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Not-Yet-Ready-For-Verdi Netrebko 27 Aug 2013 | 11:58 am
I think Anna Netrebko is by now review-proof, and possibly criticism proof: even her warm relationship with and support for Vladimir Putin, despite his attitude toward the lesbian and gay community, h...
Reference Recording: Reiner’s Scheherazade and Song of the Nightingale 27 Aug 2013 | 09:00 am
I listen in awe of these performances, whose luster hasn’t dimmed one iota in the passing decades. Aside from the fact that Fritz Reiner’s Scheherazade remains one of the most physically exciting vers...
Gould’s Byrd and Gibbons: A Classic 26 Aug 2013 | 10:59 am
The recent release of Alan Feinberg’s collection of English virginal music played on a modern Steinway suggested a re-listen to this classic recital by the inimitable Glenn Gould. Certainly, it has lo...
A Workaday Bach Sonatas and Partitas 26 Aug 2013 | 09:29 am
Over the past two decades Gottfried Schneider has given us valuable recordings of rare repertoire like Dohnányi’s Violin Concerto, Martin’s Polyptique Etudes for Violin and String Orchestra, and Godow...
Ronald Stevenson’s Fascinating, Problematic Piano Music 25 Aug 2013 | 10:54 pm
The Scottish composer/pianist Ronald Stevenson (born 1928) is best known for his large-scale Passacaglia on DSCH, based on the four-note D E-flat C B-natural pattern that spells out Shostakovich’s ini...
Reference Recording: Janácek Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba 25 Aug 2013 | 06:32 pm
Much as the name Charles Mackerras is rightly associated with Janácek’s music, when it comes to the paring of his two greatest orchestral works, Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba, this recording remains a f...
Decca’s Not Quite 20th Century Janácek Collection 25 Aug 2013 | 04:59 am
It really makes you wonder. Decca recently reissued Mackerras’ Vienna Philharmonic performances of Janácek’s Sinfonietta and Taras Bulba coupled with his Suite from The Cunning Little Vixen, a logical...
Bach Collegium’s Quintessential Bach 24 Aug 2013 | 11:12 pm
Having very favorably reviewed several earlier installments of the Bach Collegium Japan’s now near-complete cycle of Bach cantatas, listening to this 52nd volume is a delight. Throughout this project’...
Alan Feinberg’s Basically Bull, But No Sh*t! 24 Aug 2013 | 04:06 pm
English virginal music from the 16th and early 17th centuries played on a modern Steinway? Unthinkable! Shocking! Forget it; this disc is fabulous. It may be a heretical notion in this era of authenti...
Historical Gems: Mackerras’ First Janácek Recordings 23 Aug 2013 | 09:00 am
This famous performance of the Janácek Sinfonietta was not superceded by Mackerras’ somewhat heavy Decca remake, though his latest effort for Supraphon must take the prize in terms of both performance...
