These are tough, feisty, devastating pieces — easily among the 20th century’s finest symphonies — and they receive ferocious readings from Antonio Pappano and the LSO.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.