ClassicalCritic
@classicalcritic.bsky.social
Roving Classical Critic-at-Large & Translator. Opinions are my own - or stolen.
https://ionarts.blogspot.com/search/label/jfl
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/
Amazon links are affiliate links
https://ionarts.blogspot.com/search/label/jfl
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/
Amazon links are affiliate links
#morninglistening to KurtMasur's #Bruckner Seventh, which I'd like to say is meaty and raw but it's just fine and uneventful, even for being his inaugural concert w/the NYPhil. More or less as expected, despite high recommendations in some (NY) quarters.
December 16, 2025 at 7:41 PM
#morninglistening to KurtMasur's #Bruckner Seventh, which I'd like to say is meaty and raw but it's just fine and uneventful, even for being his inaugural concert w/the NYPhil. More or less as expected, despite high recommendations in some (NY) quarters.
Double trouble #Weidringer[TM] for Daniel Lozakovich & Renaud Capuçon at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Prokofiev, Wieniawski, Ysaÿe, Leclair... rather old fashioned two violin recital, in a way...
December 16, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Double trouble #Weidringer[TM] for Daniel Lozakovich & Renaud Capuçon at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Prokofiev, Wieniawski, Ysaÿe, Leclair... rather old fashioned two violin recital, in a way...
Sneak preview of our upcoming #ClassicalDiscoveries podcast on #Schreker!
December 15, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Sneak preview of our upcoming #ClassicalDiscoveries podcast on #Schreker!
#morninglistening, finally after planning to for years, to #Dvořák's first opera, the German, very Tannhäuserish "Alfred". Strange, curious, interesting musically. The @czechphilharmonic (!) and good (necessary) singers.
#opera #Dvorak
#opera #Dvorak
December 15, 2025 at 5:54 PM
#morninglistening, finally after planning to for years, to #Dvořák's first opera, the German, very Tannhäuserish "Alfred". Strange, curious, interesting musically. The @czechphilharmonic (!) and good (necessary) singers.
#opera #Dvorak
#opera #Dvorak
#morninglistening to Concertos by SaintSaëns in a new series of recordings on @BerlinClassics under HowardGriffiths. (#orpheumFoundation's NewTalentsEdition) Here the less well known pieces for Horn & Orchestras
December 15, 2025 at 1:37 AM
#morninglistening to Concertos by SaintSaëns in a new series of recordings on @BerlinClassics under HowardGriffiths. (#orpheumFoundation's NewTalentsEdition) Here the less well known pieces for Horn & Orchestras
#morninglistening to RichardStrauss' Guntram, his 1st opera, rarely recorded. It's better than you would think but maybe not as good as you'd hope. GustavKuhn gets a good performance out of his troops. Haven't heard the Queler or Pritchard recordings, alas.
Anyone ever compare them?
Anyone ever compare them?
December 14, 2025 at 11:00 AM
#morninglistening to RichardStrauss' Guntram, his 1st opera, rarely recorded. It's better than you would think but maybe not as good as you'd hope. GustavKuhn gets a good performance out of his troops. Haven't heard the Queler or Pritchard recordings, alas.
Anyone ever compare them?
Anyone ever compare them?
#morninglistening to the #PeterSculthorpe-Requiem, which is a bit on the nose with its Australianiams, frankly, but not uninteresting, as Sculthorpe generally is intriguing. W/the @the_aso under JamesJudd on ABC.
#NowListening #AustralianClassicalMusic
#NowListening #AustralianClassicalMusic
December 13, 2025 at 5:49 PM
#morninglistening to the #PeterSculthorpe-Requiem, which is a bit on the nose with its Australianiams, frankly, but not uninteresting, as Sculthorpe generally is intriguing. W/the @the_aso under JamesJudd on ABC.
#NowListening #AustralianClassicalMusic
#NowListening #AustralianClassicalMusic
Cyclical #Weidringer[TM] at the Wiener Konzerthaus w/ Paavo Jarvi and his one true love, the The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in Schubert (the next cycle!) and the Richard Strauss Violin Concerto. For the second time in a week!
