Since their composition, the piano works of Chopin have been in the active repertoire of virtually every pianist, amateur or professional. No wonder—not only are these...

Ronald Brautigam’s seemingly universally praised project of recording all of the solo piano music of Beethoven on appropriate historical instruments continues with another wonderful installment. This...

Sharon Ruchman has a long musical history, but not all of it has been devoted to composition. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music,...

Yarlung Records’ compact disc featuring Los Angeles Philharmonic clarinetist David Howard is somewhat unusual because it combines 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century works instead of works of...

As I say each year, this list simply represents five recordings that crossed my desk this year that I think are essential for serious collectors. I...

Having completed their superlative traversal of the Mahler symphonies for SFS Media, the question was: What would Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony do...

This disc, made a decade ago, is a classic because it was the first of a series of 13 discs embracing the Gregorian chant Mass Propers...

American harpsichordist and mathematician Seymour Hayden devoted his early career to mathematics and music, but then decided in 1979 to spend his time solely on the...

Since their composition, the piano works of Chopin have been in the active repertoire of virtually every pianist, amateur or professional. No wonder—not only are these...

Ronald Brautigam’s seemingly universally praised project of recording all of the solo piano music of Beethoven on appropriate historical instruments continues with another wonderful installment. This...

There is a generation of music lovers, now in their 60s, who will receive D. Kern Holoman’s comprehensive biography of Charles Munch with a passion of...

The year 2010 marked the hundredth birthday of William Schuman, which may account at least partially for the appearance of this new biography by Dartmouth professor...

In his biography of swing-era bandleader Jimmie Lunceford, Rhythm is Our Business: Jimmie Lunceford and the Harlem Express, Eddy Determeyer, a true fan, sounds at times...

In 1950, reeling from the decline of the dance-band business, and uneasy about the innovations of Charlie Parker, the jazz world was in shocked transition. They...

This North/South disc showcases new music by four American composers of consequence. North/South Consonance is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting, performing, and recording the music...

This release features live performances on the first of these two CDs, the second being devoted exclusively to rehearsals in studio 8H in 1946 and ’47....

A disc of music for string quartet inspired by dance looks like fun—but first some background: The British Smith Quartet is now in its third decade,...

Colonel John Bourgeois was for many years commander/conductor of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Corps Band in Washington, D.C., considered by many to be our...

Terry Everson, a professor at Boston University, is a longtime freelance trumpet player, who over a career spanning almost a quarter century has garnered several prestigious...

I bet that most of those who judge Zoltán Kodály to be a second-rate composer do not know his Sonata for Unaccompanied Cello. Written in 1915,...

Having long been a fan of Tito Schipa, I came by my appreciation of Carlo Bergonzi’s art early. Of all the mid 20th-century Italian tenors, it...

This is a satisfying recording that could have been even better than it is. The first problem is the duration. Forty-seven minutes is small value for...

When this first appeared as Argo ZRG 5365, I passed it up, but the final selection on the program took on a life of its own....

This two-disc set is identified on its cover as “Three 1960s Argo recordings of contemporary settings of carols— Sir Cristemas, Sing Nowell and Carols of Today...

The Canadian early-music duo La Tour Baroque Duo consists of recorder player/harpsichordist Tim Blackmore and lutenist Michel Cardin. I first encountered Cardin’s playing about 15 years...

A few issues back I reviewed a new release by Stimmwerck devoted to the St. Emmeram Mensural Codex (Aeolus 10023), part of the celebrations surrounding a...

Several German-based companies—Cantus Classics, T.I.M. (The International Music Group) AG, and Membran Music—have over the years issued numerous boxed sets of historic recordings on various labels—Line...

With the advent of a plethora of early-instrument ensembles in virtually every country in Europe and the Western hemisphere, one is certainly familiar with the product...