Reviews

Pianist Jon Nakamatsu and soprano Christina Major lend their gifts to a strong program by the long-admired Midsummer Mozart Festival.

A newly unearthed Vivaldi and some other bright little firebombs distinguish La Serenissima’s new disc.

Did Hollywood success spoil Erich Korngold? Not according to a new CD of his must-hear symphony, with its lush Romanticism.

Christopher Theofanidis’ First Symphony is engaging and emotional, and will give sound systems a good workout.

An eclectic musical evening showed lines blurring between classical, academic, popular, live, and electronic.

Northern Sinfonia is the first to cut a disc with Hans Gál’s First Symphony: at turns wry, yearning, jesting, or ceaselessly melodic. It’s paired with a “cute and perky” Schubert symphony.

A season ending performance of the challenging Missa Solemnis offers an evening of individual beauties interspersed and some disjointed moments.

A documentary cracks open a window on “sacred monster” Carlos Kleiber, that eccentric, passionate, and difficult conductor.

Francesca Zambello’s powerful and explicitly feminist Ring Cycle is a magnificent achievement for her and the entire S.F. Opera organization.

Andrew Davis’ CD, with goosed-up sonics, journeys to Holst’s overexplored Planets and also contains two less-known works inspired by Morocco and Japan.