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Reference Recordings

Classical Album Review: Pittsburgh Symphony plays Beethoven & Stucky

We’ve got ourselves another winner in this ongoing Pittsburgh/Beethoven series. Warmly recommended.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony, Reference Recordings

March Short Fuses – Materia Critica

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

By: Bill Marx Filed Under: Featured, Review, Short Fuses Tagged: Allen Michie, Ballads: Into the Heart of It, Bill-Marx, Carnegie Melon Wind Ensemble, Jonathan Blumhofer, Leatherface, Literature for a Changing PlanetLiterature for a Changing Planet, Panorama, Reference Recordings, Sarah Osman, Scott McLennan, Scott Metzger, Serhiy Zhadan, Steve Slagle, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Orphanage, Too Close to Reason

Classical Album Review: Manfred Honeck Conducts Brahms and MacMillan

Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony have ways of digging into the music and providing new perspectives on it such that their recordings are, by and large, can’t-miss events.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony, Reference Recordings

Classical Album Review: “One Movement Symphonies” — Let’s Have a Follow-Up

This is a disc that begs for a sequel (or a whole series).

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, One Movement Symphonies, Reference Recordings

Classical CD Reviews: François-Xavier Roth conducts Mussorgsky and Ravel, Manfred Honeck conducts Tchaikovsky and Leshnoff, and Mikolajus Čiurlionis Orchestral Works

François-Xavier Roth and his period ensemble Les Siècles serve up freshness of playing and conviction of interpretation; Manfred Honeck is a conductor who can draw compelling, electrifying accounts of the standard canon as if on cue; the verdict’s mixed on the music of Lithuanian-born composer Mikalojus Čiurlionis.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Francois-Xavier Roth, Harmonia Mundi, Jonathan Leshnoff, Les Siècles, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck, Mikalojus Čiurlionis, Mondestas Pitrenas, Ondine, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Reference Recordings

Opera CD Review: A Compact, Powerful New Opera from Carlisle Floyd, Composer of “Susannah”

Prince of Players is based on a play that also yielded the movie Stage Beauty, and it’s one of the best new operas to come along in years.

By: Ralph P. Locke Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Opera Tagged: Carlisle Floyd, Jeffrey Hatcher, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Prince of Players, Ralph P. Locke, Reference Recordings

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.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Decca, John Eliot Gardiner, Kirill Gerstein, London-Symphony-Orchestra, LSO Live, Michael Stern, Reference Recordings, Semyon Bychkov

Classical CD Reviews: Bartók Ballets, Saint-Saëns Complete Symphonies vol. 2, and Korngold’s Symphony in F-sharp

A can’t-miss album of Bartók Ballets, Thierry Fischer continues to do right by the symphonies of Saint-Saëns, and a spirited recording of the “last great symphony in the German Romantic tradition.”

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Bartók Ballets, Bis, Chandos, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Hyperion Records, Korngold’s Symphony in F-sharp, Reference Recordings, Saint-Saëns Complete Symphonies vol. 2, Thierry Fischer

Classical CD Reviews: JoAnn Falletta conducts Schreker, Manfred Honeck conducts Beethoven & Strauss, and Baiba Skride’s “American Concertos”

JoAnn Falletta’s recording of Schreker’s orchestral works is fantastic; Manfred Honeck and his Pittsburgh Symphony make Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony shocking again, and Baiba Skride proves a strong advocate for Miklós Rózsa’s Violin Concerto.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: American Concertos, Baiba Skride, Beethoven & Strauss, JoAnn Falletta, Manfred Honeck, Naxos, Orfeo, Reference Recordings, Schreker

Classical CD Reviews: Matthias Goerne’s “The Wagner Project” and Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand

Matthias Goerne offers proof that he is the Wagner baritone of the day. And Thierry Fischer’s understanding of Mahler deserves our admiration.

By: Jonathan Blumhofer Filed Under: Classical Music, Featured, Music, Review Tagged: Harmonia Mundi, MAHLER, Matthias Goerne, Reference Recordings, Symphony of a Thousand, The Wagner Project

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