Browse the latest Classical Ear reviews

Thu 21 Jun, 2018:
Haydn: Piano Sonatas – Hoboken 32 in B minor; 40 in G major; 49 in E flat major; 50 in C major

Did Haydn make a mistake in the first movement of No 49? Both halves are written to be repeated, yet the second half takes in the coda which then is...

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Wed 13 Jun, 2018:
Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas, Volume 1

“Sonatas Volume 1” says Chandos. And 20 of the 555 originally written for harpsichord were first exposed on record by Wanda Landowska in 1935. Two...

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Mon 11 Jun, 2018:
Portrait of a Lady with Harp: Music for Queen Christina of Sweden by Pasquini, Corelli, Arcadelt, Stradella, Alessandro Scarlatti and anonymous

Here’s a fascinating – and discretely enjoyable – compendium of music by composers championed by Sweden’s fabled Queen Christina. Having...

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Fri 08 Jun, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Concertos – No 2 in B flat major, Op 19; No 4 in G major, Op 58

Lars Vogt’s Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle concludes with sterling accounts of the Mozart-accented Second and impromptu-infused Fourth, the pianist...

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Wed 06 Jun, 2018:
Perle: Dance Fantasy (1986); Six Bagatelles (1965); Concerto for cello and orchestra (1966); Sinfonietta I (1987); A Short Symphony (1980)

George Perle’s music is American in flavor, deeply influenced by Schoenberg and especially Berg, and at the same time as stylistically individual as...

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Mon 14 May, 2018:
Saint-Saëns: Symphonic Poems

It’s always a pleasure to listen to Camille Saint-Saëns’s melodious, well-crafted, innovative and – here – vividly descriptive music, whether...

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Mon 07 May, 2018:
Haydn: The Six String Quartets, Op 64

Prepare for the new, which begins with the first movement of No 2. The tempo mark varies according to edition, either Allegro spiritoso or Allegro...

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Mon 23 Apr, 2018:
Silence & Music – Stanford: The Blue Bird; Elgar: There is sweet music; Vaughan Williams: Silence and Music; Howells: The summer is coming; Grainger: Brigg Fair; Vaughan Williams: Bushes and Briars: The winter is gone: The Turtle Dove; MacMillan: The Gallant Weaver; Dove: Who killed Cock Robin?; Grainger: The Three Ravens; Britten: The Evening Primrose; Warlock: All the flowers of the spring; Elgar: Owls (An Epitaph); Vaughan Williams: Rest

British part song, once performed and enjoyed by amateurs in home and neighbourhood alike, now seems a rarified genre, and this is perhaps...

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Thu 19 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas – No 14 in C sharp minor, Op 27 No 2 (Moonlight); No 29 in B flat major, Op 106 (Hammerklavier)

Turn to the pensive limpidity of the Hammerklavier’s Adagio or the seething turbulence of the Moonlight’s finale for the measure of the quality of...

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Thu 12 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas – No 4 in A minor, Op 23; No 5 in F major, Op 24 (Spring); No 7 in C minor, Op 30 No 2

Joseph Kerman believed that for Beethoven, the violin sonata was “never a very solemn form”. But it could be a passionate one, the forthright...

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Tue 03 Apr, 2018:
Sibelius: Tapiola, Op 112; En Saga, Op 9; Eight Songs (orch Aulis Sallinen)

Sibelius called En Saga a tone poem but never revealed its story, only saying “It has got a down-home feeling. How could one think of anything but...

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Mon 22 Jan, 2018:
Bruckner: Symphony No 6 in A major

Bernard Haitink stresses the Classical lineage of Bruckner’s wonderful Sixth Symphony. Tempos are ideally chosen in themselves and in relationship...

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Fri 15 Dec, 2017:
Scriabin: Symphony No 2 in C minor, Op 29; Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op 20

Thrilling orchestral playing from the Oslo Philharmonic under its dynamic Russian chief – gloriously articulate, finely nuanced and keenly...

