Classical

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a number of new recordings conducted by composer Pierre Boulez (Boo-LEZZ). Three new discs of Stravinsky, Bartok, and Debussy (on Deutsche Grammophon). The Erato label has a new recording, and so does Sony (Boulez's greatest hits).

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD on Angel/EMI of collected Piano Trios by the celebrated 1920's chamber players Alfred Cortot, Jasques Thibaud, and Pablo Casals.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews VHS release of Handel's opera Julius Caesar. It's directed by the innovative Peter Sellars. Schwartz says all five hours just fly by.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD of the pianist performing five Beethoven concerti. It's conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD of the opera "Lord Byron," by American composer Virgil Thomson. The librettist is actor Jack Larson.

Larson got his start playing Jimmy Olsen, the cub-reporter on the original "Superman" TV show. One of his poems, "The Relativity of Icarus," was part of a Joffrey Ballet." He's also written a couple of versed plays, "The Candied House," and "Cherry, Larry, Sandy, Doris, Jean, Paul."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz on the new trends in Baroque music performance. While many musicians strive for historical accuracy, they often lack emotional depth.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews two recordings of works by the turn-of-the-century black British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

In the late 1970s, Costello burst out of Britian's pop-music scene as an angry young-man with a fresh sound. On his new release, "The Juliet Letters," he works with the Brodsky Quartet. His new songs are based on a correspondence addressed to Juliet Capulet of "Romeo and Juliet."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new reissue of the Budapest Quartet playing Mozart quartets and quintets.

Strauss talks about the revival of the Broadway classic. A new cast album has just been released. Strauss has worked as musical director in numerous off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including "Drood," "Evita," and "Very Good Eddie."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "X," the opera by composer Anthony Davis, about the life and times of Malcom X. It's just came out on CD. The opera is Wagnerian in scale and style, but it also has allusions to the music of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, and John Coltrane, and others.

Composer Anthony Davis's opera "X" based on the life of Malcolm X, and has just come out on CD. It premiered in 1986. Terry talks with David about what Malcolm X meant to him and why he decided to compose an opera on his life. Davis has received international recognition for his compositions as well as his performances as a solo pianist and the leader of the ensemble Episteme.

Classical music critic reviews a new reissue of recordings by the late contralto Kathleen Ferrier, compiled into a 10-CD box set.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of the London Symphony Orchestra playing the composer's Adagietto, from his Fifth Symphony.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews two new CDs of Beethoven Sonatas with Andrew Rangell on piano.

Cage died yesterday at the age of 79. The New York Times wrote that Cage "started a revolution by proposing that composers could jettison the musical language that had evolved over the last seven centuries, and in doing so he opened the door to Minimalism, performance art and virtually every other branch of the musical avant-garde." His compositions include spoken texts, radios, toys and the sounds of vegetables being chopped. In honor of his passing, we present highlights of his 1982 interview with Terry Gross.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording by the Lydian String Quartet, featuring some of the late composer's chamber music.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new album featuring the Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini playing four scherzis of Chopin.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "2 x Winterreise," a reinterpretation of a series of 24 poems by Wihelm Mueller set to the music of Schubert.