tue 24/12/2024

Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Widmann, Berio | reviews, news & interviews

Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Widmann, Berio

Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Widmann, Berio

Heart-attack music, a wordless elegy and some beguiling noise

Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices: Audibly having fun on 'Berio and Friends'Klaus Holsting

This week we’ve some pioneering, trailblazing Mahler with a dramatic twist, courtesy of a conductor who mentored Leonard Bernstein. Elsewhere, there are some disconcerting, dark sounds from a youthful German composer, and a supremely entertaining disc of highly theatrical vocal works courtesy of Paul Hillier’s immaculately drilled Theatre of Voices. Turn on, tune in and drop out while listening to Cathy Berberian’s cartoon-inspired Stripsody, and consider the very question of what constitutes music.

This week we’ve some pioneering, trailblazing Mahler with a dramatic twist, courtesy of a conductor who mentored Leonard Bernstein. Elsewhere, there are some disconcerting, dark sounds from a youthful German composer, and a supremely entertaining disc of highly theatrical vocal works courtesy of Paul Hillier’s immaculately drilled Theatre of Voices. Turn on, tune in and drop out while listening to Cathy Berberian’s cartoon-inspired Stripsody, and consider the very question of what constitutes music.

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