New York Classical Review: Clarion Choir soars in spiritual rarity to open Rachmaninoff 150 year
It seems likely that, when the Sergei Rachmaninoff sesquicentennial year of 2023 has run its course, we will find that (with apologies to Joni Mitchell), we looked at Rachmaninoff from both sides now, and we really didn’t know Rachmaninoff at all.
Clarion Choir, jumping the gun by a few hours on New Year’s Eve, introduced a Rachmaninoff relatively few people know with an uplifting performance of his work for unaccompanied chorus, Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, in the visually splendid sanctuary of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral on East 74th Street. (A repeat performance New Year’s Day will usher in the celebratory year.)
Was the composer of these static, endlessly-circling choral harmonies really the same person who set the standard for rugged athleticism at the piano? Could the composer who inspired a thousand Hollywood love scenes also liberate one’s spirit from corporeal existence?
New York Classical Review: Namoradze Explores the Shadows, Deep and Dark, in Impressive New York Debut
Nicolas Namoradze is a pianist with a lot to say. And he likes to say it softly.
The top-prize winner of the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary, Alberta, made an impressive New York recital debut Sunday night at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall with an unconventional program of (in this order) Scriabin, Bach, Schumann, and his own compositions.
New York Classical Review: Schwarz, Juilliard Orchestra deliver stellar advocacy for neglected American composers
Yet without conductors like Gerard Schwarz this music [William Schuman, David Diamond, Walter Piston, Peter Mennin, and others] would remain even more lost, as it incomprehensibly has been for almost sixty years, with the rare exceptions amounting to little more than dutiful condescension.
New York Classical Review: Long Yu Leads New York Philharmonic in Chinese New Year Program
The Philharmonic played brilliantly, sounding secure and powerful under Long Yu’s baton, and the performance of the solo part by the Philharmonic’s principal harpist, Nancy Allen, was exquisite.