Category: Recordings

Although Jacobus Vaet, Antonius Galli and Pieter Maessens are little-known composers today, this impressive recording featuring their music, the debut recording by the ensemble Cinquecento, may serve as a cautionary reminder that modern familiarity is often the fruit of circumstance and not necessarily a reliable measure of artistic achievement.

Last year saw Cecilia Bartoli’s recording dedicated to the memory, and repertoire, of the early 19th century singer Maria Malibran, “Maria.”

There may be no name more famous in the world of film music than that of Bernard Herrmann. William Perry, however, is a name unlikely to set off many bells.

Of these three productions staged for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the beautifully dressed Entf¸hrung and refined Tancredi present the company as a theater for tasteful, stylish productions, just a tad on the dull side.

I’ve rarely seen a performance of Tristan und Isolde where I was quite so conscious of the singers’ teeth.

The lyricism characteristic of the instrumental music of Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) is at the core of his songs, and the two collections found on this recording represent his vocal music well.

The 100th anniversary of his birth inevitably produces a flood of releases from the catalog of conductor Herbert von Karajan.

Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884) is, perhaps known best for his opera The Bartered Bride (1863, rev. 1870), a touchstone of comic opera fused with eastern-European nationalism and, as much as that work has much to offer, his other efforts deserve attention.

Premiered in 1938 in Zurich, Mathis der Maler was then the most recent of Paul Hindemithís provocative operas.

The festal days of Christmas, New Yearís, St. Stephen and St. Thomas Becket are rich in musical celebration, and this recording from the Orlando Consort brings together a wide range of organa, motets, chansons, and carols to remind us of that fact.