Classical music

Conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein would have been 75 today: classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz is a converted fan after hearing the Haydn portion of Sony's new "Royal Edition" of Bernstein performances, complete in 100 compact discs.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new CD of Maria Timo performing the sonatas of Mozart's contemporary, Muzio Clementi.

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.

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

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

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.