All stories by Jonathan Blumhofer on BroadwayStars

Monday, October 29, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Hilary Hahn plays Bach and Sakari Oramo conducts Langgaard by Jonathan Blumhofer

Hilary Hahn supplies a disc of immaculate Bach; conductor Sakari Oramo and the Vienna Philharmonic play music by Rued Langgaard to the hilt.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:12AM
Saturday, October 27, 2018

Concert Review: Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony at Symphony Hall by Jonathan Blumhofer

Andris Nelsons presided over an interpretation of Mahler's Symphony #2 that was both tightly controlled and emotionally cathartic.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:48PM
Thursday, October 11, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: JoAnn Falletta conducts Schreker, Manfred Honeck conducts Beethoven & Strauss, and Baiba Skride’s “American Concertos” by Jonathan Blumhofer

JoAnn Falletta’s recording of Schreker's orchestral works is fantastic; Manfred Honeck and his Pittsburgh Symphony make Beethoven's Eroica Symphony shocking again, and Baiba Skride proves …

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:06AM
Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Gerald Finzi’s Orchestral Music, Bernstein’s “Wonderful Town,” and Arvo Pärt’s “Works for Violin” by Jonathan Blumhofer

Violinist Viktoria Mullova supplies one of the year’s most programmatically-cohesive and thoughtfully-executed albums.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:36AM
Friday, October 5, 2018

Concert Review: The New England Conservatory Philharmonia at Jordan Hall by Jonathan Blumhofer

What wasn’t there to love about 20th-century music on a night like this? In a word, nothing.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 03:04PM
Friday, September 28, 2018

Book Review: “On the Road and Off the Record with Leonard Bernstein” by Jonathan Blumhofer

If Charlie Harmon's story jumps around a bit and reads rather like a series of diary entries, it’s at the very least engaging and, for the most part, entertaining.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 03:06PM
Monday, September 24, 2018

Music Commentary: 2018-19 Boston Classical Music Fall Season Preview (Orchestras, Opera, and New Music, mainly) by Jonathan Blumhofer

There’s so much going on in the area that’s good that it’s a challenge to go wrong.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 06:18PM
Sunday, September 16, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Jansons’ “Resurrection” Symphony, Harding’s Mahler Five, and Steinbacher’s Strauss by Jonathan Blumhofer

Two Mahler symphony entries: one is above average, the other a disappointment. Violinist Arabella Steinbacher delivers a first-rate and strongly recommended disc.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 06:24PM
Saturday, September 15, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Duo Noire’s “Night Triptych,” Justin Taylor’s “Continuum,” and Brahms’ “Ein deutsches Requiem” by Jonathan Blumhofer

Night Triptych is an important disc, but also an inviting one that takes you to some fresh places well worth experiencing. Also, another success for harpsichordist Justin Taylor, and a well-…

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 07:24PM
Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Concert Review: Tanglewood’s Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration Gala by Jonathan Blumhofer

Nearly three decades after he left us, Bernstein’s music seems to be in good hands and anything but forgotten. And his larger musical influence strongly endures.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 05:24PM

Classical CD Reviews: Sir Neville Marriner — The London Recordings, Capriccio, Richard Strauss, Ein Heldenleben, James MacMillan String Quartets by Jonathan Blumhofer

A winning reminder of Sir Neville Marriner’ impressive stylistic range as a conductor, a fine recording of a much-loved and -played Richard Strauss tone poem, and a striking, powerful pre…

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:32AM
Sunday, August 26, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Tesla Quartet plays Haydn, Ravel, and Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Bernstein, Aspects of America by Jonathan Blumhofer

Aspects of America, from the Oregon Symphony and its music director Carlos Kalman, is at once superbly played, astutely programmed, and aesthetically necessary.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 10:24PM
Saturday, August 25, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Jonathan Nott conducts Ligeti, Herbert Blomstedt conducts Mozart, Kopelman Quartet Performs the Kissin String Quartet by Jonathan Blumhofer

Jonathan Nott does right by Ligeti and Herbert Blomstedt does the same for Mozart. You didn’t know that Evgeny Kissin, the piano virtuoso, was also a composer? Join the club.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:06AM
Thursday, August 23, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: “Visions and Variations,” “Songs From Chicago,” and Giuseppe Sinopoli conducts Beethoven and Ravel by Jonathan Blumhofer

A triumphant disc from A Far Cry, some fresh thinking from Giuseppe Sinopoli and the Israel Philharmonic, and Thomas Hampson, a great purveyor of American song, focuses on Chicago.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:06PM
Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Mendelssohn music for Cello and Piano, Neave Trio’s French Moments, Schubert’s Octet, and Nelsons’ Shostakovich by Jonathan Blumhofer

Four new albums: the standouts include the finest Andris Nelsons/BSO Shostakovich collaboration to date and the Neave Trio’s wonderful new French Moments.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:36PM
Sunday, July 15, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Schumann’s Choral Music and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang by Jonathan Blumhofer

