CD and Book Reviews - my/maSCENA

CD Review | Sondra Radvanovsky, Puccini Heroines

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By John Gilks on 1 June 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Puccini Heroines Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano; Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra; Enrique Mazzola, conductor Pentatone, 2026 Puccini Heroines is a sort of followup to Sondra Radvanovsky’s Three Queens program, also recorded live at Lyric Opera of Chicago. This time she manages an aria for pretty much every Puccini leading lady plus a couple from supporting roles as encores. There aren’t many surprises (at least not until the end) with Mimì’s “Sì. Mi chiamano MImì”, Tosca’s “Vissi d’arte,” Butterfly’s “Un bel dì vedremo” and Manon’s “Sola, perduta, abbandonata” all included along with some less well-known arias from Le Villi and Edgar among…

CD Review | Dark Imagining, Jeff Myers, Rachel Schutz

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By Kaitlyn Chan on 1 June 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Dark Imagining Jeff Myers, composer; Rachel Schutz, soprano; Andrea Christie, piano; Christopher Gross, cello; Ashleé Miller, clarinet Bright Shiny Things, 2026 New York composer Jeff Myers’s third album, Dark Imagining, is a collection of art songs that Myers says “represent different facets of my voice.” The album is split into sections: “Poe Songs”, “Boy”, “Baudelaire Songs” and ends with three Hawaiian songs. While there are some gems in the album, its downfall lies in its broad concept. Based on the program notes, it seems that Myers ties this album together through form—the art song—and time frame as he writes that…

CD Review | Geirr Tveitt Leif Ove Andsnes

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By Heather Weinreb on 1 June 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Geirr Tveitt Leif Ove Andsnes, piano; Solveig Andsnes, vocals Simax Classics, 2026 Norway’s most acclaimed pianist, Leif Ove Andsnes, provides a riveting introduction to the music of Geirr Tveitt. Following in the footsteps of Edvard Grieg—who died just one year before Tveitt was born—Tveitt sought to develop a distinctly Norwegian musical language rooted in the country’s majestic natural landscapes and rich folk music traditions. Sonata No. 29 “Sonata etere” is the only sonata to have survived a devastating fire to Tveitt’s farmhouse in 1980, which destroyed 80 per cent of the composer’s works. Based on two simple melodies, the piece…

CD Review | Haydn Trauer, Il Giardino Armonico

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By Heather Weinreb on 1 June 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Haydn 2032 Vol. 19, Trauer Il Giardino Armonico; Giovanni Antonini, conductor Alpha Classics, 2026 The 19th instalment of Haydn 2032—an ongoing project to record all of Haydn’s symphonies in honour of the 300th anniversary of his birth in 2032—centres on his funereal works. As conductor Giovanni Antonini remarks in his program notes, Symphonies No. 44 “Trauer” and 52 have “very little funereal about them.” Yet they have nevertheless been paired with Arvo Pärt’s Da Pacem Domine, written in honour of victims of the 2004 Islamist terrorist attack in Madrid, as well as Samuel Scheidt’s mournful Paduana Dolorosa. While the conductor…

CD Review | Prokofiev, Nemanja Radulović, Warner Classics

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By Heather Weinreb on 3 April 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Prokofiev Nemanja Radulović, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra; Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor; Johan Dalene, violin; Laure Favre-Kahne, piano; Les Trilles du Diable Warner Classics, 2026 Serbian violinist Nemanja Radulović’s latest album transports us into Prokofiev’s ironical and highly characterized musical universe. Every note is played with intention and artistry. Radulović’s phrasing draws us into the mercurial intricacies of Prokofiev’s music, which is marked by frequent and often sudden shifts in character. He inhabits each musical persona with conviction and moves between them with such agility that the narrative thread remains intact. In Cinderella, for example, his subtle rubato and accelerandos evoke the atmosphere…

