Lebrecht Weekly – Leonard Bernstein: Symphonies 1 and 2 (Naxos)
Bernstein’s three symphonies have not enjoyed much exposure on record. Aside from the Sony and DG releases conducted by the composer, my database calls up…
Browsing: Norman Lebrecht
Lebrecht Weekly – Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Chamber Symphonies (ECM)
When I first started writing about Weinberg quarter of a century ago, there was no consistent western spelling of his surname (mostly printed Vainberg) and…
Lebrecht Weekly – Boris Giltburg Plays Shostakovich
What is remarkable about both piano concertos is that neither was intended for virtuoso performers. Shostakovich wrote the first in 1933 for himself to play…
Lebrecht Weekly – Pietro Mascagni: Guglielmo Ratcliff (RTE Lyric)
Whenever I watch any opera by Mascagni and Leoncavallo other than ‘Cav’ and ‘Pag’ I have no trouble understanding why the two composers went down…
Lebrecht Weekly – Last Album of 2016
Pictures of America: Natalie Dessay (Sony Classical) News of a Natalie Dessay release always stirs me to a fevered expectation. The French soprano, now retired…
Lebrecht Weekly – J. S. Bach: The complete keyboard works (Erato)
Amid the seasonal rock fall of weird-shaped box sets and unopenable recorded turkeys, one project stands out as indispensable in both musical and moral dimensions.…
Lebrecht Weekly – The alternative record of the year
Most critics pick their album of the year from the ones they reviewed over the past 52 weeks. I’ve decided to choose from the ones…
Lebrecht Weekly – Henselt: Piano works (Edition Peters)
If there was an award for surprise of the year, this unpretentious release would win both the jury and the public vote. Adolph von Henselt,…
Lebrecht Weekly – András Schiff: Encores after Beethoven (ECM)
In a reflective programme note, the ex-Hungarian pianist Sir András Schiff remembers being rebuked as a young Vienna debutant for playing “a prematurely given encore.”…
Lebrecht Weekly – Elgar, Martinu: Cello concertos (Sony Classical)
The Argentine-born Sol Gabetta, now in her mid-30s, made her first recording of the Elgar concerto six years ago in Denmark, an impressive performance stressed…
