by Daniel Hathaway
Quire Cleveland’s live recording from its May 2016 concerts featuring the sacred music of William Byrd is distinguished by any measure, but it also comes with more than a little nostalgia. This is one of the last recordings to be engineered under the sure hand of Tom Knab, who died in August. The album is dedicated to his memory. (Read an appreciation here.) [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
College of Wooster music professor Jack Gallagher has released a retrospective CD of his piano music on the Centaur label, performed by Miami University professor Frank Huang, and recorded at the studios of WFMT in Chicago. More than just a sound album, the disc also represents an Enigma Variations-style introduction to Gallagher’s family and friends, to whom most of the pieces are dedicated. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
For her latest recording, Mean Fiddle Summer: Modern American Violin Works, Lina Bahn has tapped the repertoire of composers she has admired and championed during her impressive, yet still young career. With a playing time of one hour and fifteen minutes, the CD is a fascinating listen as Bahn performs pieces representing a variety of styles ranging from fiddling to works inspired by Ysaÿe and Bartók. From start to finish, the violinist demonstrates her adroit technical facility, kaleidoscope of colors, and consummate musical taste. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Name four chamber works scored for oboe, viola, and piano. Then name four chamber works for oboe, viola, and piano that are based on poetry. Most of us would give up before getting to the second question. But the Jackson Trio — oboist Roger Roe, violist Michael Isaac Strauss, and pianist R. Kent Cook — have turned up pieces by August Klughardt, Felix Harold White, Josef Holbrooke, and Charles Martin Loeffler that fit the criteria for their fascinating album, Wordless Verses, released on the Oberlin Music Label. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Saxophonist Jacob Swanson has become a familiar face on the Cleveland music scene. Audiences have come to know his artistry through outstanding performances with his longtime collaborator Sarah Marchitelli (Jake & Sarah) on Trinity Cathedral’s Brownbag Concert series. In recent years, the Duo has also appeared on Lorain County Community College’s Signature Series and at the Bop Stop as members of the Decho Ensemble. On his recently released CD — Invisible Cities, American Music for Soprano Saxophone — Swanson reveals himself as a soloist of impeccable taste. [Read more…]
by Jeremy Reynolds
Back in March, the San Antonio Chamber Choir, directed by Scott MacPherson, released an album of Andrew Rindfleisch’s choral music on the Gothic Records label. There’s a mixture of joy and reflection on Careless Carols that pairs well with the end of a too-long year and this season of Thanksgiving and peace. [Read more…]
by Timothy Robson
The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble gave a rock-solid and virtuosic concert on Sunday afternoon, December 4, in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Director Timothy Weiss assembled a program of eclectic works by leading composers of our day, all of which received professional-level performances by the student ensemble. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Most choirs do well to take on one or two non-English languages in their programs. Quire Cleveland handily dispatched Christmas music from five centuries in Latin, Finnish, Latvian, Spanish (in several of its dialects), Wendat, Abenaki, Mohawk, and Afro-Portuguese in the eighth edition of “Carols for Quire” at Trinity Cathedral on Friday evening, December 2. Whatever the language, they sounded terrific. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Want a good return on your investment? Give scholarships to budding musicians to help them over the financial humps of their early careers. And if you’re smart, like Tuesday Musical, invite them back several years later to show scholarship donors how richly their contributions paid off. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet has been around since 1892, when it premiered at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. But for more than half of its lifetime, the best-known version in this country is the one that George Balanchine choreographed for the New York City Ballet in 1954. Northeast Ohioans can enjoy that Nutcracker in a fine and colorful collaboration between the Pennsylvania Ballet and The Cleveland Orchestra. The show opened on Wednesday, November 30 at the State Theater in Playhouse Square, and runs through Sunday, December 4. [Read more…]