Concert Music

Yoshiki has used emotional trauma as the raw material to build the rest of his life and art. It also serves as the centerpiece of his Classical Special show, which, like his concerts with X Japan, has a resonant energy that remains with one long after the program has ended.

On top of a capacious talent, the Bulgarian-born, New York-based pianist has a distinctive sensibility evidenced by her choice of repertoire, which encompasses works by composers from her homeland as well as contemporary new music and her own compositions.

Fine musicianship and rich, live sound make this new album an enlightening introduction to some seldom-heard but very worthwhile music by composers born in, or who made a strong mark in, the United States.

The journey seemed to wind across oceans, through jungles – and into caves, perhaps akin to the cistern recordings that gave birth to the composer's concept of "deep listening" back in the 1980s.

NRBQ are every bit as adventurous as they were as a young bunch of guys playing around at the Adams home some 51 years ago, even though Terry Adams stands alone as the only band member spanning the timeline from then to now. How he’s been able to hang on to the energy and charming irreverence that permeates this box of collected performances (both studio and live in concert) is a testament to his continued enthusiasm and love of music.

The pianist captures the essences of small works by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland as sensitively as she does songs and pieces by Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and Howard Arlen.

Soprano Lisa Delan's direct, humanistic approach and pianist Kevin Korth's sensitive musicality strike just the right balance between liquid emotion and straightforward braininess.

Knowing that Eyck conceived and recorded the album for 12" vinyl made even my digital listening experience feel somehow richer – as if I were in the presence not just of new avant-garde music but of the whole weird history of the theremin.

It was nice to see a warmer side to the cellist's chill, hyper-modern aesthetic as she introduced songs and asked the audience for vocal and smartphone participation. At the end she sent us out to wander the crowded desert of Greenwich Village, inspired by her musicianship but even more so by her distinctive dark aesthetic.

Blogcritics' Carole di Tosti sits down with Michael John Warren after screening his film, 'Hillsong: Let Hope Rise.'