The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Here are lists of the Best Classical Recordings of 2017 as named by The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Forbes magazine and Gramophone magazine
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By Jacob Stockinger
Just in time for last-minute holiday shopping and streaming – whether by others or yourself – some major publications and critics have published their lists of the top classical recording of 2017.
Personal preferences and taste matter, to be sure. So opinions inevitably differ.
But in some cases, the verdicts seem close to unanimous.
Take the case of some pianists.
You can, for example, find overlapping agreement on the merits of the 24-year-old Italian pianist and Cliburn Competition silver medal laureate Beatrice Rana playing the famed Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Same for the 33-year-old Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olaffson who gives revelatory readings of works by contemporary American Minimalist composer Philip Glass.
And many critics give raves to acclaimed Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes playing neglected piano miniatures by Finnish symphonic titan Jean Sibelius. (See Andsnes discussing Sibelius in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The various lists cover all genres from solo piano music to songs, chamber music to symphonies, oratorios to operas.
You can find lots of neglected repertoire — both early and new — unknown artists and small labels.
But there are also major stars, tried-and-true repertoire and large vintage or heritage labels.
In short, both beginners and experienced classical listeners and players can find plenty to please them.
In addition, some of the lists for the past year include links to lists from previous years. And those lists too still have some excellent choices that hold up.
Here is a link to the 2017 list in The New York Times, which was compiled by several critics:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/arts/music/best-classical-music-recordings-2017.html
Here is a list by a critic and columnist for Forbes magazine:
Here is the list from John von Rhein for the Chicago Tribune:
And here is a list from the British Gramophone magazine, which often favors artists and groups located in the United Kingdom:
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/the-best-new-classical-albums-december-2017
And in case you missed it before, here are lists from other sources that this blog has posted and linked to:
From famed WQXR-FM radio in New York City:
And here are the classical nominations for the 2018 Grammy awards:
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Classical music: UW oboist Aaron Hill performs world premieres and little known composers in a FREE recital Sunday afternoon
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By Jacob Stockinger
This is Homecoming weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and it is busy on many counts, including several classical music concerts in the city on Sunday afternoon.
But one of the more intriguing is a FREE recital at 3 p.m. in Mills Hall by UW-Madison Professor Aaron Hill (below), who teaches oboe and also performs in the Wingra Woodwind Quintet.
Hill will be joined by collaborative pianist Daniel Fung (below), who is also a vocal coach at the Mead Witter School of Music at the UW-Madison.
Particularly noteworthy is the number of world premieres and relatively unknown contemporary composers on the program.
Here is the program:
“Poem,” for oboe and piano (1953) by Marina Dranishnikova (1929-1994, below). (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Oboe Sonata (1947) by Jean Coulthard (1908-2000)
- Gently Flowing
- Sicilienne
- Allegro
Intermission
* Soliloquies (2013) by Andre Myers (b. 1973)
- To be or not to be
- There’s Rosemary, that’s for remembrance
- In the Month of May
- Spring Discourse
* world premiere performance
* After Manchester (2017) Aaron Hill and Michael Slon (b. 1982 and 1970, respectively) * world premiere performance
Four Personalities (2007) Alyssa Morris (b. 1984)
- Yellow
- White
- Blue
- Red
Here are some program notes by Aaron Hill:
“This program highlights five different ways to program previously unfamiliar music, as explained below.
“Poem” by Marina Dranishnikova came to me through our local community. Oliver Cardona, currently a junior music major at UW-Madison, initially brought it to my attention. The work was discovered and edited by my predecessor, Professor Marc Fink (below), during his travels in Russia.
I first heard the Oboe Sonata by Jean Coulthard (below) at the 2017 International Double Reed Society conference at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.
Charles Hamann, the principal oboist of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, edited and recorded it as part of a large project to bring international attention to masterpieces by Canadian composers.
Andre Myers (below) attended the University of Michigan with me and we first became acquainted when I performed one of his orchestral works. His beautiful writing for English horn started our friendship and 15 years later, he wrote his Soliloquies for me.
The first two are based on famous scenes from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The third is based on a poem by Minnesota’s first poet laureate, Robert Bly, which will be read aloud from the stage. The final movement is inspired by a dream vision he had of centaurs playing in a meadow.
“After Manchester” was originally a free improvisation I recorded and posted to social media in the wake of the terror attack at Ariana Grande’s concert on June 4, 2017.
Later in the summer, Professor Michael Slon (below), the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Virginia, transcribed my improvisation and wrote a piano part to transform it into a piece of chamber music. The work was completed just days before the violent events in Charlottesville.
Professor Alyssa Morris (below) currently teaches oboe at Kansas State University and her compositions have become widely performed as standard literature for oboists in recent years.
She wrote “Four Personalities” to perform in her own undergraduate recital at Brigham Young University and I first heard it while searching for oboe music on YouTube. The piece is based on the Hartmann Personality Test.
In her words, the colors correspond to the following types:
Yellow: Yellow is fun-loving. The joy that comes from doing something just for the sake of doing it is what motivates and drives yellow.
White: White is a peacekeeper. White is kind, adaptable, and a good listener. Though motivated by peace, white struggles with indecisiveness.
Blue: Blue brings great gifts of service, loyalty, sincerity, and thoughtfulness. Intimacy, creating relationships, and having purpose is what motivates and drives blue.
Red: Motivated by power. Red is aggressive and assertive. Red is visionary, confident, and proactive.
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