David Hertzberg's opera The Wake World arrives on a new recording with a lot of praise already behind it. Though written in a matter of months by a composer who was then hardly known, the piece was a curious success at Opera Philadelphia's O17 festival and won the 2018 Best New Opera Award from the Music Critics Association of North America. But time and again while listening … [Read more...] about ‘The Wake World’ comes from somewhere, but where?
The Met’s ‘Porgy and Bess’ in the cold light of morning
How often can you say that the Metropolitan Opera rocks? That happens in much of the new recording of Porgy and Bess taken from live performances of the Met's hit production. But the price of capturing that live energy was surprisingly high. The Warner-label issue is an excellent souvenir of the production starring Eric Owens and Angel Blue under the baton of David … [Read more...] about The Met’s ‘Porgy and Bess’ in the cold light of morning
Is there room in the world for this clarinet trio? There’d better be.
During one of the idyllically discussed Philadelphia Orchestra golden ages, music director Eugene Ormandy (ca. 1960) was sometimes compelled to change programs if key principal players were not able to perform. That past is a foreign country: we're now in an age when the proficiency and artistry among classical musicians is at a level where the second- and maybe … [Read more...] about Is there room in the world for this clarinet trio? There’d better be.
Schubert and Mendelssohn on the verge of nervous breakdowns (like the rest of us)
Hundreds of performances of Schubert's String Quartet No. 14 ("Death and the Maiden") have come my way over the decades, but none seized me from the very first notes like the new recording by the vision string quartet, titled Memento, recently issued on Erato. It arrived in my inbox in a series of sound files for the label's March releases; I had forgotten about this … [Read more...] about Schubert and Mendelssohn on the verge of nervous breakdowns (like the rest of us)
Mahler’s 8th: The antithesis of social distance in a new PhilOrch recording
Now that social contact is mostly limited to familiar faces on computer screens, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 ("Symphony of a Thousand") truly feels like something from an alternate world, if only because of the size of the performing forces. Chorus upon chorus plus eight top-caliber soloists are out to convey the ever more esoteric seven circles of heaven in a work that starts … [Read more...] about Mahler’s 8th: The antithesis of social distance in a new PhilOrch recording