James Tenney (1934–2006) is a seminal figure in American music, and one—like Henry Cowell—who will probably take quite a while to figure out, given his diversity...

Igor Raykhelson (b. 1961), according to his friend Yuri Bashmet, “possesses a superb mastery of both classical and jazz idioms.” With such a high recommendation, I...

Hard to believe though it is, the last time JoAnn Falletta and I spoke was four years ago for an interview and feature piece in 27:4....

I remember very precisely,” says pianist Cyprien Katsaris. “When I was three and a half, my parents bought a piano for my sister, who is a...

In this era of bargain boxes, here is the best of all possible bargains. Virtually everything Stravinsky ever wrote (not the one and two-piano transcriptions of...

Haydn is generally thought of as a composer of symphonies and string quartets, if not the father of both genres, and while there are a number...

James Tenney (1934–2006) is a seminal figure in American music, and one—like Henry Cowell—who will probably take quite a while to figure out, given his diversity...

Igor Raykhelson (b. 1961), according to his friend Yuri Bashmet, “possesses a superb mastery of both classical and jazz idioms.” With such a high recommendation, I...

This book is part of the series “Unlocking the Masters,” and is my first exposure to this collection, though Alan Swanson recently reviewed Tchaikovsky: A...

Xaver Scharwenka (1850–1924) was one of the most celebrated pianists of his day, with a broad reputation in both Europe and North America. As a composer,...

Several decades ago, when I, then the Boston Globe jazz critic and an ex-clarinetist, was listening awestruck to Buddy De Franco, the manager of the Boston...

In the late 1980s, at a fund-raiser in Boston for drummer Ed Blackwell, then ill with kidney disease, the master of ceremonies proclaimed Blackwell the greatest...

Aap Ke Kassam (1974) and Raja Rani (1973) are films with serious undertones. However, in true Indian fashion, the darker dramatic elements don’t totally dominate, but...

Chinna Gounder is a 150-minute 1991 movie that holds justice as its central concept. Intimately bound up with the idea of Panchayat (Indian local government bodies...

Matt Haimovitz has made a name for himself over recent years by consistently searching out alternative venues and contexts for the presentation of classical music, most...

The first CD in this series of reissues devoted to Oskar Fried (1871–1941) was released in 2006 and reviewed in Fanfare 29:2 by James Miller; I...

Although Schubert’s last opera, Fierrabras , was completed in 1823, it was not performed until 1897, long after his death. In the plot Fierrabras, a Moorish...

This rather strange offering provided me with my first experience at actually seeing the much-hyped Valery Gergiev conduct. ( Gramphone called him “the world’s most powerful...

The American String Project is an annual festival that brings together prominent string-players to form a 15-member orchestra—five first violins, four second violins, three violas, two...

The Votapeks are a husband and wife team who have very nice pedigrees from Juilliard, and currently work out of Michigan State University. This program is...

This is one of several repertoire-based clarinet recital discs that have appeared in recent months, and has to be rated rather high among them. As annotator...

This remarkable set, culled from the archives of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during the early years in which Glenn Gould emerged as a major classical pianist...

My colleague Henry Fogel wrote in Fanfare 27:1 about another “Great Recordings of the 20th Century” release featuring Christoff’s Mussorgsky: “He captures everything that Mussorgsky put...

The current spate of vocal recitals focusing on singers of another era brings a new winner with French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky’s homage to Carestini. The name...

One can glean a fair idea of the wide stylistic range of this collection just from the first two tracks, Ola Gjeilo’s frankly chant-inspired Prelude

Be not put off by the notion of a bluegrass mass. Carol Barnett’s version ranges from the simple to the difficult and requires an ensemble of...

This instrumental ensemble has no conductor, although some reviews of early music in the past have characterized the director of a few musicians as a “conductor.”...

Composers who worked in Venice in Monteverdi’s time make up this program of solo madrigals, arias, and guitar pieces. The unfamiliar names need some introduction. Domenico...

The name of the label is NM Classics (for Netherlands Music); this disc, labeled NM Special, is essentially a sampler—there are no program notes, no texts,...

Music in the Loft is a series in Chicago (celebrating its 15th anniversary) that reminds me a little of New York’s Barge Music—it presents concerts in...