Claude Debussy

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Summer treats

From Andean to zydeco, pick your flavor and there's a summer music festival ready to serve it up.
Whether classical, jazz, pop, or folk, 'tis the season to get out and enjoy the music
By CLEA SIMON | June 18, 2010

More than human

It’s hard to talk about Janelle Monáe when your jaw’s fallen off.
Janelle Monáe is about to take over the planet
By MICHAEL BRODEUR | May 28, 2010

Stuff at night

This week’s health headlines also included the announcement from the Boston Symphony Orchestra that music director James Levine has been sidelined again, from the “excruciating pain” he’s been suffering since his surgery for a herniated disc.
The BSO without Levine, Yo-Yo Ma, the Cantata Singers, American Classics, the Zarounian Ensemble
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 02, 2010

Message points

Instrumental music isn't very dependable at conveying specific non-musical subject matter.
Christian Scott's political science, Anita Coelho's connections
By JON GARELICK | March 12, 2010

From deli to concert hall

If you're a young (or youngish) music fan looking to become a little bit more engaged with classical music, there is truly no better time than right now, particularly if you'll find yourself in Portland this weekend.
Crossing, and expanding, boundaries with Brooklyn Rider
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | February 26, 2010

Double trouble

Boston Lyric Opera's debut Opera Annex production was so good in so many ways, it's painful that one bad idea just about sank it.
BLO's The Turn of the S crew, Levine's Carter and Simon Boccanegra, Teatro Lirico, the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, and more
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 12, 2010

Stopping time

BSO music director James Levine has returned to Symphony Hall for the first time since October, when back surgery put him out of commission.
The BSO, Peter Maxwell Davies, BCMS, BMOP, Mark Morris, and Christian Tetzlaff
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 05, 2010

2009: The year in Classical

This was a queasy year for classical music.
Beating the quease
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 25, 2009

Open spaces

In my review of the memorable Brahms performances Sir Simon Rattle led with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the Celebrity Series of Boston last month, I should have mentioned that one decision responsible for the beauty and spaciousness of the or
The BSO's Brahms, Ben Zander's Wagner, Collage New Music, and the BEMF's Handel
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 04, 2009

Mixed media

Film noir has been a running theme in composer/pianist Ran Blake's work since the beginning of his career — his very first album, The Newest Sound Around (RCA, 1962), with singer Jeanne Lee, began with David Raskin's theme to Otto Preminger's Laura .
Ran Blake's Pawnbroker, Sofia Koutsovitis's pan-American roots
By JON GARELICK | November 20, 2009

In the swim

My head’s swimming.
Guerilla Opera, von Stade’s farewell, the BSO, Handel and Haydn, the BPO, and that Tosca
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 16, 2009

The roar of the crowd

I wasn’t there, but the opening-night dissatisfaction with the Met’s new Tosca was widely reported.
‘Opening Night at Symphony,’ Russell Sherman, the Discovery Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, and the Bostonians
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 02, 2009

Crossword: ''Dietary restrictions''

Don't go over your limit
Don't go over your limit
By MATT JONES | September 18, 2009

Baroque and beyond

Ten-best lists usually come at the end of the season, but this year the Phoenix has asked its critics to provide a calendar of 10 events that, at least on paper, might wind up on an end-of-season Top 10. Boston, in case you didn't know it, is a great
Betting on the best this fall
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 18, 2009

Here comes the bride

It's been a long time since Bostonians had the chance to see the most popular Czech opera, Bedrich Smetana's The Bartered Bride , but Opera Boston followed its electrifying run of Shostakovich's The Nose with this tuneful folk opera and gave it a swe
Opera Boston's Smetana, the BSO's Berlioz, and Dawn Upshaw
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 08, 2009

A little history

Two of Boston's most admired and honored composers (both Pulitzer winners) have just celebrated landmark birthdays: Yehudi Wyner his 80th and John Harbison his 70th.
Yehudi Wyner and John Harbison, Susanna Mälkki with the BSO, Natalia Gutman with the BPO, and BLO's Don Giovanni
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 01, 2009

Home cooking

If the name "National Philharmonic of Russia" puts you in mind of some provincial Slavic ensemble making the American rounds, you're not alone.
The National Philharmonic of Russia at Symphony Hall
By JEFFREY GANTZ | May 01, 2009

Center of gravity

If all those young people at last Thursday's BSO concert didn't leave Symphony Hall feeling excited about classical music and eager to come back, then classical music is in even more trouble than I thought.
Shi-Yeon Sung and Nelson Freire at the BSO; plus the Schubertiade Music Players and Emmanuel's St. Matthew Passion
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 17, 2009

Crowning glory

In 1967, George Balanchine created Jewels for New York City Ballet, and in short order this evening-length triptych — Emeralds , Rubies , and Diamonds — became the crown jewel of 20th-century dance.
Boston Ballet's Jewels
By JEFFREY GANTZ | February 27, 2009

Review: The Hot Club of San Francisco's Bohemian Maestro

No genre is as closely associated with a single artist as Gypsy jazz is with Django Reinhardt.
Azica (2009)
By JEFF TAMARKIN | January 20, 2009

Year in Classical: Celebrate!

In Handel's Hercules, the demented Dejanira's loss is still so painful, I was afraid to listen; now I don't want to hear anything else.
Comings and goings
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 22, 2008

Review: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition

Columbia/Legacy
By JON GARELICK | December 09, 2008

Quartet for a very long time

Any opportunity to see Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major performed by musicians of this caliber should always be taken.
Catch the PSQ before they head out on tour
By EMILY PARKHURST | February 27, 2008

‘A miracle!’

“Deep, tough, devout — and in church! It’s a miracle!”
Emmanuel’s memorial for Craig Smith, plus Russell Sherman’s Bach, the Royal Concertgebouw, and Handel’s Semele
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 05, 2008

Pass the Hollandaise

The first LP I ever bought, way back in 1963, offered Chopin’s E-minor piano concerto performed by obscure artists.
Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw at Symphony Hall, February 1, 2008
By JEFFREY GANTZ | February 05, 2008

Too much too soon?

Two of the most exciting concerts announced for this winter are on the same date, February 24.
Classical goodies for 2008
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 31, 2008

Country for old men

A youthful 80-year-old Sir Colin Davis was back in front of the Boston Symphony Orchestra last weekend with one of the pieces he loves most.
Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, BMOP, Marc-André Hamelin, and Sasha Cooke
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 29, 2008

Beyond illbient

When I get DJ Spooky on the phone a week ago Tuesday, he’s fresh home in New York City from Antarctica.
DJ Spooky goes global
By JON GARELICK | January 14, 2008

Hot and cold

James Levine’s second French program this season with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was more compelling than the one with which he began the season.
More French music plus Osvaldo Golijov at the BSO; Sarasa’s warm tribute to Craig Smith
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 11, 2007

Group dynamics

Boston has its own homegrown Balinese-style gamelan orchestra.
The gamelan gathering of Galak Tika and I Made Bandem
By SUSANNA BOLLE | December 05, 2007

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