Arts Fuse writers continue their countdown of great music celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. This month’s list includes such big names as Bob Dylan, ZZ Top, The Who, The Beach Boys, and George Rochberg.
Ralph Locke
Arts Reconsideration: The 1971 Project — Celebrating a Great Year in Music (August Entry)
Arts Fuse writers continue their countdown of great music celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. This month’s especially eclectic list includes The Allman Brothers Band, Roy Brown, Black Sabbath, Johann Sebastian Bach, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
Opera Album Review: August Enna’s Wagnerian “Kleopatra” — Revived on Danish Soil After 122 Years
August Enna’s colorful and vividly melodramatic score does justice to the robust exoticism of H. Rider Haggard’s novel.
July Short Fuses – Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Classical CD Review: A Ballet of Human Sacrifice — Set in Ancient Mexico or Post–World War I Germany?
Egon Wellesz’s Weimar era critique of the cruelty of nations that are victorious in war still rings hauntingly true.
Opera Album Review: A Version of One of Rossini’s Finest — Recorded on CD for the First Time
Rossini’s Zelmira is a powerhouse opera that features two coloratura tenors and equally demanding roles for soprano and mezzo.
Opera CD Review: Spontini’s Wacky Comic Opera, in Which Nothing Is as It Seems
Metamorfosi is a marvelously effective and amusing one-act opera that would suit college opera workshops splendidly.
Opera CD Review: An Album of Beethoven Arias? Soprano Chen Reiss’s Imaginative New Solo Disc Pulls it Off
Immortal Beloved is a CD that will appeal to lovers of fine singing and to people curious about some hidden corners of Beethoven’s output.
Opera CD Review: A Tenor as a Villain? Donizetti’s Unusual Two-Tenor Opera Gets a First — and Fine — Recording
An 1829 opera about Elizabeth I and her supposed lover — enlivened by underhanded threats, virtuous resistance, remorse, and an attempted poisoning — proves well worth reviving.
Opera Review: Ready for a Very Different “Faust”? You Should Be!
Even taking into consideration my several objections, this Faust is one of the most accomplished and intriguing opera releases of recent years.