The American wunderkind teams with Sufjan Stevens and Bryce Dessner for a song cycle with a difference. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The German-born composer and music critic for The Age dies at the age of 90. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Is composer Eric Whitacre the Messiah of new music? Plus, the truth behind Mozart's Requiem.
The legendary homegrown composer tells Limelight what he has in common with George Clooney. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Silent film finds its voice in the modern age. Plus, see the complete list of Academy Award winners. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The hunt is on to find a singer with a seriously low range to record a new composition.
A controversial new production puts the master composer in chains. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
How the Australian landscape fired the imagination of Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür
On Liszt’s 200th birthday, Leslie Howard proves the composer-pianist was no empty showman. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
High-profile electronic musicians around the world celebrate Philip Glass’s 75th birthday in style. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
In this concertante piece, banjo and accordion serve as continuo instruments but with plenty of soloistic flourishes.
Yes, classical music can be funny. Ten thigh-slappingly good piss-takes of the noblest artform.
The Cello Symphony was one of Britten’s few substantial pieces of abstract symphonic music, and rather than dubbing it a concerto he places the soloist on more equal footing within the orchestral texture. The orchestration is just as vivid as his music for voice, but it is also one of the composer’s most fierce and challenging scores. The Chandos sound gives much-needed warmth to this angular, thorny terrain. The cello is less forward – and more introspective – than in Pieter Wispelwey’s recent recording, maintaining Britten’s desired balance. By the same token, Paul Watkins doesn’t have quite as much bite as the work’s dedicatee Rostropovich in the 1965 premiere recording conducted by Britten. Watkins maintains edge-of-your-seat energy throughout, particularly in the gutsy Presto inquieto where his virtuosic flair is matched by profound lyricism. The third-movement cadenza and its burnished trumpet obbligato are a highlight. In the Four Sea Interludes… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
