I try to explain my preference for electronica by association of repeating patterns and "classical" models at times. Through ny preferences for so-called minimalist music one could see similiarities, perhaps, to the likes of music by, say deadmau5. Melody A.M.
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Aug 17, 2013
Chris Thile has been playing the mandolin for a big portion of his life; it's really fair to say he's a virtuoso on the instrument, and he…
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One of my favorite albums featuring Piazolla's music has been by the Quatuor Caliente of standards like Libertango. This new release adds guitar to the palette, in place of the vibes that were featured on their earlier album.
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Jul 25, 2013
Several ensembles have presented to us variations on a Spanish-origin tune, Follias. By the late baroque, this was pretty much codified around a harmonic progression, not unlike, perhaps, the one use to frame Pachebel's variations for three violins.
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Jul 25, 2013
Rinaldo Alessandrini's ensemble Concerto Italiano has been known for both its instrumental incarnation as well for its vocal one. This CD of "Italian Concertos" dates back to 2004, featuring concertos by Vivaldi, Marcello, and Bach(!).
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Jul 14, 2013
Veracini was a Florentine who seemed to get around Europe (including the United Kingdom) an account of his violin playing capabilities; he…
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Jul 13, 2013
Singer Macro Beasley has released an album with Accordone of music from Naples. I spied it recently while in a FNAC in Lyon, France.
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Jul 13, 2013
Peter Holman wrote in a 1999 review of Biber's Mystery Sonatas by Letzbor that he, along with Eduard Melkus, and John Holloway had begun an…
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Jul 6, 2013
I know F. Cera from his work with Il Giardino Armonico. I had the opportunity to find this CD for sale when I was in France earlier this…
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Jul 6, 2013
The worst thing about this album is the cover; Rousset looks unnecessarily dark and agèd, if not posed in a slightly menacing way, almost…
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Jun 7, 2013
I'd been teased several years ago by an announcement on Mr. Onofri's website of a new album entitled Con Amore, and while it was available…
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In my travel to Lyon, you cannot miss the church up on the hill, next to the "mini" Eiffel Tower. The Notre Dame de Fourvière was built to remind everyone that Mary had protected the city of Lyon from the plague.
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May 28, 2013
As a fan of baroque performance practice, I have some favorite ensembles, and among them has been the Ensemble Matheus, directed by Jean-Christoph Spinosi.
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May 12, 2013
You can think of Vivaldi's output around his published opuses, op.1-12, not to mention the knock-offs in op. 13.
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May 12, 2013
Christina Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata release Mediterraneo, a collection of pieces that feature the ensemble's strengths in color, plucked instrumentation, and growing interest in world vocal styles.
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Apr 20, 2013
As you might imagine, I have a favorite list of musicians, of "baroque" musicians, and this list has been cultivated over many years.
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Apr 20, 2013
I've collected just a few of Philippe Jaroussky's recordings. Probably among the countertenors, he's a favorite. I've found his collaborations with Christina Pluhar among my favorites. I'd likely collect more if I was a real opera fan.
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Apr 20, 2013
The latest release from the Vivaldi Project is volume 5 of the solo violin concertos, a collection for Pisendel, the Dresden-based violinist. Like the fourth release, this one is performed by Il Pomo d'Oro, but with soloist Dmitry Sinkovsky.
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Mar 26, 2013
This release from the mid-1990s is a real gem, featuring Petra Mullejans in the driver's seat of a reduced-size of the Freiburg Baroque…
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Mar 26, 2013
For another view of this recording, fresh when it was released in 2001-2002, check out this page at the Bach Cantatas site. This recording was the first of several "Bachiana" issues from MAK; they earlier recorded a CD from the Alt Bach Archiv in the late…
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Mar 23, 2013
The cover of this recording reminds me of the earlier Podger release on the same Channel Classics label of La Stravaganza.
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Mar 23, 2013
This recording from 2009, directed by gambist Philippe Pierlot, features BWV 131, 182, and 4.
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Mar 18, 2013
The Freiburger Barockorchester has recorded four concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach: BWV 1043, 1042, 1041, and 1064R.
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Feb 23, 2013
The Helsinki Baroque Orchestra offer a first installment of Bach harpsichord concertos, in their first volume.
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Feb 23, 2013
The French baroque composer Jacques Aubert first came to my attention through a recording by Collegium Musicum 90 on Chandos.
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Feb 21, 2013
This review first appeared in 2013, looking at the new recording of Bach's "48" by the pianist András Schiff, who had also recorded these…
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Feb 17, 2013
I have only owned one recording by David Fray; that was his CD of Bach keyboard concertos.
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Feb 17, 2013
The name Oberlinger wasn't first caught my attention with this CD of baroque recorder concertos. It was the guest conductor, of course, Reinhard Goebel.
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Jan 27, 2013
I wager that Mystery Sonatas were Biber's high point as a composer. Since the Biber revival beginning in the 1990s by the likes of Andrew Manze and his Romanesca brought this composer to our collective conscience, we've been exploring more of the composer's…
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Jan 20, 2013
Ensemble Caprice performs Bach's Brandenburg Concerti under the direction of Matthias Maute on the Analekta label.
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Jan 20, 2013
CordArte performs music by Becker, Strungk, Reincken, Buxtehude, Förster, and Theile for strings and continuo in their album, Musicalische…
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As a glutton for punishment, I devoted a portion of my evening to listening to every copy of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #3 I had in their…
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Jan 19, 2013
This collection pairs several sonatas by Buxtehude (BuxWV 271, 266, 159, 269) with two sonatas from Reinken's Hortus Musicus collection) by…
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Jan 16, 2013
Since I took the opportunity to review an old movie, why not an old jazz interpretation (2003) from The Bad Plus? Teen Spirit of course was a Mennen-created deodorant for girls that was popular in the 1990s.
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Jan 6, 2013
Bach left us three sonatas for keyboard with viola da gamba. In the Smeider catalog, these are BWV 1027-1029.
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I really like BWV 869. Fans of Bach already know that the compose wrote two collections of preludes and fugues for keyboard.
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Dec 30, 2012
Rameau is known to have taken-up the writing of entertainment music late in life; this music for the stage, either for opera or ballet…
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Dec 7, 2012
François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau were perhaps, together, the high priests of the late French baroque.
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Nov 22, 2012
"Œuvres pour clavecin" is how the album is titled; the recording really is more of a feature of an original instrument, constructed in 1716.
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Nov 14, 2012
Barocks Welttheater is an odd title, perhaps, for an album. But it speaks both to the variety of styles in Johann Schmelzer's music for…
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Nov 9, 2012
Inspired by a Savall YouTube video featuring French music with the Concert des Nations, I thought I needed some more Savall in my digital…
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Nov 7, 2012
I got to hear Musica ad Rhenum live one year at the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music in London.
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I wrote recently of attending a concert featuring the music of Philip Glass with Mr. Glass and violinist Tim Fain. This recording from iTunes features Mr.
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Oct 28, 2012
Arion is Canadian ensemble that has invited a number of well-known Baroque specialists to lead them from time to time.
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Oct 28, 2012
Nicola Matteis was an Italian violinist and composer active primarily in the second half of the 17th century, best known for his…
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This evening I had the opportunity to attend the final portion of the University of Richmond's (Modlin Center) Philip Glass festival.
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Sep 15, 2012
Ensemble Sonnerie under Monica Huggett records four (of the five) Bach orchestral suites on Avie.
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Sep 8, 2012
This recording features a historically-informed approach from Dombrecht, Ponseele, and Friends. This release came out on Accent in 1999.
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