Conductor Aapo Häkkinen explores Robert Schumann's writing for chorus;Andrew Manze caps off his three-volume Mendelssohn symphony survey with a glorious performance of the oddball Symphony …

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 06:06PM
Saturday, July 14, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Gardner’s Elgar, Francois-Xavier Roth’s Ravel, and Orchestral Music by Ruggles, Stucky, and Harbison by Jonathan Blumhofer

Strong discs from Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Francois-Xavier Roth and his Paris-based period-instrument ensemble Les Siècles, and the National Orchestral Institute Philh…

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:18AM
Friday, July 13, 2018

Classical CD Review: A Superb Version of Leonard Bernstein’s “A Quiet Place” by Jonathan Blumhofer

Garth Edwin Sunderland’s new chamber adaptation of this opera's score, is, to date, the Bernstein Centennial Year’s best and most important recording.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:54AM
Thursday, July 12, 2018

CD Reviews: “American Symphonies,” Anna Shelest plays Rubinstein, “The Romantic Piano Concerto vol. 76” by Jonathan Blumhofer

Anna Shelest’s new recording of piano-and-orchestra pieces by Anton Rubinstein is one of those albums that makes you want to rethink Rubinstein’s relative neglect in the broader canon �…

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:04AM
Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Rethinking the Repertoire: Postlude by Jonathan Blumhofer

Still, the moral should be to err in favor of the audacious. That’s what this world – and this art form – require.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:24AM
Monday, June 11, 2018

Rethinking the Repertoire #25: Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Foreign Bodies” by Jonathan Blumhofer

For a composer who hails from Finland but found his spiritual home in Southern California, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s is a singular musical voice.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:06AM
Saturday, June 9, 2018

Rethinking the Repertoire #24: Charles Villiers Stanford’s “Songs of the Fleet” by Jonathan Blumhofer

Composer Charles Villiers Stanford's best traits were formidable indeed.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:04AM
Thursday, June 7, 2018

Rethinking the Repertoire #23 – Henry Cowell’s Piano Concerto by Jonathan Blumhofer

Henry Cowell’s was an important, if now often forgotten, voice in 20th-century music.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 11:42AM
Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Rethinking the Repertoire #22 – Florence Price’s “Mississippi River Suite” by Jonathan Blumhofer

Composer Florence Price’s lack of acceptance into the American canon is shameful.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 12:54AM
Saturday, June 2, 2018

Rethinking the Repertoire #21– Alban Berg’s “Altenberg-Lieder” by Jonathan Blumhofer

That neglect, though, is our loss. The Altenberg-Lieder feature Alban Berg at his most direct and concise, as well as his most sumptuous.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:32PM
Sunday, May 20, 2018

Concert Review: Boston Lyric Opera’s all-Bernstein Double-bill by Jonathan Blumhofer

The BLO's production was one of the troupe's true staging triumphs of late, transforming the Steriti Ice Rink into a 1950s-style nightclub.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 04:04PM
Saturday, May 19, 2018

Classical CD Review: Andrew Manze and Vaughan Williams, Andris Nelsons and Anton Bruckner by Jonathan Blumhofer

Andrew Manze and the RLPO have turned in one of the year’s great albums: potent, lyrical, haunting, and timely.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 01:36PM
Friday, May 18, 2018

Classical CD Review: Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach and Glass and James Brawn’s Beethoven Odyssey vol. 5 by Jonathan Blumhofer

Two recommended discs: James Brawn's complete Beethoven piano sonata series continues while Simone Dinnerstein and A Far Cry execute Philip Glass’s chorale-like writing with remarkable fer…

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:06PM
Saturday, May 5, 2018

Book Review: George Szell’s Reign — Behind the Scenes with the Cleveland Orchestra by Jonathan Blumhofer

George Szell’s Reign is ultimately an accessible, often sociable, but sometimes perplexing fan’s history of the Orchestra and its storied music director.

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 09:42AM
Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Michael Brown’s Piano Works, Ferdinand Ries Piano Concertos, and Andris Nelsons’ Bruckner Symphony no. 4 by Jonathan Blumhofer

Variations and fugues are the overriding themes of pianist/composer Michael Brown’s captivating new album. If you’re an Andris Nelsons fan, this Deutsche Grammophon album won’t disappo…

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 06:12PM
Monday, April 30, 2018

Classical CD Reviews: Birringer Duo’s “Lifelines,” Steve Reich’s “Drumming,” and Liza Stepanova’s “Tones and Colors” by Jonathan Blumhofer

The Birringer Duo's disc is a terrific, engaging release, The Colin Currie Group’s performance is nothing short of a powerhouse, and pianist Liza Stepanova plays with lots of character and…

SOURCE: The Arts Fuse at 08:18AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards