Johannes Brahms

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Blythe spirit

Leaving the Cutler Majestic after the opening night of Opera Boston’s latest Offenbach, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein , you could see the smiling faces of an audience that had had a good time.
Opera Boston’s Offenbach, Thomas Quasthoff, the BSO, Boston Baroque, and BU’s Sondheim
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 14, 2010

SXSW 2010 (Wednesday): [Photos] Brahms, Trespassers William, Magic Magic

Photos of Brahms, Trespassers William, Magic Magic, and Japanther, performing live at SXSW
Plus Japanther, live at SXSW, March 17, 2010
By KELLY DAVIDSON | March 19, 2010

New stuff

One thing that impressed me was that dance invention seems to be making a comeback as a major challenge for young choreographers after years of being stirred into the multimedia stew.
Pacific Northwest Ballet, Twyla Tharp, and much more in New York
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | January 22, 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

Creationists

Simon Rattle and the BPO, Fabio Luisi and the BSO, John Harbison and Emmanuel Music
Simon Rattle and the BPO, Fabio Luisi and the BSO, John Harbison and Emmanuel Music
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 20, 2009

Blessings: mixed and otherwise

By odd coincidence, in recent weeks we’ve had performances of two important operatic rarities, landmark early works a century apart: 30-year-old Handel’s Amadigi (1715) and 20-year-old Rossini’s Tancredi (1813, his 10th opera!).
Boston Baroque’s Amadigi; Opera Boston’s Tancredi; the BSO’s Beethoven; the Borromeo’s Bartók; Brahms from BCMS and BSOCP
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 30, 2009

Providence Fall Preview Listings 2009

A page of listings for local music, theater, art, festivals and more this fall.
Music, theater, art, festivals and more in the coming months
By PHOENIX STAFF | 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

What are the odds?

Ten years! When we organized our first Best Music Poll, way back in the day, we could only hope that it would one day wind up the institution it is today, with the annual Portland Music Awards ceremony drawing the best collection of musical talent Main
Best bets for this year's Best Music Poll
By SAM PFEIFLE | May 29, 2009

A pair of classical gems

Sunday afternoon, two string quartets — the Borromeo and the Portland — will meet and join forces for a rare performance of a pair of classical gems, Johannes Brahms's String Sextet in G Major, Op. 36 and Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E flat Major, O
String quartets pair up
By EMILY PARKHURST | April 17, 2009

Loved these but not those

Of the great international orchestras, perhaps the one that's most unfairly overlooked is the London Symphony Orchestra. Yet a handful of the very greatest orchestral performances I've ever heard have been with the LSO.
Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Murray Perahia, Ian Bostridge
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 10, 2009

Mad love

The destructive power of jealousy makes a good subject for opera.
John Harbison's Winter's Tale, Dvorák's Rusalka, Hans Graf with the BSO, Mark Morris's music
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 24, 2009

Contertizing

Boston Lyric Opera follows up Dvorák’s moonstruck Rusalka, with Christopher Schaldebrand in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the BSO and much more.
From Don Giovanni’s hell to Haydn’s Creation
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 17, 2009

Beloved of God

One of my most profound musical experiences took place when I was still a graduate student.
Levine's Mozart with the BSO, plus Gabriela Montero and Benjamin Zander with the Boston Philharmonic
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 26, 2009

Noble melody

For the first time since James Levine became music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, this acclaimed Verdi specialist conducted the BSO in a Verdi opera.
James Levine brings us Verdi's Simon Boccanegra ; plus Christian Tetzlaff and Leif Ove Andsnes
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 03, 2009

Lift every voice!

Opera is the big word for 2009.
Classical goodies for 2009
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 30, 2008

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

Over (and under) the top

With only one rehearsal, 31-year-old BSO Assistant Conductor Julian Kuerti confronted a challenging two-and-a-half-hour program of not-quite-standard 19th- and 20th-century repertoire.
Musical chairs at the BSO, the Pacifica at Longy, the Boston Philharmonic's three B's, and the Cecilia's Bach B-minor Mass
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 24, 2008

Wild things

Jane Ring Frank's Boston Secession, which calls itself a "professional choral ensemble," began its 12th season with a short but ambitious program.
Boston Secession, the Takács Quartet and Muzsikás, Russell Sherman
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 18, 2008

Beating a dead horse

I got home about 3:45 after eating breakfast at Riker’s on the corner of Christopher Street and Seventh Avenue
An excerpt from And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
By JACK KEROUAC AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS | October 22, 2008

Opening pitch

The most moving moment of this year’s Boston Symphony Orchestra opening gala came before the concert started — the standing ovation for James Levine, who looked rested and recuperated after his kidney surgery this summer, an operation that forced him to
James Levine’s gala and Brahms, Russell Sherman’s Liszt, the Bostonians’ Kurt Weill
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 01, 2008

New beginnings

Step into any classical music rehearsal space right now and you can almost taste the excitement.
Classical music comes alive this fall
By EMILY PARKHURST | September 10, 2008

Russian, Spanish, American . . .

What everyone is looking forward to this fall is the return to the podium of Boston Symphony Orchestra music director James Levine.
Music in all accents comes to the concert halls
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 08, 2008

A classical end to summer

For the next two weeks the Bay Chamber Concert Series will present the end of their Summer Music Festival with three exciting concerts well worth the drive to Camden-Rockport area.
Bay Chamber Concerts presents three last summer shows
By EMILY PARKHURST | August 20, 2008

Young and old

The presence of company veterans infuses Mark Morris Dance Group with a maturity that both grounded and lifted this presentation to a higher plane.
Mark Morris at Tanglewood
By JANINE PARKER | July 02, 2008

On (and off) track

It’s an expensive, elegant set, a lovingly detailed theatrical reproduction of railway cars on the Orient Express, the famous train connecting Paris and Istanbul.

Boston Lyric Opera’s Seraglio, BU’s Barbiere di Siviglia, Andy Vores’s No Exit, the BPO’s Bartók and Brahms

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 29, 2008

Darien Brahms + American Music Club

Not to diminish where she is right now, but Darien Brahms would make one hell of a novelty dive-bar act in 20 years.
Music seen at SPACE Gallery, April 21, 2008
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | April 23, 2008

Orpheus in the afterworld

Tomsic’s last Boston recital was four years ago. We can’t afford to be without her this long.

Harbison and Mahler at the BSO, and the return of Dubravka Tomsic

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 22, 2008

All over again

The Boston Symphony Orchestra program for last week’s four concerts was a familiar one.

Brahms from Levine and Kissin, Emmanuel’s Bach B-minor Mass, the Cantata Singers’ Kurt Weill cabaret

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 15, 2008

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