December 12, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Cyclical #Weidringer[TM] at the Wiener Konzerthaus w/ Paavo Jarvi and his one true love, the The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in Schubert (the next cycle!) and the Richard Strauss Violin Concerto. For the second time in a week!
#morninglistening to a disc that is so up my alley: Early works for #StringQuartet by Hans Krasa, Erwin Schulhoff, and Karel Ancerl! Theme w/ Variations + String Quartet, Divertimento for SQ4t & Two Student Fugues. With the @krasaquartet on Animalll. Yummm! Do explore!
December 10, 2025 at 10:38 PM
#morninglistening to a disc that is so up my alley: Early works for #StringQuartet by Hans Krasa, Erwin Schulhoff, and Karel Ancerl! Theme w/ Variations + String Quartet, Divertimento for SQ4t & Two Student Fugues. With the @krasaquartet on Animalll. Yummm! Do explore!
#morninglistening to #SeijiOzawa's @chicagosymphony RiteOfTheSpring on RCA which, if you are even mildly obsessed w/the work, is well worth seeking out!! Up there with the most thrilling, I'd say.
Amzn: amzn.to/44iUq2J
#LeSacreDuPrintemps #NowListening #Stravinsky
Amzn: amzn.to/44iUq2J
#LeSacreDuPrintemps #NowListening #Stravinsky
December 9, 2025 at 7:32 AM
#morninglistening to #SeijiOzawa's @chicagosymphony RiteOfTheSpring on RCA which, if you are even mildly obsessed w/the work, is well worth seeking out!! Up there with the most thrilling, I'd say.
Amzn: amzn.to/44iUq2J
#LeSacreDuPrintemps #NowListening #Stravinsky
Amzn: amzn.to/44iUq2J
#LeSacreDuPrintemps #NowListening #Stravinsky
Latest for @diepressecom.bsky.social:
Bruckner Orchester @ the Musikverein w/a brilliant mix of unknown Bruckner & R.Strauss (Thanks, C.Widmann) & T.Larcher. That's 2-4-2 out of the park for Eva Ollikainen, this year! What a bloody fabulous conductor!
Link in description; DM for gift link.
Bruckner Orchester @ the Musikverein w/a brilliant mix of unknown Bruckner & R.Strauss (Thanks, C.Widmann) & T.Larcher. That's 2-4-2 out of the park for Eva Ollikainen, this year! What a bloody fabulous conductor!
Link in description; DM for gift link.
December 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Latest for @diepressecom.bsky.social:
Bruckner Orchester @ the Musikverein w/a brilliant mix of unknown Bruckner & R.Strauss (Thanks, C.Widmann) & T.Larcher. That's 2-4-2 out of the park for Eva Ollikainen, this year! What a bloody fabulous conductor!
Link in description; DM for gift link.
Bruckner Orchester @ the Musikverein w/a brilliant mix of unknown Bruckner & R.Strauss (Thanks, C.Widmann) & T.Larcher. That's 2-4-2 out of the park for Eva Ollikainen, this year! What a bloody fabulous conductor!
Link in description; DM for gift link.
#morninglistening to a classic recording can go right or wrong. This Guarneri take on the Janáček SQ4ts I *adored* when I first happened upon it. I discovered these works w/them. Reistening, however, I hear infelicities that you don't hear w/ later quartets.
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
December 8, 2025 at 11:06 AM
#morninglistening to a classic recording can go right or wrong. This Guarneri take on the Janáček SQ4ts I *adored* when I first happened upon it. I discovered these works w/them. Reistening, however, I hear infelicities that you don't hear w/ later quartets.
