For almost a decade, conductor Raphaël Pichon and his Pygmalion ensemble and choir have offered some extraordinary performances of the Baroque classics. Their latest is Bach’s B-minor Mass, played with accuracy and verve and notable for its 30-voice chorus. This is historical performance singing at the highest level.
When the Chorus Comes First in the B-minor Mass Read More »
Elisabeth Wright puts a lifetime of study, performing, and teaching into her new recording of keyboard suites by Jean-Henri D’Anglebert, one in a string of harpsichord masters serving Louis XIV. Her love for this music is everywhere apparent, and her readings are lucid, expressive, and never static.
Sweet Dreams Are Made by D’Anglebert Read More »
Ronnie Malley, an oud virtuoso, curates an upcoming Newberry Consort program, ‘In the Realm of Osman,’ devoted to five centuries of music from the Ottoman Empire. In our increasingly intolerant culture, the concert is about what we can learn from living in a pluralistic society.
Ronnie Malley & Newberry Consort Visit the Ottomans Read More »
Charming and surprisingly great fun, Allan Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd (1725) is perhaps the first ‘ballad opera’ ever assembled. The lively group Makaris have done the research and deliver an unknown treasure, seamlessly melding folk and Italianate styles.
Scotland’s First Opera: ‘The Gentle Shepherd’ Read More »
Retelling her ancestry as a series of musical stories, the author starts with a very great grandmother, Pa I Sha. She walked the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from their homelands to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The Chickasaws called this dark chapter “the Removal.” She tells a musical story both harrowing and hopeful, about both hardship and love.
An Indigenous Family Tale, in Music Read More »
