The Heath Quartet delivers a triumphant Bartók cycle; Natalie Dessay's Schubert misses the mark widely.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:06AMThe BSO's Brahms' sounds as robust and responsive as they do when they’re on their best behavior at Symphony Hall.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:12AMFor all the surface-y beauty of the BSO's playing, it’s a dull interpretation of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony no. 3.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:04AMThe Emerson Quartet is as restless and curious as ever; pianist Simone Dinnerstein is featured on a treasure of a disc.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:24PMWhy do such a high number of significant contemporary composers hail from Iceland?
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:36PMIt is one of the enduring ironies of classical music that so much of today’s repertoire was written by such a small number of people. This post is the fifteenth in a multipart Arts Fuse se…
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:48PMSea Pictures offers, frankly, everything one might want in a song cycle: sweeping melodies, evocative scoring, stirring drama and pathos.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 03:12PMSamuel Barber: one of the most individual and distinguished voices to emerge in Europe or America during the 20th century.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:54PMIn all, Chorus pro Musica’s production was witty and diverting, timely in spots and smart throughout
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:36AMRimsky-Korsakov’s , Antar packs a world of chimeric colors, impellent drama, and memorable tunes into less than thirty minutes.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:06PMBy opting to set Figaro as a straight comedy, Cucchi’s production glossed over the opera’s subversive edge.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:18AMThere aren’t too many ensembles around that consistently remind us how fresh, rich, diverse, and thought-provoking contemporary can be.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:18PMViolinist Anne-Sophie Mutter gave a searing, intense reading of the solo part in Nostalghia (In Memory of Andrei Tarkovskij).
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:06PMSo, what is one to make of the BPYO’s weekend effort? It was a bit bold, to be sure. But it was also stirring, heartfelt, and timely.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:42PMMitsuko Uchida is quite possibly the finest Mozart pianist around today, at least among non-period specialists.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:31PMSometimes new music isn’t really new and old music isn’t actually old; the best of it exists on some other plane entirely.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:24AMA welcome triumph for Hyperion, Bruch, and the Nash Ensemble, but the Oregon Symphony does not do right by Haydn.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:42AMOn paper, at least, the upcoming season of the BSO is a bit of a letdown: cautious, unthreatening, comfortable.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:42AMFor terrific viola playing and some fresh repertoire by familiar names, look no further than Antoine Tamestit’s Bel Canto.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 01:31PMHyperion builds a CD around a superb performance of Amy Beach’s magnificent Piano Concerto.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:24PMNo orchestra in this country embraces the challenges of Charles Wuorinen’s hyper-intellectual style better than the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:31AMThere have been lots of recordings of Philip Glass to hit the market recently. One of the highlights is Víkingur Ólafsson’s Piano Works.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:18AMThis invigorating, sometimes unpredictable, Beethoven-heavy program certainly offered its share of athleticism and energy.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:06AMVasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra serve up some curious and, from time to time, rather languorous Elgar.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 05:36PM"We thought, why don’t we hark back to earlier occasions which were equal parts socializing and entertainment?"
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 06:06PMIn the Piano Concerto, Ferruccio Busoni seemed to want to have the final word in the tradition of the Romantic concerto.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:32PMWhatever challenges there may be, the enthusiasm of the New England Philharmonic’s leadership is infectious.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:24AMThis was a stirring, thought-provoking, and, ultimately, moving reading of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:18AMIt was a treat to experience Philip Glass’s orchestral music live and in-person.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:03AMFront and center was Andris Nelsons, who, interpretively, seemed more than happy to try on a bunch of different hats.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 02:24PMPianist Denis Kozhukhin does right by Brahms and an all-Saint-Saens disc that, at its best, is a winner.
SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:06PM
