 Jeremy Eichler's e-mail address is jeichler@globe.com.
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On artistic vision, Levine’s BSO hits a flat noteOn both coasts it was a big year for orchestras. New leaders took the reins in New York (Alan Gilbert) and Los Angeles (Gustavo Dudamel), and each one, in very different ways, is promising fresh directions for his ensemble and his city’s musical life. At the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the most headlines were, in contrast, generated by a leader’s absence. ... (12/26/09)
Classical music critic’s picks
BOSTON BAROQUE The veteran period instrument band presents a comic double-bill devoted to Mozart’s “Bastien und Bastienne’’ and Cimarosa’s “Il Maestro di Cappella.’’ With vocal soloists Kristen Watson, Lawrence Jones, and David Kravitz. Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 1 at 3 p.m., $25-$69, Sanders Theatre. 617-484-9200 or www.bostonbaroque.org (12/25/09)
Jeremy Eichler's top classical albums of 2009
MOZART PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 23 AND 24; Mitsuko Uchida, piano, with the Cleveland Orchestra (Decca) Mitsuko Uchida’s Mozart playing here is stunningly sensitive, crystalline, and true. These two concertos have been over-recorded, but this soloist and this great orchestra prove there is still more to say. (12/19/09)
Dutch cellist leads holiday-themed H&H Society program
With Harry Christophers recently installed as artistic director, the Handel and Haydn Society will be broadening its circle of guest conductors. Christophers himself leads only three programs this season but he had clear opinions about who should be guiding the orchestra in his absence. For the season opener, he tapped Jean-Christophe Spinosi, a young rising star of the early music ... (12/18/09)
For Christmas, Camerata heads to the Mediterranean
CAMBRIDGE - This month of the year many choruses and ensembles around town favor a kind of yuletide musical time travel, with programs that celebrate, for instance, Christmas in 15th-century England or 16th-century Venice. Perhaps the most ambitious of these - in its temporal, geographic, and cross-cultural sweep -is Boston Camerata’s “A Mediterranean Christmas.’’ This delightful program is back this ... (12/18/09)
A new WCRB, and a shrinking classical dial
In a city passionate about classical music, a lot of listeners get their fill by catching the Boston Symphony Orchestra and other programming on the radio. (12/17/09)
Critic's picks - classical music
CLASSICAL MUSIC BOSTON CAMERATA Joel Cohen returns to lead the group’s unusual holiday program - “A Mediterranean Christmas’’ - with Camerata players joined by the Sharq Arabic Music Ensemble in works from across the Mediterranean. Dec. 20, First Lutheran Church, Boston; $22-$46; 617-262-2092, www.bostoncamerata.org. (12/12/09)
What a collector loses (and gains) in the age of music downloading
Piles of CDs surround me. I have been feeding them into my computer to suck the music out of them. And then I pack them away. (12/12/09)
Emerson Quartet returns, diverse as ever
With both the Guarneri Quartet and the Beaux Arts Trio having recently closed up shop, a generational shift has been occurring in the upper ranks of American chamber ensembles. Founded in 1976, the Emerson String Quartet is now one of the longest running groups out there. The veteran foursome glided into Jordan Hall on Friday night still looking pleased to ... (12/6/09)
A Martinu concerto emerges from the shadows
If the walls around the symphonic canon sometimes feel like they are closing in - with the same few works repeated endlessly - the situation is all the more acute with violin concertos. Orchestras with a capable soloist signed up routinely reach for one of the same four works - by Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, or Brahms - leaving a vast ... (12/4/09) |
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