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
The sun is out for a Kenothaph-#Weidringer[TM] at the Musikverein Wien for Thomas Larcher and Strauss and Bruckner with Carolin Wiedmann, EvaOllikainen and the Bruckner Orchester Linz
December 7, 2025 at 2:17 PM
The sun is out for a Kenothaph-#Weidringer[TM] at the Musikverein Wien for Thomas Larcher and Strauss and Bruckner with Carolin Wiedmann, EvaOllikainen and the Bruckner Orchester Linz
#morninglistening to ColinDavis' #LaClemenzaDiTito on Philips. Dame JanetBaker is a bit of a liability, but even so this is one of great Clemenza recordings around, if you're into that opera at all. Popp, VonStade, Minton, Burrows...
Amzn: amzn.to/3MKlVHv
Amzn: amzn.to/3MKlVHv
December 7, 2025 at 10:57 AM
#morninglistening to ColinDavis' #LaClemenzaDiTito on Philips. Dame JanetBaker is a bit of a liability, but even so this is one of great Clemenza recordings around, if you're into that opera at all. Popp, VonStade, Minton, Burrows...
Amzn: amzn.to/3MKlVHv
Amzn: amzn.to/3MKlVHv
#morninglistening to the ever-fascinating #ArrigoBoito in his second opera, NERONE. From the @operabudapest, cond. EveQueler, on @hungarotonclassic. Caruso accepted the title rôle but Boito wavered. Had he not, it might be in the repertoire instead of obscure.
Amzn: amzn.to/48ISB0w
Amzn: amzn.to/48ISB0w
December 6, 2025 at 8:12 PM
#morninglistening to the ever-fascinating #ArrigoBoito in his second opera, NERONE. From the @operabudapest, cond. EveQueler, on @hungarotonclassic. Caruso accepted the title rôle but Boito wavered. Had he not, it might be in the repertoire instead of obscure.
Amzn: amzn.to/48ISB0w
Amzn: amzn.to/48ISB0w
#morninglistening to a classic recording can go right or wrong. Here, YefimBronfman, EsaPekkaSalonen & LAPhil on sonyclassical in the Shostakovich PianoConcertos, it goes very right: still a cracking, stunning recording; the reference recording to this day, in the US, anyway.
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
December 6, 2025 at 10:50 AM
#morninglistening to a classic recording can go right or wrong. Here, YefimBronfman, EsaPekkaSalonen & LAPhil on sonyclassical in the Shostakovich PianoConcertos, it goes very right: still a cracking, stunning recording; the reference recording to this day, in the US, anyway.
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
Amzn: amzn.to/48RioVr
#morninglistening to #KarlBöhm's early Berlin Phil #Beethoven 5th and 1959 stereo 7th. Fun, much more gruff than his Vienna takes, unsurprisingly. Oldies but fairly goodies, the 7th moreso.
Amzn: amzn.to/4pg7cra
The 5th is Böhm's first recording for DG. And then he never stopped.
Amzn: amzn.to/4pg7cra
The 5th is Böhm's first recording for DG. And then he never stopped.
December 6, 2025 at 10:49 AM
#morninglistening to #KarlBöhm's early Berlin Phil #Beethoven 5th and 1959 stereo 7th. Fun, much more gruff than his Vienna takes, unsurprisingly. Oldies but fairly goodies, the 7th moreso.
Amzn: amzn.to/4pg7cra
The 5th is Böhm's first recording for DG. And then he never stopped.
Amzn: amzn.to/4pg7cra
The 5th is Böhm's first recording for DG. And then he never stopped.
Deadly #Weidringer[TM] for the MozartRequiem on his 234rd deathiversary. Jeunesses Musicales MV & L’Orfeo Barockorchester | Michi Gaigg
December 5, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Deadly #Weidringer[TM] for the MozartRequiem on his 234rd deathiversary. Jeunesses Musicales MV & L’Orfeo Barockorchester | Michi Gaigg
#morninglistening to #WAMozart, who died today, 234 years ago. Not my favorite opera, "Abduction", but what a timeless, trimmed account Fricsay's is. Haefliger as fresh a ever. Stader keeping the vibrato in check. Streich super-feisty. Exsultate, jubilate! (Also included)
Amzn: amzn.to/48v729H
Amzn: amzn.to/48v729H
December 5, 2025 at 10:04 AM
#morninglistening to #WAMozart, who died today, 234 years ago. Not my favorite opera, "Abduction", but what a timeless, trimmed account Fricsay's is. Haefliger as fresh a ever. Stader keeping the vibrato in check. Streich super-feisty. Exsultate, jubilate! (Also included)
Amzn: amzn.to/48v729H
Amzn: amzn.to/48v729H
#morninglistening to Hogwood's Haendel Messiah on lOiseauLyre. This has been for years THE reference, certainly for a HIP version. Eventually surpassed (McCreesh et al) but still great even if some voices sound dated (Elliot). Kirby still a delight. And the @aamorchestra too.
