Archive for Rob Cowan
Rob Cowan Recommends Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven No. 9
Critic Rob Cowan adds the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s recording of Beethoven Symphony No. 9 to his “Spring Collection” of top new releases: “combining explosive climaxes with moments of deep repose. The finale is the highpoint, the angry celli and basses delivering their sermon to the minions – though note the achingly beautiful quiet flutes, oboes and clarinets at around the 2:00 mark – before ushering in the Ode to Joy theme from the…
ClassicalEar on Adam Schoenberg’s Orchestral Music: Superb
Order Now “Schoenberg’s painterly soundscapes fall very easily on the ear… Best in my view are the Picture Studies, especially the Stravinskyan ferocity of ‘Kandinsky’ and ‘Miró’, which is bouncy and percussive, with telling use of an E-flat clarinet. The closing piece, ‘Pigeons in Flight’ after a photograph by Francis Blake recalls, like certain other works on the disc, the gently pulsing, harmonically pleasing delirium of Reich, though Schoenberg’s style more approximates the composing manners…
Moszkowski Scores Four/Five from ClassicalEar
“Martin West and his excellent San Francisco Ballet Orchestra[‘s]… affable and lively performances, always well played, fall very happily on the ear, and the sound is superb. … the programme is well worth hearing, especially the polonaise-style Torch Dance, Habanera, Six Airs de Ballet and the Gondoliera, all of which are here given their world première recordings. And what to expect, musically? Think of the lighter side of Elgar and that will give you some…