Vienna’s hapless missing link
Zemlinsky’s music is arresting and his ideas fertile and diverse, but he often goes unnoticed
Beethoven/Schnittke: Violin concertos (BIS)
This fabulous interpretation of the Beethoven concerto is one of the records of the year
Vitezlava Kapralova: Waving Farewell (Naxos)
The performances recorded here by the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra speak directly to some of our present confusions
Zemlinsky/Schreker: Orchestral works (Onyx)
This album by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and their departing conductor Vasily Petrenko is demonstrably irresistible
Peteris Vasks: Musica serena (BR Klassik)
Vasks writes long, slow, contemplative works with a strong feeling for lakes, forests and landscape
Notes on a doomed affair
Norman Lebrecht on how Marion von Weber was both interesting and important to Mahler’s emergence
Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers (Cedille)
There is a wealth of diverse talent out there — all we have to do is listen
And the band played on…
The appointment of a chief conductor little affects the general performance of an orchestra
Prokofiev 6th/Miaskovsky 27th symphonies (LAWO Classics)
‘There is beauty and darkness and fear, to be sure, but I hear no agenda beyond a search for musical expression’
Resch/Beethoven: String quartets (Genuin)
The Frankfurt-based Aris Quartet play Beethoven with sweeping flair and something close to insouciance