Latest Music Reviews

Glazunov’s First Class, Sadly Neglected Piano Sonatas

by David Hurwitz

Glazunov composed relatively little music for solo piano despite being acclaimed as a superb performer on the instrument. This excellent disc contains his complete output... Continue Reading

Lovely Glazunov Piano Concertos on Naxos

by David Hurwitz

Both of Glazunov’s concertos are late works, little known in today’s concert halls. They do not deserve their neglect. No less a musical luminary than... Continue Reading

Glazunov: Violin Concerto and The Seasons from an Unexpected Source

by David Hurwitz

Yes, Vox is (was) still making new recordings, and so is (was) violinist Aaron Rosand. This one is superb. The excellence of the Malaysian Philharmonic... Continue Reading

Glazunov’s Heartfelt, “Impossible to Ignore” Suite Charactéristique

by David Hurwitz

So much of Glazunov’s music reminds me of tepid bath water. It’s very comfortable, but not very stimulating, and it cools off too quickly. And... Continue Reading

Naxos’ Scarlatti Cycle Reaches the Bottom of the Barrel

by Jed Distler

Naxos’ Scarlatti cycle descends to the bottom of the proverbial barrel for Volume 30, one of this series’ outright duds. The close microphone placement and... Continue Reading

Enescu’s Gorgeous Octet for Strings and Piano Quintet

by David Hurwitz

George Enescu graduated from the Vienna Conservatory at age 11, and in some respects his music fulfills our expectations of a child prodigy for whom... Continue Reading

Enescu: Vox Maris

by David Hurwitz

This disc contains one of Enescu’s first “official” works (as a prodigy he was writing symphonies in his early teens), the wonderfully evocative Romanian Poem,... Continue Reading

Kristin Lee’s Marvelous American Sketches

by Jed Distler

Violin virtuoso Kristin Lee serves up a delightful and stylistically wide-ranging cornucopia of American music, performed with unalloyed joy, style and effortless technique, abetted by... Continue Reading

Gardner’s Successful Janácek Continues With Volume 2

by David Hurwitz

There is only one questionable moment on this well-filled disc of Janácek orchestral music: the string-led apotheosis in the last movement of Taras Bulba, right... Continue Reading

The Nightingale String Quartet Vagn Holmboe Cycle Continues

by Jed Distler

Just why Vagn Holmboe’s 20 numbered string quartets remain closer to the repertoire’s fringes rather than towards the center core is a mystery, for they... Continue Reading

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