Editorial for December, 2017

by | Dec 5, 2017 | Editorial

Every year, the internationally acclaimed Music@Menlo hosts a multi-week chamber music festival.  The 2016 season, entitled “Russian Reflections”, features significant Russian composers—Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Scriabin among others—interspersed with pieces by European composers.

The programming touches on different perspectives of the music:  the ways in which Russian history is vividly reflected in its music, the parallels between Russian musical works and their Western European counterparts, and the compelling theme of self-reflection in Russian music, art, and literature.

Through each disc of the 8 CD box set for Music@Menlo LIVE’s 2016 edition, these themes and other perspectives cast Russia’s musical identity in sharp relief, while also revealing an essential character that transcends any cultural divide.

In addition to their summer festivals, Music@Menlo hosts winter concerts, this year featuring the Chamber Music of Lincoln Center, playing works of Brahms and Dvorak, as well as the Schumann Quartet, playing Bartok, Haydn, and Schumann Quartets.  More information  Music@Menlo can be found at their website, MusicAtMenlo.org.

This exceptional offering is sponsored by Music@Menlo and Audiophile Audition.  All you need to do to enter the drawing is to fill out the form here: Register To Win


AUDIOPHILE AUDITION began as a local program in San Francisco and then in 1985 as a weekly national radio series hosted by John Sunier, and aired for 13½ years on up to 200 public radio and commercial stations. In September 1998 its web site for program listings was expanded to this free Internet publication.

December 2017 is our 225th issue! All disc reviews are added thru the month as written and received, often daily, amounting to nearly 100 a month. The Home Page lists the latest published reviews. Vinyls, Pure Audio Blu-rays and other hi-res formats are included in the SACD/Hi-Res Section. We are staying with physical discs rather than downloads. The site has been redesigned and improved. Please let us know if you find any errors. The site now only has reviews from Jan. 2014 to the present.

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We welcome your feedback, and we have a Reader Feedback section. Please send us your comments, and we will review and possibly post them. Check with us frequently for more reviews and news, and be sure to register for our monthly giveaways! When you do, please give us all non-intrusive requested facts, and include your first and last name, Email and street address – otherwise we are unable to ship you your winning item to you! We don’t ask financial details, and we never share your information with anyone else (except your address which we need for shipping to the drawing winners).

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