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Thu 07 Dec, 2017:
Rameau: Pygmalion; Les Fȇtes de Polymnie Suite d’orchestra

A reminder of why Rameau’s Pygmalion should have been so popular in the composer’s lifetime (and why it has remained in the repertoire) comes in...

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Thu 21 Jun, 2018:
Haydn: Piano Sonatas – Hoboken 32 in B minor; 40 in G major; 49 in E flat major; 50 in C major

Did Haydn make a mistake in the first movement of No 49? Both halves are written to be repeated, yet the second half takes in the coda which then is...

Wed 13 Jun, 2018:
Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas, Volume 1

“Sonatas Volume 1” says Chandos. And 20 of the 555 originally written for harpsichord were first exposed on record by Wanda Landowska in 1935. Two...

Mon 11 Jun, 2018:
Portrait of a Lady with Harp: Music for Queen Christina of Sweden by Pasquini, Corelli, Arcadelt, Stradella, Alessandro Scarlatti and anonymous

Here’s a fascinating – and discretely enjoyable – compendium of music by composers championed by Sweden’s fabled Queen Christina. Having...

Fri 08 Jun, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Concertos – No 2 in B flat major, Op 19; No 4 in G major, Op 58

Lars Vogt’s Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle concludes with sterling accounts of the Mozart-accented Second and impromptu-infused Fourth, the pianist...

Wed 06 Jun, 2018:
Perle: Dance Fantasy (1986); Six Bagatelles (1965); Concerto for cello and orchestra (1966); Sinfonietta I (1987); A Short Symphony (1980)

George Perle’s music is American in flavor, deeply influenced by Schoenberg and especially Berg, and at the same time as stylistically individual as...

Mon 14 May, 2018:
Saint-Saëns: Symphonic Poems

It’s always a pleasure to listen to Camille Saint-Saëns’s melodious, well-crafted, innovative and – here – vividly descriptive music, whether...

Mon 07 May, 2018:
Haydn: The Six String Quartets, Op 64

Prepare for the new, which begins with the first movement of No 2. The tempo mark varies according to edition, either Allegro spiritoso or Allegro...

British part song, once performed and enjoyed by amateurs in home and neighbourhood alike, now seems a rarified genre, and this is perhaps...

Thu 19 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas – No 14 in C sharp minor, Op 27 No 2 (Moonlight); No 29 in B flat major, Op 106 (Hammerklavier)

Turn to the pensive limpidity of the Hammerklavier’s Adagio or the seething turbulence of the Moonlight’s finale for the measure of the quality of...

Thu 12 Apr, 2018:
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas – No 4 in A minor, Op 23; No 5 in F major, Op 24 (Spring); No 7 in C minor, Op 30 No 2

Joseph Kerman believed that for Beethoven, the violin sonata was “never a very solemn form”. But it could be a passionate one, the forthright...

Tue 03 Apr, 2018:
Sibelius: Tapiola, Op 112; En Saga, Op 9; Eight Songs (orch Aulis Sallinen)

Sibelius called En Saga a tone poem but never revealed its story, only saying “It has got a down-home feeling. How could one think of anything but...

Mon 22 Jan, 2018:
Bruckner: Symphony No 6 in A major

Bernard Haitink stresses the Classical lineage of Bruckner’s wonderful Sixth Symphony. Tempos are ideally chosen in themselves and in relationship...

Fri 15 Dec, 2017:
Scriabin: Symphony No 2 in C minor, Op 29; Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op 20

Thrilling orchestral playing from the Oslo Philharmonic under its dynamic Russian chief – gloriously articulate, finely nuanced and keenly...

Thu 07 Dec, 2017:
Rameau: Pygmalion; Les Fȇtes de Polymnie Suite d’orchestra

A reminder of why Rameau’s Pygmalion should have been so popular in the composer’s lifetime (and why it has remained in the repertoire) comes in...

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