Latest Music Reviews
Haitink’s Fifth And (presumably) Last Beethoven Ninth
by Jed Distler
Bernard Haitink famously disparaged conductors who re-recorded and re-re-recorded certain works ad infinitum. Of course Haitink ignored his own advice by churning out unnecessary Mahler and Bruckner symphony remakes year after year. Granted, one could argue that Haitink’s mostly superb live 2005/06 London Symphony Orchestra... Continue Reading
Big Boxes: Paul Lewis’ Beethoven Cycles At Super-Budget Price
by Jed Distler
In anticipation of 2020’s Beethoven anniversary year, Harmonia Mundi has bundled together Paul Lewis’ respective Beethoven cycles devoted to the piano sonatas and piano concertos, along with the pianist’s Diabelli Variations. The concertos contain Lewis’ most consistently satisfying Beethoven playing on disc, which is free... Continue Reading
Peñalosa Perfección
by David Vernier
Looking into the not-too-distant past—the early 1990s—you may recall another vocal quartet, not four men but four women, who called themselves Anonymous 4, and whose illustrious career spanned a couple of decades-plus. Their specialty was medieval chant and polyphony (with occasional forays into modern repertoire),... Continue Reading
Muller’s Musically Meaningful Mozart Cycle Continues
by Jed Distler
In contrast to the poised symmetry and scrupulously balanced Mozart playing of pianists such as Walter Gieseking, Marc-André Hamelin, and Christian Blackshaw (to name just a few), Jean Muller is often angular and edgy. He’s not afraid to speed up a phrase following an emphatic... Continue Reading
The Cleveland Rusalka That Made Salzburg Gasp
by Jens F. Laurson
When the Cleveland Orchestra performed Dvořák’s Rusalka at the Salzburg Festival in 2008, the reception was rapturous. “That’s how an orchestra should play opera!” was the consensus, formed as it was coincidentally during a year in which the Vienna Philharmonic delivered particularly sloppy performances. (Since... Continue Reading
Imogen Cooper’s French and Spanish Recital
by Jed Distler
In a review of Imogen Cooper’s 2006 Zankel Hall recital, the New York Times described her playing as “virtuosity without razzle-dazzle”. That more or less sums up this French and Spanish Chandos recital. She brings crispness and point to Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso, yet puts... Continue Reading
Tanja Tetzlaff’s Bach, With An Unhelpful Helping Of Encke
by Jens F. Laurson
Not yet another recording of the Bach Cello Suites? It feels like everyone tall enough to hold a cello must also record them. The problem isn’t more choice, which itself is always a good thing, but recordings that bring nothing new—much less better—to the table.... Continue Reading
Lintu’s Slick Kullervo
by David Hurwitz
Can you believe that four conductors have now recorded Sibelius’ once vanishingly rare Kullervo Symphony twice (Segerstam, Davis, Berglund, and Vänskä), and there must be a half a dozen other versions buzzing about? Ondine already has one of the reference versions (Segerstam’s), and so I’m... Continue Reading
Abbado’s Bruckner A & Z
by Jens F. Laurson
A new recording of Claudio Abbado conducting Bruckner symphonies at the Lucerne Festival? Of Symphonies 1 and 9, no less, bookending Bruckner’s output—a beginning and an end, entry and exit, and wonderfully symbolic? Not so fast. Both performances had their previous outings. The First on... Continue Reading
Suzuki Sucks In Beethoven’s Ninth
by David Hurwitz
Remember Sugar Plums? That was the Hoffnung Festival performance by the Dolmetsch Ensemble of Tchaikovsky’s greatest hits (including the 1812 Overture) on baroque instruments. It was ridiculous and hilarious, intentionally so. This Beethoven Ninth is ridiculous and probably more obnoxious than hilarious, because its ridiculousness... Continue Reading
View The 50 Latest Music Reviews »
