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
April 23, 2018
Piano + String Quartet: As Good As It Gets
by Leon Golub
Evgeny Kissin returned to Boston in the Celebrity Series, performing with the Emerson String Quartet Sunday afternoon at Symphony Hall. [continued]
Rondeau Does BWV 988
by Virginia Newes
French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau performed the complete Goldberg Variations at the First Church, Congregational, in Cambridge on Friday for BEMF. [continued]
April 20, 2018
Musto Opera First for NEC Theater
by Lee Eiseman
Later the Same Evening, the first opera mounted at Plympton-Shattuck Black Box Theater in the Student Life and Performance Center at New England Conservatory, continues through Sunday. [continued]
Pianist and Conductor Debut at Symphony Hall
by Victor Khatutsky
With a forceful 23-year-old Canadian virtuoso and a conductor who is an exemplar of the up and coming part of the Russian musical establishment, BSO patrons could expect energy Thursday. [continued]
Fidelio in Period Style
by Virginia Newes
Hearing Boston Baroque do Fidelio in Jordan Hall, more akin to Schikaneder’s Theater an der Wien in Vienna, where it was first performed, than to a many-tiered large opera house, allowed one to appreciate its many beauties in detail. [continued]
April 19, 2018
Don’t Let This Contingent Graduate
by Lee Eiseman
Hugh Wolff’s NEC Philharmonia with soloist In Mo Yang knocked Kernis, Bernstein, and Debussy over the Symphony Hall rafters last night. [continued]
April 17, 2018
21st-Century Verismo
by Joshua Collier
The North American premiere of Joachim Holbek’s The Rosenbergs to Rhea Leman’s script also constituted the Boston Playwright’s Theater’s inaugural foray into the operatic genre. This reviewer attended on Saturday night. [continued]
April 15, 2018
B-E-G Trio Big at ISG
by Leon Golub
The Benedetti-Elschenbroich-Grynyuk [piano] Trio delivered richness and variety in works of Schubert, Brahms, Turnage and Ravel on Sunday at the Gardner. [continued]
Is the Tongue Quicker Than the Ear?
by Fred Bouchard
In “Conversation Between Ear & Tongue” at Third Life Studio in Somerville, Dinosaur Annex challenged 40 attendees to savor interplay between musical and culinary delights. [continued]
April 13, 2018
Polish Pianist Plays Beyond the Physical
by David Patterson
Making his Celebrity Series debut, Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz sold out Longy’s Pickman Hall Wednesday, pursuing musical personalities and reveling in Steinway sound. [continued]
April 11, 2018
Heiss’s Earthly and Unearthly Delights
by Rachael Fuller
Composer-flutist-teacher John Heiss picked New England Conservatory student performers and pieces they liked to curate a gut-wrenching night of music at Jordan Hall [continued]
Stile Antico: Clarity from the Shadows
by James C.S. Liu
Twelve British singers rendered Tomás Luis de Victoria motets with remarkable vocal and textual clarity at St. Paul Parish Cambridge for the Boston Early Music Festival. [continued]
April 10, 2018
Armida Hot in Heavy-Duty Rep
by Vance R. Koven
The Berlin-based foursome gave us a serious dose of Smetana, Prokofiev and Beethoven at All Saints Church in Ashmont Sunday. [continued]
High Fives for Six Quartets!
by Dan Stepner
Six ensembles from NEC’s Professional String Quartet Training Program participated in a troika of concerts at Jordan Hall celebrating the program and NEC’s 150th Anniversary. [continued]
April 8, 2018
The Faerie Queen Cavorts
by Laura Stanfield Prichard
Handel + Haydn period-instrument band and chorus gave a charming new adaptation of Purcell’s 1692 great masque at Jordan Hall on Friday. Repeats Sunday afternoon. [continued]
April 6, 2018
Verdi’s Joan Joins Odyssey’s Triumphs
by Steven Ledbetter
Odyssey Opera ends its season this weekend with Verdi’s rarely heard Giovanna d’Arco. This welcome production of a beautiful outpouring of Verdi’s music concludes Saturday at the Huntington Street Theater. [continued]
Outstanding Wagner from Nelsons and the BSO
by Jeffrey Gantz
Andris Nelsons was superb in Thursday’s Siegfried Idyll, and his Tristan, with Jonas Kaufmann and Camilla Nylund, was not too far behind. [continued]
Act II of Tristan und Isolde Makes Fine Impression
by Mark DeVoto
While pleased indeed to hear the BSO play Act II of Tristan und Isolde, this writer disagreed with decisions on tempi and balance last night at Symphony Hall. Brian Bell adds some history. [continued]
April 3, 2018
BU Opera Gives Debussy His Due
by Lee Eiseman
The Boston University Opera Institute’s Pelléas et Mélisande last weekend at the Cutler Majestic Theater left little to be desired. [continued]
April 2, 2018
Duo That Can Melt Icebergs
by Susan Miron
The deep and poetic kinship of violinist Angelo Xiang Yu and composer /pianist Andrew Hsu impressed at Jordan Hall Saturday night. [continued]
April 1, 2018
Programmatic Metamorphosis: “Loss – Resurrection”
by Nicolas Sterner
The Miró Quartet and A Far Cry collaborated with metaphysical leanings on Friday in Jordan Hall, showing how art’s elasticity lies in its fluidity of meanings. [continued]
March 30, 2018
Der Rosenkavalier Exalted in Carnegie Hall
by David Deveau
Kirill Petrenko led Munich’s Bavarian State Opera in a spectacular concert version of Der Rosenkavalier at Carnegie Hall on Thursday. [continued]
Reminiscences, Loud and Sotto Voce
by David Weininger
Nelsons, Ma, and the BSO staged a confrontation between past and present, as well as the tales of an errant knight, through works of Mozart, Jörg Widmann, and Richard Strauss at Symphony Hall last night. [continued]
March 28, 2018
Visionary Programming & Outstanding Musicianship
by Liane Curtis
Truth be told, I had never really noticed the Orchestra of Indian Hill until its concert of women composers on March 23rd in Littleton caught my eye. [continued]
March 27, 2018
Memorable Choral Force and Inward Reflection
by Geoffrey Wieting
Skylark Vocal Ensemble debuted a compelling international and historically broad a cappella response to the “Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross” Saturday at Harvard’s Memorial Church. [continued]