Amzn: amzn.to/4rF8CNC
Amzn: amzn.to/4rF8CNC
December 4, 2025 at 11:31 PM
#morninglistening to Hogwood's Haendel Messiah on lOiseauLyre. This has been for years THE reference, certainly for a HIP version. Eventually surpassed (McCreesh et al) but still great even if some voices sound dated (Elliot). Kirby still a delight. And the @aamorchestra too.
Amzn: amzn.to/4rF8CNC
Amzn: amzn.to/4rF8CNC
Brilliant has some, well, brilliant releases among some, admittedly, so-so stuff. Like most labels, really. Currently re-listening to the Villa-Lobos string quartets, for example, which are just a joy.
amzn.to/3XzKr5u
amzn.to/3XzKr5u
December 4, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Brilliant has some, well, brilliant releases among some, admittedly, so-so stuff. Like most labels, really. Currently re-listening to the Villa-Lobos string quartets, for example, which are just a joy.
amzn.to/3XzKr5u
amzn.to/3XzKr5u
...his Mozart, actually, with Dennis Russell Davies. Two recordings, actually, but I count them as one:
C Dur, A Dur, B Dur: amzn.to/44adkJ3
and
Es Dur, G Dur, d Moll: amzn.to/4pTqYc5
Quirky. Alive.
C Dur, A Dur, B Dur: amzn.to/44adkJ3
and
Es Dur, G Dur, d Moll: amzn.to/4pTqYc5
Quirky. Alive.
December 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
...his Mozart, actually, with Dennis Russell Davies. Two recordings, actually, but I count them as one:
C Dur, A Dur, B Dur: amzn.to/44adkJ3
and
Es Dur, G Dur, d Moll: amzn.to/4pTqYc5
Quirky. Alive.
C Dur, A Dur, B Dur: amzn.to/44adkJ3
and
Es Dur, G Dur, d Moll: amzn.to/4pTqYc5
Quirky. Alive.
The other non-controversial great recordings I've hinted at are the ones with Handel:
The Suites for Keyboard (Amzn amzn.to/4phDL86)
and the Flute Sonatas with the wonderful Michala Petri (amzn.to/44acI6d).
That said, my personal favorite after the DSCH, but not likely everyone's choice, is...
The Suites for Keyboard (Amzn amzn.to/4phDL86)
and the Flute Sonatas with the wonderful Michala Petri (amzn.to/44acI6d).
That said, my personal favorite after the DSCH, but not likely everyone's choice, is...
December 4, 2025 at 1:07 PM
The other non-controversial great recordings I've hinted at are the ones with Handel:
The Suites for Keyboard (Amzn amzn.to/4phDL86)
and the Flute Sonatas with the wonderful Michala Petri (amzn.to/44acI6d).
That said, my personal favorite after the DSCH, but not likely everyone's choice, is...
The Suites for Keyboard (Amzn amzn.to/4phDL86)
and the Flute Sonatas with the wonderful Michala Petri (amzn.to/44acI6d).
That said, my personal favorite after the DSCH, but not likely everyone's choice, is...
Intriguing: Rubackyté, huh?! I didn't even know there was a recording of hers out there. Must inquire! Found it!
December 3, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Intriguing: Rubackyté, huh?! I didn't even know there was a recording of hers out there. Must inquire! Found it!