Pentatone

Classical CD Reviews: Estonian Festival Orchestra’s Shostakovich and Andrew Manze’s Mendelssohn, vol. 2

January 29, 2018
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Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra present a probing and excellent version of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 6.

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Classical CD Reviews: Prokofiev’s “Cantata on the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution” and “Music of the Americas”

January 26, 2018
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It’s not Prokofiev at his finest, but his “very good” was above just about everybody else’s best.

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Classical CD Reviews: Hindemith Orchestral Works and Symphonic Psalms

January 21, 2018
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Conductor Marek Janowski’s Hindemith is all vigor and athleticism; Tenebrae’s Symphonic Psalms & Prayers is captivating.

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Classical CD Reviews: Joyce El-Khoury’s “Echo” and Matt Haimovitz’s “Troika”

September 24, 2017
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Soprano Joyce El-Khoury sings spectacularly in her new disc, Echo.

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Classical CD Reviews: Arabella Steinbacher plays Britten and Hindemith and Daniil Trifonov’s “Chopin Evocations”

September 22, 2017
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Hindemith and Britten could hardly have asked for more committed advocates than Steinbacher, Jurowski, and the RSOB.

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Classical CD Reviews: Pianist Andrew Cooperstock plays Leonard Bernstein and Humperdinck’s “Hänsel und Gretel”

September 20, 2017
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If there’s an essential “Leonard Bernstein at 100” album, this one, so far, is it: excellent performances of relatively unknown music deserving to be heard.

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Classical CD Reviews: Sit Fast plays John Dowland and Jurowski conducts Strauss and Mahler

August 29, 2017
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Sit Fast’s performances are breathtaking for their clarity and emotional involvement; Vladimir Jurowski serves up a ho-hum, un-monumental an interpretation of a late-Romantic pillar.

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Classical CD Reviews: Alice Coote sings Mahler and Honegger’s “Le roi David”

July 10, 2017
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A wonderful new performance of Mahler’s three orchestral song cycles; Daniel Reuss’s account of the oratorio Le Roi David is basically flawless.

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Classical CD Reviews: the Nash Ensemble’s Bruch and Carlos Kalmar’s Haydn

April 12, 2017
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A welcome triumph for Hyperion, Bruch, and the Nash Ensemble, but the Oregon Symphony does not do right by Haydn.

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CD Reviews: Howell, Beach, and Chaminade Piano Concertos and Brahms String Quintets

April 1, 2017
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Hyperion builds a CD around a superb performance of Amy Beach’s magnificent Piano Concerto.

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