Archive
The complete Open Letters Monthly Archive.
Most critics pick their album of the year from the ones they reviewed over the past 52 weeks. I’ve decided to choose from the ones I haven’t, the ones that for one reason or other failed to make the weekly cut
Read MoreAdolph von Henselt was a follower of fashion, not a leader of trends, but as Daniel Grimwoods latest release shows, he is nonetheless very much worth a listen.
Read MoreIf you thought of encores as sweetmeats, Andras Schiff's album of encores given during a Beethoven cycle will redefine the genre.
Read MoreSol Gabetta authors a splendidly distinctive interpretation of Elgar's famous cello concerto, and pairs it with an underappreciated work in the genre by Martinu.
Read MoreThe people Shostakovich played with were the elite of Russian music. A treasure trove of archive finds reveals the music they made together.
Read MoreTwo composers in despair composed these works for voice and piano, which contain some of the darkest moments known to music. How do they sound with a full orchestra?
Read MoreAway from the imprisonment of a concert hall, György Kurtág's string quartets create an ambience akin to Gregorian chant: it's the perfect chillout music.
Read MoreThe benchmarks for Tchaikovsky's sixth symphony are mono in both uses of the term, aural and chromatic. How does a modern release hold up?
Read MoreAfter playing all his life for Columbia Masterworks, Murray Perahia has released his first recording for Deutsche Grammophon, a luminous recording of Bach's French Suites.
Read MoreIt is so rare to hear the Gurre Lieder live that most of us are acquainted with it only on record. A new concert recording of this liminal composition aims to join the pantheon.
Read MoreIt is now seven years since the South African soprano Pretty Yende burst on our ears as winner of the 2009 Hans Gabor competition in Vienna. That omission has now, finally, been repaired.
Read MoreA bizarre "crossover" album combines pop songs, fragments of Andrew Copland, Gershwin, and a dual performance by Lang Lang and Herbie Hancock. So how New York is this album?
Read MoreProkofiev's violin concertos, one anarchic, one written under duress to please Stalin, anchor an intriguing new release from Vadim Gluzman and Neeme Järvi.
Read MoreMichael Nyman's rare and underappreciated chamber opera, based on a book by Oliver Sacks, finally gets a rare new recording.
Read MoreThe late Soviet system created damaging monopolies in the arts as much as they did in state industry. The three lesser-known composers in this intriguing album each tackled the hegemony from a different aspect.
Read MoreThe last decade and a half of Elgar's musical life was focused on leaving a legacy in the form of composer-approved recordings. A remastered 4-CD set collects the brilliant results.
Read MoreI am beginning to wonder if posterity will ever place Bohuslav Martinu where he justly belongs, as one who's sound world is at once distinctive and entirely approachable, the mark of a great composer.
Read MoreIt’s always a good sign when a pianist is named as the editorial force behind a lieder recital, giving the enterprise both objective distance and intellectual rigour, as it does in these Schubert leider.
Read MoreLike many other conductors, Bruno Walter tried his hand at composing. He was a famously reserved person, but does his music give anything away?
Read MoreThe Minnesota Orchestra’s partnership with the Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä is a treasure of our times, especially when they play music of the frozen north.
Read More
Powered by Squarespace.