New York Classical Review

13/01/2025

Igor Levit's explorative Brahms provided the highlight of the pianist's recital Sunday at Carnegie Hall.

There’s a hoary cliché from rock journalism, where a guitarist is giving an interview and talks about how they dislike certain other players because they have great technique but no “feel.” While a cliché it makes sense in that there’s a logic to it, and some true examples, but it also mis...

13/01/2025

Sequentia spun a medieval German saga for Music Before 1800.

Early music concerts are a form of time travel. With “Gregorius—The Holy Sinner,” Music Before 1800 transported the audience to medieval Germany on Sunday afternoon at Manhattan’s Corpus Christi Church. The guide was Sequentia, the innovative ensemble for medieval music co-founded by Benjami...

12/01/2025

A starry duo and lively ensemble cast breathed fresh and convivial life into the Met's January performances of "La Boheme."

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2025/01/a-starry-cast-breathes-fresh-convivial-life-into-mets-boheme/

10/01/2025

In his first Met appearance in 13 years, Bryn Terfel's Scarpia ignited with the Tosca of Sondra Radvanovsky Thursday night.

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2025/01/terfel-returns-to-met-ignites-with-radvanovsky-in-tosca/

09/01/2025

A romantic program found its footing Wednesday night with Joshua Bell and Daniele Rustioni, the conductor making his New York Philharmonic debut.

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2025/01/a-romantic-program-finds-its-footing-with-bell-philharmonic/

07/01/2025

Tenor Pene Pati made an impassioned and charismatic house debut in the Met's "Rigoletto" Monday night.

Verdi’s Rigoletto returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Monday with a fresh cast under the baton of Daniele Callegari. The performance featured the house debut of tenor Pene Pati as the Duke of Mantua. The role has been his calling card in opera houses worldwide, and it is easy to see why from thi...

03/01/2025

Kevin John Edusei roved widely and brilliantly in his New York Philharmonic debut Thursday night.

Three repeats through Tuesday.

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2025/01/edusei-roams-widely-and-brilliantly-in-philharmonic-debut/

01/01/2025

Judit Kutasi as Amneris provided most of the highlights on opening night of the Met's uneven, archaeological "Aida."

The new Michael Mayer production debuted New Year's Eve and runs with the current cast through January 25, returning March-May.

As the fedora-hatted archaeologist was lowered into the Egyptian temple to begin the Metropolitan Opera’s performance of Verdi’s Aida Tuesday night, he took a tumble while disengaging from his rope. 

20/12/2024

NYCR's Year in Review is posted. Click over to see what made the cut for New York's Top Ten Performances of 2024.

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2024/12/top-ten-performances-of-2024/

19/12/2024

The S. E. M. Ensemble brought early gifts in a mostly Czech program Wednesday night.

This year of Czech music wrapped up Wednesday night at the Paula Cooper Gallery with an invigorating reminder of how important that country’s musical culture has been to modern American classical music.

17/12/2024

Music Before 1800's ambitious "Letters to a Young Poet" just missed the mark on Sunday.

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2024/12/music-before-1800-just-misses-the-mark-in-ambitious-letters-to-a-young-poet/

16/12/2024

A delicate imbalance undermined the Kanneh-Masons' excellent playing Sunday afternoon at Carnegie Hall.

Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, chamber music’s most talked-about brother-sister duo since Yehudi and Hephzibah Menuhin, gave an advanced course in musical Romanticism, then and now, at Carnegie Hall Sunday afternoon.

13/12/2024

Met's "Magic Flute" brings a double helping of Mozartean holiday delight.,

The days are shortening, the air is chilly, and festive lights are going up. That means it’s time for the Metropolitan Opera’s holiday performance of The Magic Flute. This is Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, compressed into one continuous act of under two hours, translated into English by J.D. McC...

13/12/2024

Ton Koopman's silvery "Messiah" lights up the New York Philharmonic's Christmas tradition.

Holiday traditions have to stay the same from year to year, right?  That’s why they’re traditions. But this is New York, where same-old doesn’t cut it.

12/12/2024

Hélène Grimaud made Carnegie Hall ring with the four B's Wednesday night: Beethoven, Brahms and Bach-Busoni.

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2024/12/grimaud-makes-carnegie-ring-with-beethoven-brahms-bach-busoni/

10/12/2024

Piotr Beczała found his own tempo giusto in his recital Monday night in Carnegie Hall.

Not every song recital is a lieder recital, but the performance by tenor Piotr Beczała and pianist Helmut Deutsch in Carnegie Hall on Monday, even though it featured songs by Russian, Norwegian, and Polish as well as German composers, was essentially a lieder recital.

10/12/2024

Music from three great cities were in the spotlight Sunday for Parlando.

Even given Parlando’s high bar for the eclectic, with the program “Sidewalk Tango” Ian Niederhoffer raised it a notch or two above.

07/12/2024

Kirill Gerstein's virtuosity served the greater musical good in Liszt, Ravel and Francisco Coll.

Virtuosity, in its essence, is subtle and humble. The ability to play an instrument with velocity and precise articulation is an obvious skill and often an exciting one. But the reason one needs that level of skill is because there is important music that requires the ability to handle extreme deman...