CD Review | Stravinsky: Sankofa, The Soldier’s Tale Retold

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By John Gilks on 3 April 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Stravinsky: Sankofa, The Soldier’s Tale Retold & Histoire du soldat Suite Art of Time Ensemble; Andrew Burashko, musical director Leaf Music, 2026 Sankofa takes the music and the basic plot of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat and reframes it as the story of a young man of African heritage trying to join the Canadian army in Nova Scotia in 1914. Titilope Sonuga’s English-language libretto keeps the basic rhyming couplet structure of the original as well as the interactions with the Devil in multiple guises and it works really well. The piece was performed, in a fully staged version, by Art of…

CD Review | Nkeiru Okoye: When the Caged Bird Sings, Naxos

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By Kaitlyn Chan on 3 April 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Nkeiru Okoye: When the Caged Bird Sings Rita Coburn, narrator; Angela Brown, soprano; Christie Dashiell, mezzo-soprano; Issachah Savage, tenor; Jubilant Sykes, baritone; Cyrus Chestnut, piano; EXIGENCE Vocal Ensemble; University of Michigan Choirs; Eugene Rogers, chorus master; University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra; Kenneth Kiesler, music director Naxos, 2026 It is rare to find a project so carefully considered as award-winning composer Nkeiru Okoye’s When the Caged Bird Sings. This “musical celebration,” as deemed by Okoye, draws on a wealth of African-American culture and history, alluding to Black writers, activists, athletes, politicians and more. The title itself recalls American poet Maya Angelou’s…

CD Review | Louis Couperin: Complete Works. Jean Rondeau

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By Justin Bernard on 2 February 2026 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music

Louis Couperin: Complete Works Jean Rondeau, harpsichord Erato, 2025 While most keyboard players succumb to modern tastes and decide to perform baroque composers on the piano, Jean Rondeau remains devoted to the sounds of the harpsichord. Under the French musician’s fingers, we are enveloped by the depth and vibration of this plucked string instrument. For his latest release on Erato, Rondeau offers us one of the most important projects of his artistic life: a complete Louis Couperin in no less than 10 volumes, totaling nearly 300 of his works. In the illustrious Couperin family, it is indeed the uncle to…

CD Review | Chor Leoni: This Air | This Earth

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By Kaitlyn Chan on 2 February 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Chor Leoni: This Air | This Earth Tina Chang, piano; Jonathan Lo, cello; Vivian Chen, harp; Julia Nolan, saxophone; Chor Leoni; Erick Lichte, conductor Independent, 2025 The latest release from the Vancouver-based choir Chor Leoni features two major works commissioned by the organization. Beginning with “High Flight,” a six-movement piece by Canadian composer Don Macdonald, this album explores life and death—with special consideration paid to emotional and physical legacies. This theme is expanded upon in Dr. Melissa Dunphy’s “The Things We Leave Behind,” which captures snapshots of people’s lives via the items they leave behind after dying. This album is…

CD Review | Jan Järvlepp: In Flanders Fields

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By Heather Weinreb on 2 February 2026 CD and Book Reviews

Jan Järvlepp: In Flanders Fields, Earth Song & The Lord’s Prayer London Voices; members of the London Symphony Orchestra | Benjamin Marquis Gilmore, leader; Ben Parry, conductor Navona Records, 2025 In Flanders Fields, an EP of choral pieces, not only features John McCrae’s famous poem, but also includes choral settings of the Lord’s Prayer and a 19th-century speech by Chief Seattle, which pleads for environmental unity. Performed with crystal clarity by London Voices, these pieces are cinematic and approachable. Jann Järvlepp is known for combining classical forms with pop and jazz elements, composing in what he describes as “the newer…

Browsing: CD and Book Reviews

CD Review | Sondra Radvanovsky, Puccini Heroines

CD Review | Dark Imagining, Jeff Myers, Rachel Schutz

CD Review | Geirr Tveitt Leif Ove Andsnes

CD Review | Haydn Trauer, Il Giardino Armonico

CD Review | Prokofiev, Nemanja Radulović, Warner Classics

CD Review | Stravinsky: Sankofa, The Soldier’s Tale Retold

CD Review | Nkeiru Okoye: When the Caged Bird Sings, Naxos

CD Review | Louis Couperin: Complete Works. Jean Rondeau

CD Review | Chor Leoni: This Air | This Earth

CD Review | Jan Järvlepp: In Flanders Fields

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