Classical Music
Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata No 1 / Moments Musicaux
A new release of Rachmaninov’s first piano sonata deserves more than five stars
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Cello Works and Piano Sonatas
If you want an entry point to Weinberg, this is it
Metamorphosen (Chandos)
John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London reinterpret Metamorphosen chillingly as elegy
Ligeti and Kodaly: Lux Aeterna (OUR Recordings)
The otherworldly and the down-to-earth
Harrison Birtwistle: Chamber works (BIS)
The British composer — still writing at 87 years of age — is an acquired taste
Interview: Semyon Bychkov on Ukraine and nationhood
He discusses exile, the horrors of totalitarianism and why Russophobia is not the answer
Who is a Ukrainian musician?
Music and ethnicity are both more complex than nationalism allows
Too darn hot
Carmen still shocks and seduces
Joyce DiDonato: Eden (Erato); Asmik Grigorian: Rachmaninov (Alpha)
This is singing as mildly polemical conversation, from her to us
Grazyna Bacewicz: Piano works (Ondine)
One would never imagine Stalinist oppression was raging all around her
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