Ralph Locke

February Short Fuses — Materia Critica

February 1, 2024
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Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

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January Short Fuses — Materia Critica

January 2, 2024
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Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

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December Short Fuses — Materia Critica

December 1, 2023
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Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

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Opera Album Review: The Boston Early Music Festival — One of the Best Recordings Ever of a Baroque Opera

April 16, 2022
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The Boston Early Music Festival returns in person — and in a world-premiere recording of a German Baroque opera.

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Opera Album Review: The “Fidelio” Story a Year Before Beethoven’s Opera — and in Italian

March 30, 2022
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A new recording of Ferdinando Paër’s Leonora gives us characters we love (or love to hate) in a fresh light

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Opera Album Review: The Great Polish National Opera “Halka” Gets a Spirited and Shapely New Recording

November 6, 2021
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Halka struts its stuff, impressively, in this new recording with an all-Polish cast conducted by internationally renowned Gabriel Chmura.

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Listening During Covid, Part 7: Celebrating the Diversity of American Music

October 31, 2021
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New CD releases provide splendid performances of remarkable American music, from Barber and Bernstein to recently rediscovered Black composers Florence Price and William Grant Still.

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Arts Reconsideration: The 1971 Project — Celebrating a Great Year in Music (September Entry)

September 9, 2021
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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.

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Arts Reconsideration: The 1971 Project — Celebrating a Great Year in Music (August Entry)

August 17, 2021
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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.

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Opera Album Review: August Enna’s Wagnerian “Kleopatra” — Revived on Danish Soil After 122 Years

July 27, 2021
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August Enna’s colorful and vividly melodramatic score does justice to the robust exoticism of H. Rider Haggard’s novel.

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