Liszt's B minor sonata gives a pianist opportunities to show off blazing technique. But interestingly, Zhang's particular skills allow him to find greater depths of feeling in the piece than I'm used to hearing.
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Music Review: loadbang – ‘A Garden Adorned’
The quartet's new album harvests the creativity of five composers, each marshaling in their own style loadbang's unique sound world.
Read More »Music Reviews: Nighthawk, Smoking Popes, the Seldom Scene, Maria Manousaki, Grey DeLisle, and Johnny Rawls
Nighthawk (Parker Hawkins) is clearly brimming over with musical ideas, most of them excellent. And somehow, his seemingly disparate material all fits comfortably on one CD.
Read More »Exclusive Interview: Pianist Haochen Zhang on His New Album of Beethoven and Liszt
Zhang plays Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' and Liszt's B minor Sonata on his latest recording.
Read More »Music Review: ‘Northern Light: Echoes from 17th-Century Scandinavia’ from Ensemble Correspondances and Lucile Richardot
Music from the court of Charles XI of Sweden, "a deliberate crossroads of European music and musicians."
Read More »Concert Review: Leonard Slatkin Conducts the New York Philharmonic in Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony, NY Premiere of Corigliano’s Saxophone Concerto ‘Triathlon’
Having recently marked his 80th birthday, Maestro Slatkin looked as fit and energized as ever conducting Corigliano, Shostakovich and McTee.
Read More »Music Reviews: Elliott Murphy’s ‘Infinity,’ plus the Move, R&B Hits from 1955, Iron City Houserockers, and Chatham Rabbits
It's Murphy's 52nd album, so it’s not surprising that ruminations on aging, mortality, and years gone by permeate this engaging CD.
Read More »Music Review: Jeremias Schwarzer – ‘New Recorder Concertos’
These four works, each remarkable in its own way, spotlight the wide-ranging skills and creativity of recorder virtuoso Jeremias Schwarzer himself as well as the composers' challenging and distinctive visions.
Read More »Concert Review: Curtis on Tour with Jason Vieaux – Music for Guitar and Strings
Two stellar Curtis students joined Vieaux and violist Roberto Díaz in music by de Falla, Piazzolla, Paganini and Zhou Tian.
Read More »Music Reviews: An Anthology Collects Hits from 1960, plus San Francisco Salsa, and CDs from Lance Cowan and Antonio Andrade
1960 is not exactly considered a peak year for popular music, and there's no shortage of drivel in this collection, but there are also dozens of great songs from the likes of Roy Orbison, Sam Cooke, and Ray Charles.
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