François Girard’s static, drab, and unevenly cast Met Der fliegende Holländer

United StatesUnited States Wagner, Der fliegende Holländer: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Valery Gergiev (conductor). Performance recorded on 10.3.2020 (directed by Gary Halvorson) and reviewed as Met Opera on Demand. (JPr)

Anja Kampe (Senta) in Act II Der fliegende Holländer
(c) Ken Howard/Met Opera

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‘Musical Passports’ – a streamed concert with Tessa Lark and Andrew Armstrong from Cal Performances

United StatesUnited States Bartók, Ysaÿe, Schubert, Grieg, Ravel, Tessa Lark (violin) and Andrew Armstrong (piano): Recorded at New York’s Merkin Hall for Cal Performances, 1.10.2020. (HS)

Tessa Lark in a recital presented by Cal Performances

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Composer Alexey Shor in conversation with Colin Clarke

Alexey Shor (c) ALIKHAN

It is an exciting time for composer Alexey Shor. I personally first came across his music on a Delos release entitled Classical Music Stars in Malta in which four of his chamber pieces (Farewell Nocturne; Addio; King Matt the First; Coming of Age) shared disc space with music by Ilya Dimov, Khachaturian, Joseph Vella, and the fabulous Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia. Then, the superstar violinist Maxim Vengerov, no less, performed Shor’s St. Elmo Barcarolle at the Barbican in January this year under the baton of a conductor who is a tireless champion of Shor’s music, Sergey Smbatyan (review); and Vengerov’s encore, after Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and Ravel’s Tzigane, was another work by Shor: his Elegy for violin and orchestra.

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United and unconquered! The brass of Lincoln Center premiere Anthony Barfield’s Invictus

United StatesUnited States Barfield, Invictus: Various musicians / Anthony Barfield (conductor), Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, 7.8.2020. Streamed through Lincoln Center at Home on 1 September 2020. (RP)

Michael Barfield (composer/conductor) (c) Lincoln Center

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Kathleen Battle sparkles in a 1988 Il barbiere di Siviglia from the Met

United StatesUnited States Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of The Metropolitan Opera / Ralf Weikert (conductor). Performance of 3.12.1988 reviewed as a Nightly Met Opera Stream on 22.8.2020. (RP)

Leo Nucci (Figaro) and Kathleen Battle (Rosina)
© Metropolitan Opera

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A vintage Un ballo in maschera from the Met offers thrilling voices and lavish sets

United StatesUnited States Verdi, Un ballo in maschera: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of The Metropolitan Opera, New York / James Levine (conductor). Performance of 26.1.1991, reviewed as a Nightly Met Opera Stream on 20.8.2020. (RP)

Luciano Pavarotti (Gustavo) © Met Opera Archives

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Aspen Music Festival: Jackiw and Denk find beauty in Ives sonatas

United StatesUnited States Aspen Music Festival – Ives: Stefan Jackiw (violin), Jeremy Denk (piano), presented virtually by Aspen Music Festival, streaming from Steinway Hall, New York, 9.8.2020. (HS)

Stefan Jackiw (violin), & Jeremy Denk (piano)

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