By Jeremy Eichler [Boston Globe, 10 November 2006]
Bartok’s arresting one-act opera, “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” is an implacably dark tale about untethered emotions, padlocked secrets, and the dangers of prying open the hidden chambers of the soul. James Levine led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a chilling performance of this rarely heard work last night, paired with Brahms’s First Symphony.