Clever title. I can imagine some people exclaiming in shock “It’s a Girl!” when they discover the gender of the composer. Even though they’ve been enjoying the music. And it’s the 21st Century. Classical music audiences are slow to wake (or should that be woke?), so releases like this are most welcome. The piano trio […]
Amy Beach
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American Quintets Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective Debut
There are plenty of quintets by American composers to choose from. But the three presented here by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective hit that sweet spot for me. They’re all first-rate compositions, they’re not over-represented either in recordings or in concert, and they’re all played exceptionally well. The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective is just that — a […]
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Lucie Bartholomäi crushes it with female
The sale sheet for this release list three unique selling points: 1) Debut CD 2) Very young artist 3) Repertoire exclusively by female composers Only the last point captured my interest. And when I researched the release, I discovered they omitted a compelling fourth: the entire project was crowdfunded. Personally, I think this debut release […]
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#ClassicsaDay #Classical1921 Week 3
What better way to celebrate a new year than with a look back? In this case, the Classics a Day team decided to go back 100 years. For January 2021 the challenge is to post works that were completed in or recordings released in 1921. It turns out there was quite a lot going on […]
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They Persisted – Music by Pioneering Women Composers
I’m not usually a fan of politically-driven music programs. The works, primarily selected for their extra-musical qualities, tend to be not very good or not fit well together. Not so with this recording. The album title references the now-famous phrase “Nevertheless, she persisted,” a rallying cry for the women’s movement. And it makes sense in […]
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#ClassicsaDay Revisits #NAFTAclassics – Week 2
The Classics a Day team is made up of American and Canadians. The month of July has important national holidays for both countries. And so the theme for July is the music of North America. (Mexico doesn’t have a major holiday in July, but we decided to be inclusive). In my posts for #ClassicsaDay I […]
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Tasmin Little Plays Exceptional Music by Exceptional Women
Tasmin Little presents a solid program of late-Romantic violin works. As always, her performances let the emotional content of this music blossom forth in beauty. Little has done other outstanding recordings of this repertoire (her Brahms album springs to mind). She seems to have a natural affinity of the late-Romantic style. Oh – and all […]