Classical

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "Classics for Dummies" on CD-Rom on the EMI label.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a recent concert of Australian pianist David Helfgott. The film "Shine" was based on Helfgott's life.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the new Great Performances special on PBS (March 7, 9PM most stations), "Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews classic opera re-releases from the Sony Masterworks Heritage Vocal Series.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "Chant d'amour," the new CD by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli. She's accompained by pianist Myung-Whun Chung.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a series of live recordings by the Budapest Quartet made at the Library of Congress in the early 1950s

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews "Sergio Fiorentino in Germany," a live recording from 1993, on the Appian Label. Fiorentino recently performed to the U.S. for the first time in forty years.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the new album "Duets and Arias" by married opera singers Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu.

The opera soprano and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Barbara Hendricks has appeared on over fifty recordings and has won critical acclaim in performances with all the major opera companies in the world--but she remains a relatively obscure figure in the United States. This is her seventh year with the UN Commission and she says through her music, she has been able "to get people to listen in a way they wouldn't listen to a diplomat or bureaucrat."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reflects on some of the performances he saw at this year's Lincoln Center Festival 96. It is a three week festival in New York City that celebrates the performing arts.

Fresh Air's classical music critic, Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of Prokofiev violin music with violinist Gil Shaham. (Deutsche Grammophon)

Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the new two-cd set of a 1962 performance of the opera "Susannah." It features the legendary American soprano Phyllis Curtin. The cd set is available on the VAI label. Schwartz is Classical Music Editor of the Boston Phoenix.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the long awaited reissue of Virgil Thomson's "Four Saints in Three Acts," (RCA Victor)

Mezzo-Soprano Lorraine Hunt. She appeared in Peter Sellars' productions of Handel and Mozart. Hunt has been called the "reigning Handel diva of our day." Hunt's Handel recordings can be found on the Harmonia Mundi label. Her latest is "Handel: Ariodante."

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews the latest recording by mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt: "Handel's Ariodante" on the Harmonia Mundi label.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new recording of live performances from the 1959 Salzburg Festival, including the late Erica Morini playing Mozart's Violin concerto No. 5, conducted by George Szell with the French National Radio and Television Orchestra. (on Sony)

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Yo-Yo Ma's album "Concertos from the New World."

Pianist and composer Leon Fleisher. The 67 year old musician was a child prodigy. Thirty years ago he lost the use of his right hand, because of a disability, (later diagnosed as "repetitive stress syndrome") and so he began to play the left-hand repertory. Last year he made a "two-handed" comeback. It culminated with a performance on January 13, with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall. He credits the increased movement in his right hand to the deep message therapy, rolfing. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Walter Turnbull is the founder and of the Boys Choir of Harlem. He has written about his work in "Lift Every Voice" by Hyperion. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Arranger and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan died Saturday, January 20th, from complications due to surgery. He was 68. We will rebroadcast a 1989 interview with him. Mulliagn was an innovator in modern jazz orchestration. Early in his career he was staff arranger for Gene Krupa's big band. In 1949 he collaborated with Gil Evans and Miles Davis in the Nonet. The nine-piece band shook up jazz arrangers and launched the era of so-called cool jazz. He achieved international acclaim when he started a "pianoless" quartet with trumpeter Chet Baker in the early 1950's.