As the old year wanes, many of us are subject to bouts of introspection. The several BMInt writers who are not immune to that tendency have each submitted lists of their favorite CDs and concerts of the last season. We thank them for their reflections. Some have chosen to nominate concerts they have reviewed while others have chosen from concerts which they merely attended. During the past 12 months BMInt has published over 600 reviews and articles, so this article must needs place a severe test on the memories of the participants. But this exercise also gives us all yet another reminder of how much to be grateful for the musical life of Boston and its environs. We salute all of our players, writers and presenters. Happy New Year.
David Patterson
Concerts
Mihae Lee and Randall Hodgkinson, at Kresge Auditorium, January 19
Hans Tutschku “A Composer Portrait.” at the Goethe-Institut, March 9 and 10
Dohnányi Masterminds Resurrection” September 28, 2013
Basil Considine
Concerts
Dive Assolute: Can There Be Two?
Nelson’s Debut Rocks Symphony Hall
CDs
In 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores
Kim Kashkashian: Kurtag & Ligeti: Music for Viola
Opera Rara: Caterina Cornaro
Laura Stanfield Prichard
Concerts:
Music for Viols and Friends January 30
BYSO Rigoletto
Sarassa October 22
CDs
Volti
Conspirare
Boston Baroque Haydn
SF Symphony& Chorus Beethoven
DVDs
Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Concert
New SF Opera production of Moby Dick
Thomashefskys
Song from the Forest (music/documentary)
James C. S. Liu
Concerts
Borromeos+Tapping=High-Voltage Dvořák at ISG
Chris Thile’s Bach-toberfest Rocks Sanders
Hamelin’s Heart and Hands;
CDs
Bach: Goldberg Variations, S.988; Jeremy Denk, Nonesuch.
Sviatoslav Richter, piano. Rec. Wembley Town Hall and Carnegie Hall, 1960
Harmonia Mundi Baroque box HMX2908510.19
Elisa Birdseye
Concerts
Yo Yo Ma with BSO
H & H Vivaldi
Aston Magna Jefferson
Arneis String Quartet
Cashman Kerr Prince
Concerts
Jiří Bárta recital in Newport
Paul Lewis recital of Schubert’s final three piano sonatas
Danish String Quartet
Tanglewood Music Center Fellows in Britten’s “Curlew River” directed by Mark Morris
CDs
Caleb Burhans, Evensong Nielsens, String Quartets, recorded by the Danish String Quartet
Mstislav Rostropovich, cello & Benjamin Britten, piano (remastered 1968 recording)
Peter Van Zandt Lane
Concerts
Lydian String Quartet, April 6th: Kurt Rohde + Beethoven
EQ Ensemble, April 8th: Chang, Czernowin, Ianni, Epstein
Discovery Ensemble, Nov 29: Adès, Rameau, Beethoven
CDs
BMOP: Martin Boykan: Orchestral Works
Rebekah Heller: 100 Names
Dave Dominique: Ritual.
David Moran
Concerts
Charlie Albright, piano, Schubert; Gardner’s Calderwood Hall
Meng-Chieh Liu, piano, Schubert; Jordan Hall (his Brahms at Walnut Hill was also deep)
Russell Sherman and Wha-Kyung Byun, piano, with flutist Sooyun Kim Schubert, Mahler
For all of us provincial BSO fans, I must mention the tremendously precise and grave performance of Shostakovich 11 by the New York Philharmonic under Semyon Bychkov, Avery Fisher Hall, whose acoustics on the floor are as powerful as anyone needs.
Susan Miron
Concerts
Christian Zacharias Aug. 9
Bryn Terfel July 19
Dive Assolute Feb. 3
Geoff Wieting
Concerts
H and H Jephtha May 6
Spectrum Singers Boulanger Program May 20
James David Christie Mem Church October 22
Vance Koven
Concerts
Naughton Sisters at Gardner Museum, March 10
Lowell House Opera (Britten Midsummer Night’s Dream), April 6
Daniel Stepner/Donald Berman/Deborah Rentz-Moore at Tufts, October 20
Tom Delbanco
Concerts
Paul Lewis playing 3 late Schubert sonatas
Tokyo Quartet farewell concert
Miro Quartet playing the 3 Op 59 Beethoven quartets
Menuhin playing Bach violin concerti
Quatuor Mosaiques playing Mozart string quartets
Quartet Italiano playing the complete Beethoven string quartets
Virginia Newes
Concerts
Blue Heron “Divine Songs”
Boston Early Music Festival, June: Handel Almira
András Schiff, J.S. Bach, Goldberg Variations; Beethoven, Diabelli Variations
Ben Pesetsky
Concerts
Exsultemus Early Madrigals
Groupmuse (in general) Gubaidulina Portrait
Héléne Grimaud and Andris Nelsons, Brahms Concertos
Rafael Popper-Keizer, “At the still point of the turning world,”
Mr Delbanco,
Wanting to read about the Tokyo and Miro quartets, but there were no links. Can you help?
Comment by David Moran — December 29, 2013 at 10:57 pm
Now if I were programming a New Year’s Eve concert …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyLuz23-x4Y
Comment by Richard Buell — December 31, 2013 at 10:50 pm
Mr Moran: The Tokyo concert was at WGBH. It was at a very high level, although it was not as memorable as several I have heard by them in the past. You can hear it on a webcast: http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Live-Webcast-The-Tokyo-String-Quartet-7890.
The Miro concert was a private concert in Boston. While the tempi were generally a bit fast for my taste, and they might have provided a bit more room to let the audience take a breath, they played with passion, terrific intonation and ensemble, and the two inner voices were exceedingly strong…for me a vital requirement for the Beethoven quartets..
Comment by tom delbanco — January 12, 2014 at 12:05 am