Harold Shapero on BMOP (Best of 2020)
Harold Shapero Orchestral Works Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose, conductor BMOP Sound Composer Harold Shapero (1920-2013) was a central figure during the mid-twentieth century. A member of the Boston…
Not Our First Goat Rodeo (Best of 2020)
Not Our First Goat Rodeo Stuart Duncan, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile Sony Music Masterworks Not Our First Goat Rodeo, a second album for the grouping of fiddler…
Piano Concertos on DG (Best of 2020)
John Adams Why Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? Yuja Wang, piano; Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, conductor Deutsche Grammophon Thomas Adés Adés Conducts Adés Kirill Gerstein, piano:…
Scelsi revisited (Best of 2020)
Scelsi Revisited Klangforum Wien, Sylvain Cambreling, Johannes Kalitzke, conductors Kairos 2XCD A number of prominent European composers took part in Scelsi revisited, a festival, documented on this double-CD, celebrating Giacinto…
Closing out the twenty-tens: Schell’s picks for 2019
Though our decade technically has another year to go, the marketing appeal of “Hits of the XXs” type formulations tends to overwhelm such semantic niceties. So as we leave the…
Noteworthy in 2018: Schell’s picks
Unlike those big-media favorites lists that appear in mid-December to grease the skids of the Great Shopping Season, my year-end reckonings dawdle until the last moment and don’t claim to…
Best of 2018: Instrumental and Recital CDs
Best of 2018: Instrumental and Recital CDs Best Recital Hanging Gardens Works by Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern Jacob Greenberg, piano with Tony Arnold, soprano Rather…
Best of 2018: Orchestral CDs
Best of 2018 – Orchestral CDs In ictu oculi Kenneth Hesketh BBC Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Christoph Mathias Mueller Paladino Three large orchestra works by British composer Kenneth Hesketh…
Best of 2018: Holiday CD, Opera Recording
Best of 2018: Holiday CD, Opera Recording Best Holiday CD Nine Lessons and Carols: 100 Years King’s College Choir, Stephen Cleobury, Director Choir of King’s College label 2018 is the…
Best of 2018: Composer Portrait CDs
Best of 2018: Composer Portrait CDs 2018 saw the release of a bevy of excellent recordings of music by contemporary composers. These were the portrait CDs that most frequently captivated…