Quantcast
Channel: Classical music Archives - WTJU 91.1 FM
Browsing all 983 articles
Browse latest View live

Henry Cotter Nixon Volume 2 – Sophomore Slump?

I loved the first installment of this three-part series. This, the second, I have a few reservations about. Henry Cotter Nixon spent most of his professional life at the edges of the English musical...

View Article



Wenzel Heinrich Veit String Quartets, Vol. 1 – an individual voice

Robert Schumann had this to say of Wenzel Heinrich Veit’s music: The form of this quartet contains nothing unusual, there is no boldness or originality, but it is proper and shows a well-trained hand....

View Article

Seraph Brass Tuesday November 14

On Tuesday, November 14 at 7:30 pm, you can hear Seraph Brass, an all-female brass ensemble, perform at Mary Baldwin University’s Francis Auditorium in Staunton, Virginia. They will be playing works by...

View Article

Kerry Turner – Ricochet Hits the Mark

There’s nothing quite like the music of a composer writing for his (or her) own instrument. Kerry Turner’s world-renowned horn player as well as a composer. As this release shows, he definitely knows...

View Article

László Lajtha Orchestral Music, Vol. 6 – A Fitting Finale

This release brings Naxos’ reissue series of László Lajtha symphonies to a close. If you missed the 2000 pressings on Marco Polo, these reissues are worth the investment. Lajtha finished nine...

View Article


Tatjana Ruhland Elevates Reinecke Compositions

Sometimes it isn’t the music so much as the performer. The music is by Carl Reinecke, whose legacy lives on more through his pupils than his music. During his academic career, he taught Edvard Grieg,...

View Article

George Dyson – Choral Symphony Shows Composer’s Promise

George Dyson’s Choral Symphony is a remarkable rediscovery. The work was written for Dyson’s Doctor of Music examination in 1917. It was dutifully evaluated (he passed), then filed away and forgotten...

View Article

In Winter’s Arms – Bob Chilcott refreshes a tradition

There’s something about choral music written by a chorister. It’s usually performer-friendly, and often listener-friendly as well. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s overly simple or cliched. It just...

View Article


Graun: Weihnachtsoratorium – A Christmas Oratorio to rival Bach’s

Carl Heinrich Graun isn’t the best-known German baroque composer, but at the time he was one of the most prominent. Frederick the Great appointed Graun kapellmeister to his court in 1740. Graun was...

View Article


Tutta Bella! Venetian Christmas Revels

For over 40 years Revels has been presenting a Christmas program. These shows blend folk tales, songs, and dance in a celebration of a bygone time. And each year the program has a different theme. The...

View Article

In dulci Jubilo – Music for the Christmas Season by Buxtehude and Friends

I’ve been burnt out on Christmas music for some time — even classical Christmas music. But In Dulci Jubilo promised something fresh — seasonal music from Dieterich Buxtehude and his colleagues. And it...

View Article

Carols for a Victorian Christmas — comfortable and familiar

The general public may think that Christmas carols have been around forever. Music lovers know that the Victorian Era is the source for most of the evergreen carols still sung today. Carols for...

View Article

Riemuitkaamme! (Let us Rejoice!) — A Finnish Christmas

Riemuitkaamme! is a great recording for folks wanting to venture beyond standard Christmas fare — but not too far beyond. The program features plenty of familiar selections, mixed with modern Finnish...

View Article


Raunächte – The Twelve Nights after Christmas Drawn in Pastels

For Americans, the Twelve Days of Christmas means turtledoves, drummers drumming and five golden rings. But for Northern Europeans, that time between Christmas day and Epiphany (January 6) is when...

View Article

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Beyond My Dream — Music for Greek Plays

“Beyond My Dream” brings some early music of Ralph Vaughan Williams to light — and gives us a hint of what might have been. George Gilbert Murray published what were considered to be the definitive...

View Article


Vittoria Vittoria – beautiful restoration of 17th C. song

“Vittoria – Vittoria” is a DVD-Audio reissue of a 1997 release. Both the performances and sound quality are first-rate. Richard Wistreich is a well-established performer of 16th and 17th Century...

View Article

Joseph Schuster String Quartets — as good as Mozart’s?

So just how good are these string quartets? Good enough to be attributed to Mozart. Joseph Schuster (1748-1812) wrote these six string quartets in 1780, on commission from Marquis Giuseppe Ximenes, an...

View Article


Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour – Persian Echoes

Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour isn’t the first composer to meld his cultural musical heritage into classical composition. And he does so as convincingly as Dvorak, Bartok, or De Falla (in his own style, of...

View Article

99 Words – Roxanna Panufnik’s Exceptional John Tavener Tribute

What a beautiful album. And what a fitting tribute to John Tavener and his unique artistic vision. 99 Words presents music that honors the memory of Tavener, interspersed with music by Tavener. It’s a...

View Article

Christian Westerhoff Concertos – Great Music from the Hinterlands

Sometimes location matters. Based on the quality of his music, I think Christian Wilhelm Westerhoff (1763-1806) might have had a notable career in Vienna. Instead, he served at the court of Count...

View Article
Browsing all 983 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images