heroines from three Donizetti operas, is nothing short of terrific.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: BR Klassik, Diana Damrau, Erato, Francois-Xavier Roth, LSO Live, Mariss Jansons

Classical CD Reviews: Listening During COVID — Beethoven’s Jesus, Liszt’s Variations on “Norma,” and Janáček’s Animal Opera

Concert halls and opera houses remain closed — but unusual musical experiences await in this era of social isolation.

By: Ralph P. Locke Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Hyperion, LSO Live, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Ralph P. Locke, Simon Rattle’, The Cunning Little Vixen.

Classical CD Reviews: Ádám Fischer conducts Mahler, Mariss Jansons conducts Rodion Shchedrin & Respighi, and John Eliot Gardiner conducts Schumann

Ádám Fischer’s reading of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is breathtakingly clean.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Ádám Fischer, Avi, BR Klassik, John Eliot Gardiner, LSO Live, Mariss Jansons

Classical CD Reviews: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Ives, Conrad Tao’s “American Rage,” and Gianandrea Noseda conducts Shostakovich

Michael Tilson Thomas delivers a towering Ives Fourth; pianist Conrad Tao’s American Rage is hard-edged and defiant, but also poignant and stirring; Gianandrea Noseda’s Shostakovich Fourth is ferocious.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Conrad Tao, Gianandrea Noseda, LSO Live, Michael Tilson Thomas, SFS Media, Warner Classics

Classical CD Reviews: Rattle conducts Bruckner, Jurowski conducts Mahler, and Fischer conducts Saint-Saëns

Simon Rattle’s Bruckner is, on the whole, lean and lively; if you’re looking for a new Mahler Four, Vladimir Jurowski’s is the one to check out; Thierry Fischer leads performances of each symphony that take Saint-Saëns’ writing seriously.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Hyperion, LPO, LSO Live

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

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.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Decca, John Eliot Gardiner, Kirill Gerstein, London-Symphony-Orchestra, LSO Live, Michael Stern, Reference Recordings, Semyon Bychkov

Classical CD Reviews: Colin Davis’s “Berlioz Odyssey,” “Bernard Haitink: Portrait,” and “The Age of Revolutions”

Anniversaries are both the bane and the lifeblood of the classical music industry as, for better or worse, three new box sets remind.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: BR Klassik, Harmonia Mundi, LSO Live

Classical CD Reviews: Gerald Finzi’s Orchestral Music, Bernstein’s “Wonderful Town,” and Arvo Pärt’s “Works for Violin”

Violinist Viktoria Mullova supplies one of the year’s most programmatically-cohesive and thoughtfully-executed albums.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: -Arvo-Pärt, Chandos, Gerald Finzi, Leonard Bernstein, LSO Live, Onyx, orchestral music, Wonderful Town, Works for Violin

CD Reviews: Smetana String Quartets, 2018 New Year’s Concert, Haydn: An Imaginary Orchestral Journey, and Lindberg conducts Bernstein

Pražák Quartet’s Smetana is keeper, Sir Simon Rattle’s Haydn is a loser, and Lindberg’s “On the Waterfront” is a knockout.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music Tagged: 2018 New Year’s Concert, Bis, Christan Lindberg, Haydn: An Imaginary Orchestral Journey, Leonard Bernstein, LSO Live, Praga, Pražák Quartet, Smetana String Quartets, Sony Classical

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