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 ArticleWenzel 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 ArticleSeraph 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 ArticleKerry 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 ArticleLászló 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 ArticleTatjana 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 ArticleGeorge 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 ArticleIn 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 ArticleGraun: 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 ArticleTutta 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 ArticleIn 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 ArticleCarols 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 ArticleRiemuitkaamme! (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 ArticleRaunächte – 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 ArticleRalph 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 ArticleVittoria 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 ArticleJoseph 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 ArticleAmir 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 Article99 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 ArticleChristian 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...
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