Archive
The complete Open Letters Monthly Archive.
There is no wholly recommendable performance on record of Mahler’s third symphony. This performance, by Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, is uneven but worthwhile nonetheless.
Read MoreA composer uncompromising in his reckless independence, Alexander Lokshin is not always approachable. Consider this release an icebreaker.
Read MoreDo not be put off either by the coupling of Schumann with a record newbie whose name you may not recognize. Schumann requires intense contemplation before an artist can make more than pretty gallery pictures of his pieces, and Luca Burrato is up to the challenge.
Read MoreI generally receive the springtime festival releases with the same excitement as I’d feel about a Placido Domingo Christmas record. What comes round, comes round. This one, however, is pure class
Read MoreIt’s raining Rachmaninov concertos and I’m not sure the roof can take any more. This is the third new release in two weeks. Is it any good?
Read MoreThe London Symphony Orchestra has released a marvelous, exhilarating liver performance of Verdi's Requiem, one only slightly let down by its recording methods.
Read MoreIt's hard to evaluate an album of Bach for trio, including Yo-Yo Ma, that is so expertly played yet so flagrantly inoffensive.
Read MoreA new recording of Mahler's vocal masterpiece is made with the best of intentions but has imperfect results.
Read MoreA beautifully played album illuminates the expressive film scores of the unjustly overlooked Hanns Eisler.
Read MoreNadia Boulanger deferred to the music of her short-lived sister Lily and barely spoke of herself as a composer. Two releases, newly landed, may help to adjust that misperception.
Read MoreTry as I might, I can’t stop listening to these late works of a Russian composer who was close to Shostakovich but never tried, as others did, to imitate him.
Read MoreThe unique selling point of this release is what appears to be the first recording of Bartok’s piano quartet in C minor. Unfortunately, it's not very good.
Read MoreVitezslava Kapralova was a pioneering conductor as well as a developing composer, but she died when she was only 25 years old. A disc of her piano music suggests just how much was lost when she passed away.
Read MoreRenée Fleming is ending her stage career. Let's hope this album, which plays to all her weaknesses, isn't the end of her recording career.
Read MoreLeonard Bernstein's symphonies have long been neglected in favor of his popular work, but Marin Alsop breathes new life into them by surpassing the composer himself.
Read MoreFormerly unknown, Mieczylaw Weinberg stature as a composer is growing--deservedly so, as these chamber symphonies attest.
Read MoreDespite how they're often played, Shostakovich's piano concertos weren't intended for virtuoso performers. Boris Giltburg tries an originalist approach.
Read MoreThe release of a long-forgotten opera proves, finally, that Pietro Mascagni was not a one hit wonder.
Read MoreWhat would Natalie Dessay find in a collection of American songs that others have not found before?
Read MoreAmid the seasonal rock fall of weird-shaped box sets and unopenable recorded turkeys, one project stands out as indispensable in both musical and moral dimensions.
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