To judge from the BSO's responsive playing and the audience's enthusiastic responses, director-designate Andris Nelsons can't do much wrong these days. Of course, a decade ago, neither could…
The emphasis of Monadnock's coming concerts is, quite happily, American music by composers with strong ties to New England. It's hard to imagine a more appropriate place to hear such fare or…
The music of West Side Story sounds grippingly urgent and colorful as ever in the hands of one of America's best orchestras and conductors.
Cuarteto Casals brings out Mozart's playfulness, the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester delivers a solid performance of Dvorak's Sixth, and James Brawn continues to brilliantly play Beethoven's pian…
The Commonwealth Lyric Theater has again brought to the fore an underperformed, unfamiliar masterpiece well worth getting to know. Good for them and lucky for us.
Thanks to CLT's pluck and commitment to underperformed repertoire, Boston audiences have the chance to check out the rarely performed opera "Mozart and Salieri" for themselves.
Howard Hersh, like John Adams, hails from northern California, and, as in the latter's "City Noir," the music on Hersh's new album, "Angels and Watermarks," embraces polyglot West Coast cult…
While 1962's Symphony owes a clear debt to Stravinsky and Britten (especially its last movement), it sounds like nobody but Irving Fine. This is a score that orchestras ought to be lining u…
In a world populated by talented pianists, James Brawn is a standout. He's not just a virtuoso, but also a probing, thoughtful musician with strong, creative programming instincts.
Conductor Charles Dutoit seems to have little affinity for Mahler's distinctive style. The quintessential Mahlerian traits " the grotesque, the naïve, the terrifying, the ironic " all sou…
Praise is due Peggy Pearson and Winsor Music for providing a forum for the talented young composer Lev Mamuya.
The Discovery Ensemble's precision was also on full display in the vigorous contrapuntal writing that came across with impressive, electrifying energy and visceral punchiness.
A round-up of classical music CD releases: Jon Nakamatsu's uneven interpretation of Robert Schumann piano pieces, Freiburger Barockorchester's ingratiating performance of the Brandenburg Con…
Three reviews of new classical music CDs: one is inviting, another lively, and the last could use more intensity.
Snappy new recordings of the music of Milton Babbitt and George Antheil from the Boston Modern Orchestra Project while cellist Christ Wild's disc offers a fascinating journey through some ri…
For at least the last decade, the LAPO has set the bar in creative programming, commissioning new works, and integrating itself into its community.
Most of the programs during BSO conductor Andris Nelsons' ten subscription weeks look fresh and, if not outright adventurous, on paper they at least look more exciting than not.
If "Salome" was a harbinger for what's to come, we may be on the cusp of a golden era, indeed.
As if the Discovery Ensemble's impressive return after a three-month hiatus weren't news enough, last week brought the announcement that Courtney Lewis has been appointed assistant conductor…
Two new recordings from Harmonia Mundi offer gripping performances, including one of the Smetana String Quartet no.1 that's particularly full of fire and life.
Pianist Murray Perahia's return this weekend, with Schumann's A minor Concerto, seemed tailor-made on paper: he's one of the world's great chamber musicians and this concerto plays to all hi…
Pianist Benjamin Hochman is a musician who's interested in insightful programs that can be provocative, speak across centuries, and engage the mind as much as they delight it.
On Sunday, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players celebrates its 50th birthday with a typically brilliant program, one that features four world premieres.
BSO's conductor emeritus Bernard Haitink may be best known for his interpretations of Austro-German repertoire, but, on Saturday night, he channeled his inner Francophile.
Saturday's reading of Lutoslawski's Piano Concerto greatly benefited from pianist Garrick Ohlsson's steely yet sensitive account of the solo part.