“This music builds so much adrenaline that you feel you have to let that out at the end!” With a smile and a giggle, violinist Rakhi Singh, co-founder of the…
Category: Reviews
Pygmalion: Bach Motets
Issued last September but only recently brushing my radar, Pygmalion’s alpha-plus Bach disc is a revelation. Raphaël Pichon, founder of the specialist Baroque ensemble in 2006, has had a rewarding…
VOCES8 open their Live from London, Spring festival
Spring may be almost upon us, its rituals heralding re-awakenings and promising new beginnings. But, this year, when we are all stuck in an eternal present, the cycles of the…
Anna Netrebko: Met Stars Live in Concert
The latest, and tenth, concert in the Met Stars Live series took us to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna’s Hofburg Palace complex. The concert was once again genially hosted…
Cimarosa’s The Impresario in Distress Gets Its First Modern Recording
The Italian phrase in angustie means something like “in distress,” “in a tight bind,” or “under pressure from all sides.” Angustie derives from the Latin “angustus”—narrow—and is related to the…
Auber’s Siren Enchants Anew, in a Long-Needed First Recording
Auber’s comic operas – once a mainstay of theaters throughout Europe, the Americas, and perhaps beyond – are slowly making their way back into the lives of music lovers through…
Sondra Radvanovsky and Piotr Beczała: Met Stars Live in Concert
January can be a dull and depressing month, and this year it is particularly difficult to keep faith that a light will eventually shine through the darkness. But, a soul-lifting…
The Twilight of Dreams in Palermo
Il crepuscolo dei sogni burst out of Palermo’s Teatro Massimo last Tuesday thanks to YouTube streaming. The link to the resulting video is below.
Pelham Humfrey – Sacred Choral Music
Until just recently the church music of Pelham Humfrey (1647/8-74) was represented on disc with just two dedicated recordings: one from 1992 with the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge (Nicholas…