Rafael de Acha has a wonderful preview and review of the new Approaching Autumn release from Jonah Kim and Robert Koenig: “Jonah Kim dives into this music with courage underpinned by formidable technical prowess, with which he achieves a dazzling performance. Mark Abel’s Approaching Autumn is a one-movement, 2020 composition, melodically forthcoming, harmoniously laid-out, often playful, eminently…
Rafael de Acha reviews the new Lawrence Brownlee, Sarah Coburn, Constantine Orbelian, and Kaunas City Symphony recording of Bellini’s I Puritani: “Not since the 1953 studio recordings of Bellini’s Bel Canto tour de force with deluxe casts: the vintage Cetra with Callas, Di Stefano, Panerai, and Rossi-Lemeni, and the various 1960’s releases with Dame Joan Sutherland leading…
Oksana Volkova, Constantine Orbelian, and the Kaunas City Symphony’s upcoming Poison D’Amour recording gets a Music Notes review: “The Delos CD opens with O ma lyre immortelle from Gounod’s rarely done Sapho. In this aria and in two selections from Samson et Dalila: Printemps qui commence and Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix the Belarusian singer displays a luscious sound that she…
Rafael de Acha features the Latvian Radio Choir’s recording of the Komitas Divine Liturgy: “a rare sampling of the liturgical music of the Armenian people. The hour-long work – performed in this recording by the superb Latvian Radio Choir conducted by Sigvards Klava – introduces the listener to the hauntingly exotic music of the 19th century priest…
Rafael de Acha reviews Emanuele Segre, Carlo Boccadoro, and Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali’s Italian Guitar Concertos recording on Rafael Music Notes: “The Italian guitarist Emanuele Segre’s recording of Italian concerti for guitar has instantly become a favorite in my collection of CD’s thanks to this artist’s gifts for bringing to new life the familiar – Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto…
Rafael de Acha gives a five-star review to David Shifrin and the Dover, and Harlem Quartets recording, Clarinet Quintets for Our Time: “a testimony to the riches of American chamber music. … The album features three selections each averaging 18 minutes in length, each distinctive in its compositional style, two impeccably played by the Dover Quartet,…
Rafael de Acha reviews the new CD version of Christopher Anderson-Bazzoli’s Continent’s End recording: “Listening to Christopher Anderson-Bazzoli’s CONTINENT’S END I was struck by how both its music and its interpreters, the fine mezzo-soprano Buffy Baggott and her equally accomplished partner, pianist Kevin Korth perfectly embrace the text of the nine poems of Robinson Jeffers in the…
Rafael de Acha reviews Veronika Dzhioeva’s new Ritorna Vincitor! recording with Constantine Orbelian and the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra: “The late Dimitri Hvorostovsky was right when he said: “What a gorgeous voice – like a Rolls Royce, she must sing in the best theaters in the world!” I agree. … The beautiful, big voiced, intensely…
Rafael de Acha has a new review for Robert DiLutis and the Mellifera Quartet‘s Clarinet Classics at Riversdale recording: “here, with the release of the lovely Clarinet Classics at Riversdale, we get acquainted with Weber’s technically challenging and melodically satisfying Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B flat Major. … In the process we gladly encounter…
Rafael de Acha’s Music Notes blog calls Christopher Atzinger’s Piano Music of John Knowles Paine “Sheer Listening Joy” in a new review: “Leave it to DELOS to keep surprising us with music off the beaten path! … This is by and large music written heart-on-sleeve, of a time where cares were about the honestly essential, music in…
“What defines a singer is not what he sings but how he sings it, and that includes not only the basic vocal equipment but the capacity to meet the demands of the vocal writing: endurance, range, volume, and cutting power. Add to that the musicianship, the ear for languages, and the stylistic flair expected from…
Our Verdi: Messa da Requiem release (now available as a HD downloadable concert film from iTunes) gets a CD review from Rafael’s Music Notes: “The first solo utterance in the Requiem is given to the mezzo-soprano: here, the superb Olesya Petrova, possessor of a fine dramatic sound capable of descending below the staff with a sensational chest…
Rafael’s Music Notes reviews Stephen Costello’s new A Te, O Cara recording with Constantine Orbelian and the Kaunas City Symphony: “Stephen Costello … is an intelligent, sensitive, highly musical singer who fastidiously pays attention to the text and the dynamic markings of the music he sings in this recording. His sound is luscious, his technique…
Rafael’s Music Notes declares Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker and Fabio Bidini’s new recording a “Hungarian Feast”: “German violinist Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker and Italian pianist Fabio Bidini compellingly make a case with their playing for the erasing of any and all national boundaries. The duo lovingly makes this minor miracle happen by playing this category-defying music with equal quantities of Hungarian szenvedély and szomorú spiced with a nice…
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