a virtual journal and essential blog of the classical music scene in greater Boston
Lee Eiseman, publisher; Robert Levin, advisor; David Moran, assisting editor; Bettina A. Norton, emerita editor
Reviews
November 20, 2018
Inon Barnatan Enlightens
by Jim McDonald
The pianist Inon Barnatan generated warmth and cameraderie with each piece of his remarkable Celebrity Series program in Jordan Hall on Sunday afternoon. [continued]
Not Your Usual Tradiciòn
by Jonas Kublickas
A CD debut concert at First Church of Boston on November 15th found the MacArthur-certified genius and Guggenheim Fellow Miguel Zenón alongside the magnificently flexible Spektral String Quartet, playing live, the music on his 11th ground-breaking album “Yo soy la tradiciòn.” [continued]
November 19, 2018
Romping Promenade From BPO
by Lee Eiseman
The Boston Philharmonic placed us in a deluxe suite with three favorites Saturday night at Jordan Hall, balancing exhilaration, introspection, color in generous measure. [continued]
November 18, 2018
Hooray for Operatic Immersion
by Carl Straussner
Deftly working the numerous historical elements, the BLO last Wednesday at the Emerson Center did Machover’s new opera proud. [continued]
November 17, 2018
Machover Imagines Beautiful Mountain
by Jonas Kublickas
Tod Machover’s Schoenberg in Hollywood teleported us from the Emerson Paramount into the composer’s mind, Thursday night, showing his struggle to find creative meaning in the wake of brutal and personal loss. The Boston Lyric Opera run concludes Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. [continued]
November 16, 2018
All-Stars: Nelsons, BSO, Gruber, Mahler
by Jeffrey Gantz
With Andris Nelsons playing his original instrument (in the company of trumpet soloist, Håkan Hardenberger), this weekend’s Austrian BSO show pairs Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with HK Gruber’s 1999 trumpet concerto Aerial, which made a strong bid to be the highlight of the BSO’s season. [continued]
Showcasing Guitar Music from Japan
by Mark Small
At his November 3rd concert at the First Lutheran Church of Boston, Japanese classical guitar virtuoso Kazuhito Yamashita offered music by composers from his homeland. [continued]
November 12, 2018
Joy Alloyed With Sadness
by Lee Eiseman
In Back Bay Chorale’s season opener, “Caroline Shaw: Seven Joys,” at Emmanuel Church Saturday night, the namesake composition along with six other works inspired mostly quiet contemplation on the meanings of joy. [continued]
Reveling With Astonishing Clarity
by Virginia Newes
Heroic Beethoven and sublime Schubert thrilled at the Handel and Haydn Society’s season-opening weekend at Symphony Hall, where British conductor Richard Egarr led the period instrument orchestra and fortepianist Robert Levin. [continued]
November 11, 2018
Russian Themes Course Through Fenway
by Julie Ingelfinger
The Lydian Quartet treated last night’s delighted Seully Hall audience to two important 20th Century Russian works along with Beethoven’s first Razumovsky. [continued]
BCC Sings in Nine Languages
by David Patterson
Alternating Native North American and Bantu languages with Slovenian and even English, the Boston Children’s Chorus returned to the Gardner Museum Saturday with “CHOREGIE, theater of voices or vocal theater in multi-disciplinary art form.” [continued]
November 10, 2018
Gounod/Molière Comedy Delights
by Steven Ledbetter
Le Médecin malgré lui (The Doctor in Spite of Himself) appeared on the BU Theater stage last night to rapturous response. Odyssey Opera’s final performance runs on Sunday at 2 pm. [continued]
Audubon Choral Premiere Soars
by Lee Eiseman
Jamie Kirsch led CpM, the masterful baritone Sumner Thompson, and a reliable orchestra yesterday evening at Jordan Hall in an emotive debut of James Kallembach’s fresh oratorio. [continued]
November 9, 2018
Nelsons Again Shows Shostakovich Mastery
by Jeffrey Gantz
The BSO continued its focus on the music of northern Europe, this weekend playing the Latvian Andris Dzenītis’s Māra, Shostakovich’s First Symphony, and a BSO rarity, the second act of Nutcracker. [continued]
November 8, 2018
Britten Mini-Festival Concludes
by Steven Ledbetter
Tenor William Hite and the Lydian Quartet highlighted the third installment in Emmanuel Music’s three-part Britten invention. [continued]
Berlin’s Soldier Show Rolled Along
by Steven Ledbetter
Last weekend American Classics offered Sgt. Irving Berlin’s soldier 1918 show Yip Yip Yaphank in Bedford and Cambridge as part of a season exploring the period of World War I and just after. [continued]
November 5, 2018
Armory Hosts New Music
by John Secunde
Peridot Duo and Box Not Found provided a great variety of new works at the Somerville Armory yesterday. [continued]
Boston Civic Symphony Invigorates
by Mark DeVoto
Francisco Noya led Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral, Hungarian violist Máté Szűcs in Walton’s concerto and a bravura La mer yesterday at Jordan Hall. [continued]
November 4, 2018
Betrothal of Bach and Harbison
by Lee Eiseman
The establishment institutions of Bach, the nearly 80-year-old John Harbison, and the 55-year-old Cantatas Singers shared the Jordan Hall stage for a memorable Saturday evening which placed the Boston composer’s Sacred Trilogy (together for the first time) in company with one of the Leipzig master’s Lutheran cantatas. [continued]
Divine Seraphim
by Anne Davenport
Beginning with God Speaks to Each of Us, Gwyneth Walker’s 1999 setting of a poem by Rilke, “Divine Encounters” brought to First Church Cambridge Saturday an atmosphere of excellence, discovery, and beauty that is the hallmark of Seraphim Singers’ concerts. [continued]
At Play in the Fields of Time
by Cashman Kerr Prince
A few hours ago, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum presented cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras in recital with the odd-numbered solo Cello Suites by J. S. Bach. [continued]
Folksy Goings-Around Via Radius
by David Patterson
Radius Ensemble imbibed folkish ways and hues for Dohnányi, Janáček, and Mazzoli while its Crumb choice focused on the decaying ambit of autumn on Saturday night at Pickman Hall. [continued]
Britten’s Pure Admiration for Purcell
by Bettina A. Norton
Yesterday’s second concert in the Emmanuel Music’s Britten festival rewarded with the Arneis Quartet’s fine performance of Britt 3 and a dramatic traversal of the Holy Sonnets of John Donne by tenor Charles Blandy and pianist Linda Osborn. [continued]
November 3, 2018
Chamber Brittenica
by Lee Eiseman
Emmanuel Music kicked off its Benjamin Britten tribute series in reliable style Friday evening. Continuing Saturday and Sunday at 3:00. [continued]
Pianist Shares Schubert’s Hidden Meanings
by Mark DeVoto
Charles Fisk’s all-Schubert piano recital last night in Houghton Memorial Chapel revealed a deep and sympathetic grasp of the emotional structure beyond the works’ simple outlines. [continued]