Archive for Review
Four Stars from AllMusic for Stylus Phantasticus
Wonderful four-star review for Pacific MusicWorks and Tekla Cunningham’s Stylus Phantasticus recording in AllMusic: “The composers range from fairly obscure (Giovanni de Macque) to all-but-unknown, even for people who have studied the early Baroque. Cunningham is a lively and virtuosic player who captures the daring mood and the spirit of experimentation in this radical group of works, and, as concertmaster of Pacific MusicWorks, she is able to surround herself with a continuo group quite attuned to what she…
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…
All Music Reviews José Serebrier’s Last Tango Before Sunrise
James Manheim gives a 4.5 Star Rating to José Serebrier’s Last Tango Before Sunrise recording on AllMusic.com: “The works on the album stretch from [1957] all the way up to 2018 for the titular Last Tango Before Sunrise, but there is general stylistic consistency among them, although the sense of tonality varies. All are infused with Latin American rhythms, either the tango, as characteristic of Serebrier’s native Uruguay as it is of Argentina, or from Afro-Brazilian…
Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 is “Beautiful and Inspiring”
Ralph Graves reviews Michael Stern, Joyce Yang, Stephen Powell, and the Kansas City Symphony’s recording of Leshnoff: Symphony No. 3; Piano Concerto for WTJU FM: “Written for the centennial of Armistice Day, Leshnoff gives voice to those who fought. He sets excerpts from letters written to loved ones at home. They don’t talk about the glory of battle but share quiet, intimate moments in simple yet beautifully poetic language. … It’s a beautiful work, beautifully…
One Movement Symphonies Gets Five Stars from Audiophile Audition!
Gary Lemco gives a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review to Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s One Movement Symphonies recording on Audiophile Audition: “The Kansas City Symphony brass prove especially resonant in their dark coloration… The Kansas City Symphony lushly blends the powerful [Barber] Finale, sustaining the Romantic ethos of the material, weaving all three tunes together and concluding with a jubilant, energetic thrust of youthful confidence. … The sense of improvisational freedom fused with a volcanic…
Rafael de Acha Reviews Last Tango Before Sunrise
Rafael de Acha reviews Jose Serebrier’s Last Tango Before Sunrise album on his All About the Arts blog: “the album features an interesting sampling of Serebrier’s journey as a composer, leading from the dissonances of the 1957 Piano Sonata and the explorations of the conflation of sound and colors in the 1971 Colores Mágicos. In certain early compositions featured in the album Serebrier taps into his Latin American roots, seeking to return to the richness of the music…
Art Music Lounge Review for One Movement Symphonies
Lynn René Bayley reviews Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s One Movement Symphonies recording on her Art Music Lounge blog: “This is exactly the kind of imaginative programming that I long to see on most symphonic CD releases… superb control of orchestral balance and textures, good phrasing… a good, solid, professional performance. … I heard many interesting details in the music that escape many a recording by more famous conductors. … an interesting album,…
Four Star Pizzicato Review for José Serebrier’s Last Tango Before Sunrise
Remy Franck gives four stars to the new release of José Serebrier: Last Tango Before Sunrise on Pizzicato Magazine: “The earliest work is the Piano Sonata of 1957, influenced by Latin American rhythms… and played powerfully and with verve by Nadia Shpachenko. The most recent piece is the title track Last Tango Before Sunrise from 2018, and just like the other dance movements on this CD, it offers inspiredly composed music with distinctive melodies and…
Blues Blast Magazine Strongly Recommends Fiona Boyes’ “Blues In My Heart”
The latest issue of Blues Blast Magazine has a strong recommendation for Fiona Boyes’s Blues in my Heart 20th Anniversary Edition recording: “Fiona Boyes truly stands out from the crowd… With a hard-to-define style that blends everything from Delta and swamp to Chicago blues and more, Fiona exploded onto the world blues scene with the original analog version of this CD, which was self-produced and released on her own label. … The twelfth album in…
American Record Guide Reviews Blessed Art Thou Among Women
American Record Guide reviews the PaTRAM Institute’s recording of Blessed Art Thou Among Women in the September/October 2020 Issue: “Depsite the common ethnicity and theme, the music covers so much ground chronologically and stylistically that the program stays interesting. … Rachmaninoff’s ‘Theotokos Ever-Vigilant’ sings out with the lush, spiritually-charged harmonies we know from his Vespers. There’s also a delicate embrace of the Sacred Feminine in ‘All of Creation Rejoices’ by Nikolai Mihailovich Danilin… I don’t…
Fanfare Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky & Leshnoff
Fanfare Magazine reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 & Leshnoff Double Concerto recording in the September/October 2020 issue: “Manfred Honeck has a special talent for making recordings. …A Honeck release is a documentarian’s dream. Musicologists will never have to puzzle over what he meant to achieve, as historians still do with storied conductors of the past. I wish more were like him. … Honeck’s take on the Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony…
Florentine Opera’s “Prince of Players” is a Major Release
MusicWeb International has a second review for the Florentine Opera Company’s world premiere recording of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players: “Realism is triumphant on the stage… In the role of Peg Kate Royal is exceptional, having already shown her interest in the music of Carlisle Floyd. Here she produces a beautiful sound while ably portraying the conflicts faced by her character. Keith Phares is a stalwart of new and recent American operas and his portrayal…
Opera Canada Recommends Florentine Opera’s Prince of Players
The Summer 2020 issue of Opera Canada features a major recommendation of Florentine Opera’s world premiere recording of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players: “Floyd’s score is in line with the style he’s used for opera throughout his career. it’s colourful and atmospheric with considerable melodic invention and a judicious use of dissonance. … it all works well with the story and the over- all impression is of a very well crafted piece, musically and dramatically.…
San Francisco Classical Voice Features Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players
Jeff Kaliss has a fantastic spotlight, feature, and review in San Francisco Classical Voice for the Florentine Opera’s world premiere recording of Carlisle Floyd: Prince of Players: “Don’t ever suppose that Carlisle Floyd can’t learn and showcase new tricks, just because he’s the veteran dean of living American composers. Hearing the newly released recording (on San Francisco’s Reference Recordings) of his latest opera, completed in 2016 (when Floyd was 90), will divest you of any such assumption.…
Opera Today Reviews Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players
Opera Today reviews the Florentine Opera Company’s World Premiere recording of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players: “gender and performance are at the heart of the art form that we call opera. If in the 21st century we are having conversations about gender and identity, then – from castrati to en travesti, from Cherubino to Cantonese opera, from Baba the Turk to Octavian – opera has relished gender fluidity since the art form was born. Floyd’s Prince of Players is…