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
January 20, 2019
Through a Storm to Haroun
by Julie Ingelfinger
In Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s innovative semi-staged concert production of the complex, rich and fanciful two-act opera, Haroun and the Sea of Stories last night at Jordan Hall, Gil Rose brought forth electricity, eerie sounds, fright, joy and fancy to go along with bright costumes, mechanical birds, water genies and beautifully bizarre beasts. [continued]
January 19, 2019
Blomstedt and BSO: Lofty Brahms
by Mark DeVoto
Herbert Blomstedt, a renowned Swedish conductor who has worked in Denmark, Germany, and San Francisco, is a 91-year-old Massachusetts native in superb condition. He demonstrated artistry, vigor, and wisdom with total assurance in Friday’s Boston Symphony concert. [continued]
January 18, 2019
The Scarlet Ibis Alights at Longy
by Basil Considine
Boston Opera Collaborative’s new production of Stefan Weisman’s The Scarlet Ibis to a libretto by David Cote continues through at Longy through Sunday with BOC’s two alternating 5-singer casts. [continued]
January 14, 2019
BSCP Honors Harbison
by Mark DeVoto
In celebration of John Harbison’s 80th-birthday year, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players offered a half-century spectrum of his chamber music at Jordan Hall on Sunday, topping off the afternoon with a Bach cantata in honor of Harbison’s lifelong dedication to that repertory. [continued]
January 13, 2019
Pro Arte Displays Jewels and Gems in Newton
by Julie Ingelfinger
Pro Arte Chamber offering of three 19th-century works in the aptly titled “Jewels and Gems.” under Paul Polivnick gave us much to appreciate in the highly-decorated sanctuary of the First Baptist Church in Newton Centre on Saturday. [continued]
January 12, 2019
Gnarly Thursday, Delicate Friday at the Hall
by Vance R. Koven
Thursday’s BSO subscription concert dispensed some intriguing repertory and interpretive choices, concluding with a cathartic reading of a popular classic, as Andrew Davis led off with a celebration of John Harbison’s 80th birthday. [continued]
January 8, 2019
BCMS Delivers a Stunner
by Susan Miron
Boston Chamber Music Society’s concert last Sunday set such a high bar for musical camaraderie and inspired choice of repertoire that it will doubtless be counted as one of the best concerts of 2019. [continued]
January 5, 2019
BSO Redresses Neglect
by Vance R. Koven
Shiyeon Sung featured Fanny Mendelssohn’s only orchestral work, one of her brother’s once-omnipresent piano concertos, and the most orotund and genial of Dvořák’s late symphonies Thursday night. [continued]
January 1, 2019
“Festive” Gala Floats on Even Keel
by David Patterson
While Vivaldi, Telemann, and Bach scores provided ample fodder for the virtuosic and dramatic, Boston Baroque ventured otherwise in its New Year’s Eve Gala at Sanders. [continued]
December 22, 2018
Eclectic Adventures with AMOC
by CJ Ru
This writer’s spirit ran amok with AMOC — the American Modern Opera Company — through an afternoon of ambitiously eclectic adventures last weekend at two Harvard venues. [continued]
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December 21, 2018
Faithful to Bach the Innovator
by Anne Davenport
Pianist Sergey Schepkin and violinist Robyn Bollinger brought exceptionally evocative performances of Bach’s Six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard for Glissando at First Church Boston on Sunday. [continued]
December 14, 2018
A Joyful Baroque Christmas with H+H
by David Patterson
Handel and Haydn Society’s “A Baroque Christmas” notched some pretty high rankings in the celestial ether for a strong turnout of revelers at Jordan Hall Thursday. The program will be repeated Sunday, December 16, 2018 at Jordan Hall. [continued]
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December 12, 2018
Dover Quartet: Musical Alchemy
by James C.S. Liu
Dover Quartet satisfied an enthusiastic Celebrity Series crowd at Pickman Hall Wednesday with interpretations of the folk-influenced musical material ranging from stunning to amusing to downright thrilling. [continued]
December 10, 2018
Pinpoint Precision from Palestrina to Muhly
by CJ Ru
Taking Palestrina as their standard bearer, Tallis Scholars regaled Harvard’s Memorial Church BEMF crowd on Friday with antiphonal symmetry even in program design. [continued]
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December 9, 2018
The Variations United Are Indefatigable
by Mark DeVoto
Saturday evening at Longy, the wide-ranging pianist Christopher Taylor effectively served up two of the larger thematic sets, from 1740 and 1975. [continued]
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December 8, 2018
Messiah for the 18th and 21st Centuries
by Julie Ingelfinger
In the auspicious year of 1812, some 76 years after its premiere in Dublin, and 51 years after the composer’s death, the Handel and Haydn Society introduced Handel’s Messiah to America. This weekend, Boston Baroque brings its 38th-annual HIP version to Jordan Hall. [continued]
December 6, 2018
Lutenist Succeeds With Diminutions
by Jonas Kublickas
Eight-course lutenist Hopkinson Smith reprised his Diapason d’Or-winning CD “Mad Dog” in a candlelight Cambridge Society for Early Music concert Monday evening at the Christ Church in Cambridge. [continued]
December 5, 2018
BMOP Features Frog, Two Cellos & Violin
by John Ehrlich
Gil Rose and Boston Modern Orchestra Project enlightened, stretched, and amused, and got Friday’s Jordan Hall audience into “Trouble” [continued]
December 3, 2018
Refreshing Exactitude from H+ H
by CJ Ru
Thanksgiving having passed, we heard a timely annual reminder of Who was born unto us in the year zero. Our most venerable singing society rais’d Messiah incorruptible three times at Symphony Hall over the weekend. [continued]
John Cage, Guitar?
by Frank E. Warren
All the compositions on Aaron Larget-Caplan’s Saturday night concert at Arlington Street Church came from the pen of the thorny master between 1933 and 1948. The eponymous Stone Records CD release party-concert included guest artists Sharan Leventhal, violin; and Adam Levin, guitar. [continued]
December 2, 2018
A Far Cry: Enthusiastically Mixed
by Vance R. Koven
A Far Cry gave an imaginative selection of mostly transcribed pieces to a substantially populated and enthusiastic Calderwood Hall Saturday (and Sunday). [continued]
Chameleon Tells 100-year-old Tale
by Mark DeVoto
The Chameleon Arts Ensemble under flutist-director Deborah Boldin honored the centenary of l’Histoire du soldat in some interesting French company at First Church Boston last night. Repeats on Sunday, December 2, at four o’clock; don’t miss it! [continued]
December 1, 2018
Fire Bringers at Longy
by John Secunde
The Neave Trio (violinist Anna Williams, cellist Mikhail Veselov, and pianist Eri Nakamura) can be counted on to present interesting and varied repertoire, but Friday’s concert of Roussel, Shostakovitch, and Korngold at Longy particularly stood out. [continued]
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November 30, 2018
Christmas Oratorio in Symphony Hall
by Cashman Kerr Prince
Last night Andris Nelsons led the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the the newly-refreshed Tanglewood Festival Chorus, a powerful quartet of solo voices, and the BSO Children’s Choir, kicking off the holiday music season jubilantly. [continued]
November 27, 2018
Thankful for the Russians, Zander & BPYO
by Jeffrey Gantz
For its traditional post-Thanksgiving concert Sunday at Symphony Hall, the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra paired Rach 2 with Shostakovich 10. [continued]