By Paul E. Robinson on January 30, 2016
This week, I would like to draw your attention to a new CD featuring Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburg Symphony. Honeck, who used to play violin with the Vienna Philharmonic, has recently emerged as a major conductor. The Pittsburg Symphony, which has an illustrious history playing under legendary figures such as Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg, Lorin Maazel, Andre Previn and Mariss Jansons, has already made some exceptionally good recordings of music by Richard Strauss, Dvořák, Janáček and Bruckner under Honeck’s direction.
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By Paul E. Robinson on January 23, 2016
Most of the music on these two new CDs by Louis Lortie And Hélène Mercier is repertoire that the average music-lover will rarely encounter in a lifetime of concert-going. And what a loss! This is glorious music for the most part, that has given me enormous pleasure over the years.
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By Paul E. Robinson on January 9, 2016
Deutsche grammophon releases debut solo album from Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition.
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By Paul E. Robinson on January 1, 2016
Daniil Trifonov burst onto the scene a few seasons back and has quickly become the Superstar du jour. Is he the real thing or just a shooting star whose light will soon fade? Too early to tell. But these two new recordings give ample evidence of who he is now and what he is capable of doing.
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By John Terauds on November 30, 2015
Toronto’s Pax Christi Chorale released a new CD that treads familiar musical ground in a selection of pieces that straddles the sacred and secular.
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By Paul E. Robinson on November 19, 2015
This splendid new recording might well prompt renewed interest in this neglected repertoire. The Tsar’s Bride (1899) contains some of the most beautiful and powerful music that Rimsky-Korsakov ever wrote
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By John Terauds on October 25, 2015
The German pianist who won the Honens Piano Competition nearly 10 years ago sat down at the Banff Centre right around what would have been French composer Maurice Ravel’s 140th birthday last spring to record all of his works for solo piano. The results, just released on Honens’ own recording label, are very impressive.
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By Paul E. Robinson on October 21, 2015
Four new chamber music CD's to put on your radar, including Marc-André Hamelin, Ragazze Quartet, Jerusalem Quartet and Daniel Hope.
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By John Terauds on October 5, 2015
Ottawa-based pianist David Jalbert puts on an impressive magic show in his latest solo album, which interweaves pieces by French composers Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc.
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By Paul E. Robinson on August 31, 2015
Tenor Rolando Villazon and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin return with the third installment in a Mozart Opera project: The Abduction from the Seraglio.
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