For Derek Bermel fans, Intonations is a must. For new music enthusiasts and the otherwise curious – ditto.
Naxos
July Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Opera Album Review: Donizetti’s Teacher Reveals His Own Operatic Mastery in a World-Premiere Recording of “Elena”
This first-rate performance highlights the special attractions of the “half-serious” operatic genre.
Opera Album Review: The Great Polish National Opera “Halka” Gets a Spirited and Shapely New Recording
Halka struts its stuff, impressively, in this new recording with an all-Polish cast conducted by internationally renowned Gabriel Chmura.
Classical Album Review: Composer Joan Tower’s “Strike Zones”
For Joan Tower fans, this disc is a must; for the Tower-curious, it offers an excellent introduction to the composer’s wider work, all of it compellingly played.
Opera Album Review: A Rossini “Semi-Serious” Opera That Works Like a Charm
This new recording would be a great, and inexpensive, way to enter the sound world of Rossini’s mature operas.
Opera CD Review: Congolese Tenor Patrick Cabongo Steps into Stardom in a World-Premiere Recording of Meyerbeer’s “Romilda e Costanza”
The composer of Les huguenots and L’Africaine was already an accomplished master at age 26, as this first-rate recording reveals.
Classical CD Review: A Simon Mayr Comic Opera That’s Really Funny — and Performed with Flair
At this point in his career, Mayr is contributing to the development of the musicodramatic conventions that would set the stage for the masterpieces of Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi.
Opera Album Review: Rossini’s Splendid Passover Opera for Paris — “Moïse et Pharaon”
Just in time for Passover: another fine world-premiere Rossini recording, the 1827 French version of his Moses-in-Egypt opera.
Listening During Covid, Part 5: New and Forgotten Repertory Brings Unexpected Delights
Musicians active in Boston, Washington DC, and Australia discover previously unrecorded gems, including works by women composers and composers of color.