ONION, CHEESE, AND CHORIZO FRITTATA BEETHOVEN This rustic dish evokes the flavors of the countryside: farm fresh eggs, spicy Spanish chorizo sausage, onions, and a pinch of thyme. The secret ingredient here is Idiazábal, a delicious smoked hard cheese, also from Spain, that gives the whole dish a depth and richness that belies its simplicity. [...]
LENTIL SOUP NIELSEN
LENTIL SOUP NIELSEN Lentil soups all have a rugged, earthy quality that calls to mind the sinewy, wholesome symphonies of Danish composer Carl Nielsen. You may find it strange to see a recipe containing Mexican salsa pared with Scandinavian music: but that’s the point. We want to get away from cheap automatic assumptions of national [...]
RED PRIEST PUTTANESCA VIVALDI
RED PRIEST PUTTANESCA VIVALDI Sacrilege you say? How could this sauce of such notorious origin (“puttana” in Italian means “hooker”–and legend has it that when the ladies needed something quick and hearty between appointments Puttanesca was born) be in any way associated not only with one of the 18th century’s greatest composers but with a [...]
REJOICE IN THE LAMB-SHANKS BRITTEN
REJOICE IN THE LAMB-SHANKS BRITTEN What more appropriate dish to associate with Benjamin Britten, a composer who centered many of his works around themes related to the sacrifice of innocence? Of course, the center of this easy-to-prepare recipe is lamb, whose universal image of tender, sweet innocence is transformed into a rich, assertively aromatic, intensely [...]
BBQ SAUCE DVORÁK
“If music be the food of love, then why not combine them?” Everyone accepts the fact that music makes an excellent accompaniment to cooking and dining, but here at ClassicsToday.com we look at this phenomenon from a slightly different perspective. Over the years it transpires that just about all of us, editors and writers alike, [...]
Notes and Notices
To our readers: This week on ClassicsToday Insider: boxed sets of (widely) varying utility and intelligence, and some historical treasures.--The Editors
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Sign up for Classics Today Insider exclusive music reviews and news, created specifically for classical music listeners, from the serious collector to the inquisitive newcomer. Here are some of our latest Insider Only Reviews:
Reference Recording: Markevitch and Lamoureux Rock the Symphonie fantastique
by David Hurwitz
All great works offer a range of interpretive possibilities, and if you already own Munch's hallucin... Continue Reading
Filling in the Gaps: Adventurous Early Martinu
by David Hurwitz
Martinu's pre-Paris output remains virtually unknown, unpublished, and unperformed. There is a lot o... Continue Reading
A Great Collection of Czech Music for Strings
by David Hurwitz
This terrific release takes two Janácek works for string orchestra, one early, one late, and uses t... Continue Reading
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War and Peace by Villa-Lobos
May 15, 2013 by David Hurwitz
These two symphonies were both composed in 1919 and reflect the composer's response to the First World War. Musically they have a lot in common, save that the "War" Third Symphony features a lengthy f... Continue Reading
Bach for All Time(s)
April 25, 2013 by David Vernier
Is there ever a wrong time to listen to the Bach violin concertos? There are no more immediately ingratiating works in Bach's oeuvre, which easily explains the number of recordings in the CD catalog: ... Continue Reading
Hamelin and Labadie Team Up In Sensational Haydn
April 21, 2013 by David Hurwitz
On this astonishing disc Marc-André Hamelin demonstrates conclusively that a modern piano can do anything a fortepiano can in music of the classical period, while still retaining its superiority in d... Continue Reading
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Jeffrey Biegel’s Grand Romance
May 20, 2013 by Jed Distler
In the days before piano recitals became Serious Business, Romantic virtuosos delighted audiences by serving up lighthearted encores where technical fireworks and effortless charm went hand in hand. A... Continue Reading
Richter’s 1975 Royal Festival Hall Recital
May 18, 2013 by Jed Distler
In 2000 BBC Legends brought out Sviatoslav Richter’s June 11, 1975 all-Beethoven Aldeburgh recital, which I reviewed for Classicstoday.com (read review here). Now ICA Classics releases the same prog... Continue Reading
Tirimo’s Masterful Debussy Available Again
May 18, 2013 by Jed Distler
Recorded between 1988 and 1991 for Carlton Classics and reissued anew by Alto, Martino Tirimo’s Debussy solo-piano music cycle remains a serious and arguably underappreciated contender. For starters... Continue Reading














