Archive for Jonathan Blumhofer
The Arts Fuse Hails Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven Symphony 6 as “Another Winner”
The Arts Fuse‘s Jonathan Blumhofer gives a warm recommendation to Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven & Stucky recording: “The Pittsburgher’s performance is nothing if not very well balanced and strongly colored. Solos short and long – for tuba, contrabassoon, and English horn, among them – are all well done. And the orchestra has clearly got a firm grasp on Stucky’s highly intellectual (but still accessible) personal style. … it’s forceful, well-written music and…
The Arts Fuse Wants a Sequel to One Movement Symphonies
Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s new One Movement Symphonies album left The Arts Fuse’s Jonathan Blumhofer asking for a sequel, or even a whole series: “Michael Stern’s new recording with the Kansas City Symphony (KCS) celebrates a subgenre one probably doesn’t think about all that much: the single-movement symphony. Given the rewards of this album, which showcases symphonic works by Samuel Barber, Jean Sibelius, and Alexander Scriabin, perhaps one should. … Stern and his forces…
The Arts Fuse Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Jonathan Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto
The Arts Fuse reviews Kansas City Symphony’s recording of Jonathan Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto with Stephen Powell and Joyce Yang: “The Concerto’s first movement alternates motoric and lyrical subjects, its constant shifts of phrases and harmonies keeping the ear from ever getting too comfortable. “Neshema,” the slow second movement, offers a beautiful, falling tune that’s gradually embellished. The Scherzo, with its frolicsome keyboard writing and nifty transformations of orchestral textures, charms throughout.…
ArtsFuse Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky/Leshnoff
ArtsFuse reviews the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s recording of Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 and Leshnoff: Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon: “Manfred Honeck is one of that rare breed of artist: a conductor who can draw compelling, electrifying accounts of the standard canon as if on cue. His latest release, which pairs Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 4 with Jonathan Leshnoff’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon, manages this feat again. Honeck’s reading is marked by a…
Dawn To Dust Impresses The Arts Fuse
“It’s no secret that 2016 has already been a strong year for albums featuring new and recent music… Now things get even better with the release of Dawn to Dust, a collection of three scores commissioned and performed by the Utah Symphony and its music director, Thierry Fischer. The highlight of the disc is the debut recording of Andrew Norman’s riotous Switch, a percussion concerto that’s played here with aplomb by Colin Curie. Over the…