Picks of the Year: 2003

wswebmaster on November 24, 2018

As I reflect on this year’s selections, I notice that for the third consecutive year only four new releases loom for me as worthy of the official Want List (although this probably signifies mainly that I should be listening to …

Picks of the Year: 2002

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

Only four items that came my way this year met my own Want List criteria as neglected masterpieces of the past hundred years in superior performances. Samuel Barber’s choral music constitutes some of his best work. Admirers of the American …

Picks of the Year: 2001

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

This year’s choices offer some very economical and efficient means of updating and refining one’s collection of the finest 20th-century music in traditional styles. Leonard Slatkin has proven to be one of the most perceptive and sympathetic conductors of Samuel …

Picks of the Year: 2000

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

During the past year I have been less thorough in keeping abreast of new releases (and, as some may have noticed, less prolific in writing reviews), because of a large-scale project that has been occupying me. It is my hope …

Picks of the Year: 1999

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

Listed below are the five releases that thrilled and satisfied me the most during the past year. First is a new, up-to-date recording (reviewed last issue) featuring fine performances of Lili Boulanger’s greatest choral and orchestral works. This is an …

Picks of the Year: 1998

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

There are two worlds of classical music today, and they are increasingly distinct from each other. One is the world of superstar soloists, conductors, and their orchestras, who carry on a saprophagous relationship with a more or less fixed repertoire …

Picks of the Year: 1997

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

We read that the classical record business is in bad shape.  This is most unfortunate; but from the standpoint of the serious music lover, there has never been such a wide range of repertoire available—and so well performed and so superbly …

Picks of the Year: 1996

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

The Boulanger recording, originally released on LP in 1960, features five works of great beauty and depth of both spiritual and emotional content. Du Fond de 1’Abime, a setting of the Psalm 130, is a masterpiece and perhaps this tragically short-lived …

Picks of the Year: 1995

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

Each year at this time, as the compact disc continues to replace concert performance as the musical medium of consequence, it is mind-boggling to review the annual bounty of unknown treasures that have entered the discographic repertoire. Four of my five …

Picks of the Year: 1994

wswebmaster on November 22, 2018

This year’s Want List offers a feast for those in search of accessible treasures of twentieth-century music. Two releases highlight the achievements of master composers in media for which they enjoyed a special affinity, while the other three bring to …