Scarlatti on the Piano: A Playlist ross-review.blogspot.com/2025/12/scar...

My favorites of the year. Up at Classical Candor. classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2025/12/ryan...

This is exactly right. Balakirev 1 needs more love in the concert hall. It’s a fabulous romantic symphony. No wonder Karajan recorded it.

I just made a playlist of all 555 Scarlatti sonatas with piano performances only. Details to follow soon on my blog.

Many now object to Schenker because of his racism. I just think his kind of analysis isn’t that meaningful. It’s all a glorified Sudoku puzzle, not that important for experiencing the music in performance.

Nice to have regular access here again. As a Mississippi resident, I had to verify my age. My state and this app reached an agreement just very recently. Yay.

My review of this recording is up. classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2025/12/mend...

Happy Thanksgiving!

My review of Matthew Riley’s fine book, “English Diatonic Music, 1887-1955,” is up at Music & Letters. academic.oup.com/ml/advance-a...

My review of the recent Schiff recording featuring Lucerne performances of Scarlatti. classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2025/11/dome...

Always nice to receive one of these emails. :)

My review of the new Andsnes Liszt recording. classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2025/04/lisz...

This is a terrific cycle. Engerer really feels these pieces. She does nothing weird/off-putting; she’s just a performer accentuating what makes the music great.

I don’t find Schenkerian analysis to be particularly useful to the listening experience. Its chief virtue seems to be to satiate compulsive pattern-seeking in the theoretically minded.

Don’t sleep on this music. I’m still enamored with it even after many months. The sixth etude especially, La Forêt Oubliée,” is a contemporary treasure.

Liszt’s Fifth Hungarian Rhapsody is a masterpiece. One of his very best compositions. It should be treated like the gem of Romantic musical expression it is. So underrated.

Wonderful recording. Some of Bach’s best cantatas.

Mozart’s K. 456 is one of those strange concertos where the slow movement is more weighty and memorable than either of the outer movements.

We need more recordings of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies. Such colorful, fun pieces. Lots of room for new interpretations.

Underrated: Beethoven’s Op. 9 String Trios.

I don't think the most important thing about a piece of music is its structure. I think the most important thing about it is its spiritual or emotional effect upon the listener. Structure can have something to do with this, but very often it doesn't.

Schubert’s development sections often turn out to be more like “fantasy remixes” of his themes. I absolutely LOVE that about his music.

I'm glad to be back at Classical Candor reviewing music. Here is my (positive) take on the new Ruth Gipps orchestral works disc from Chandos: classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2025/02/ruth...

The slow movement of Haydn’s 68th Symphony is LONG…and quirky.

Just listened to the new Rouvali Sibelius 6 and 7 on Alpha. 6 is better than 7 here, but neither is particularly good. He doesn’t always have a good sense of what to assign to the foreground, the middle-ground, and the background in 6. And 7 is just a spasmodic mess.

“It is impossible really to appreciate a truly great symphony without understanding its structure, because in such a work, expression is largely the result of structure.”—Marc Vignal POPPYCOCK!

Reviewing the new Ruth Gipps Chandos disc for Classical Candor. Will be out soon. Some gems on this recording.

Recording Review #63: Scrumptious Scarlatti Another fantastic installment in Naxos's complete Scarlatti sonatas series. ross-review.blogspot.com/2025/02/reco...

Recording Review #62: A Feeling for Field Alice Sara Ott serves up some great Field Nocturnes. ross-review.blogspot.com/2025/02/reco...

Recording Review #61: Mishandled Mahler Rattle and Co. exhibit wonderful playing and sound. I just don’t think he gets this music. www.ross-review.com/2025/02/reco...

Recording Review #60: Quibbles for Kantorow I don't like some things, but I like a whole lot else.

At Noxubee Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi. No gators in sight today!

All FREE today at the local library! 😲😲😲

Just found this at a library sale.

This place is nice and all, but it lacks the engagement that I used to enjoy on the other app. It’s a pity that new ownership and bitter political feuds eventually created a situation where people were compelled to seek forums along partisan lines. Now no app scratches all the itches.

Dirty little secret: Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony had a more consequential influence upon the course of the symphony genre than his Fifth did.

I guess the music folks I enjoy following have largely migrated to here. Very well.