{"id":11277,"date":"2022-12-30T18:07:54","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T23:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=11277"},"modified":"2026-01-11T16:32:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T21:32:38","slug":"best-of-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/best-of-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

NPR Music<\/a>
\n10 Best Classical Albums of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wild Up (Christopher Rountree<\/a><\/strong>)
\nJulius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy
\nFor Those Who Like: Albert Ayler, Steve Reich, ecstatic excursions
\nThe Story:<\/em> If only Julius Eastman were alive to enjoy the recent, richly deserved resuscitation of his uncompromising music, which during his short career put him in collaboration with Pierre Boulez, Meredith Monk and other important experimentalists. Boldly gay and proudly Black, Eastman gained precarious acclaim in the 1970s for his provocative pieces and performances, then withdrew and crashed too early, dying alone and unknown in a Buffalo hospital in 1990. He was only 49.
\nThe Music:<\/em> In its second volume of Eastman’s work, the Los Angeles-based outfit Wild Up once again gives astonishingly committed performances. The music, unlike the first volume’s frenetically joyous Femenine, doesn’t always land comfortably on the ear, but dig in deep and you’ll find the rewards are manifold. Touch Him When, in two separate guitar arrangements (“Light” and “Heavy”), plumbs deep ambient spaces and shreds with scorched-earth \u00e9lan. Joy Boy offers a caucus of fidgety saxophones and flutes amid chaotic chatter, while the album’s final track, Stay On It, for voices and ensemble, returns to the funky spasms of ecstasy so warmly welcomed in Femenine. If you’re interested in art that prizes connection with one’s “authentic self,” this album is the sound of freedom.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/a>
\nBest Classical Tracks of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Julius Eastman: \u2018Stay On It\u2019
\n\u201cJulius Eastman, Vol. 2: Joy Boy\u201d; Wild Up (New Amsterdam)
\nThe Los Angeles ensemble Wild Up [Led by Christopher Rountree]<\/strong> has embarked on a series of recordings of the once-forgotten music of Julius Eastman (1940-90). The second installment closes with the bright party of \u201cStay On It,\u201d a paean to community that veers between precision and lush chaos: troubled by shadows but ultimately, patiently, quietly triumphant.<\/p>\n

Rossini: \u2018C\u00e9leste providence\u2019
\n\u201cFrench Bel Canto Arias\u201d; Lisette Oropesa, soprano; Saxon State Opera Chorus Dresden; Dresden Philharmonic; Corrado Rovaris<\/strong><\/a>, conductor (Pentatone)
\nA peerless bel canto interpreter, the soprano Lisette Oropesa combed through her bread-and-butter repertoire to come up with an album\u2019s worth of material in French, her favorite language to sing. In this showstopper from Rossini\u2019s elegant comic opera \u201cLe Comte Ory,\u201d Oropesa\u2019s classy singing sneaks subtle flecks of color into fiendish runs taken at the speed of light.<\/p>\n

Gramophone<\/a>
\nBest Classical Albums of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Donizetti. Rossini \u2018French Bel Canto\u00a0Arias\u2019
\nLisette Oropesa\u00a0sop\u00a0Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra \/ Corrado\u00a0Rovaris<\/strong> (Pentatone)
\nHere is a superb album of\u00a0bel canto\u00a0arias either written or revised for Paris performances from a star soprano.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lieder\u2019
\nMatthias Goerne\u00a0bar\u00a0Daniil Trifonov<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(DG)
\nMore superb lieder from another singer of intelligence and insight, baritone Matthias Goerne, his partner here in Schumann, Brahms, Berg and others the renowned virtuoso Daniil Trifonov.<\/p>\n

\u2018Time Traveler\u2019s Suite\u2019
\nInon Barnatan<\/strong><\/a> (Pentatone)
\nA fascinating and thought-provoking piece of programming \u2013 spanning the Baroque to the 21st century \u2013 that works wonderfully, thanks of course to Inon Barnatan\u2019s hugely impressive pianism.<\/p>\n

The New Yorker<\/a>
\nNotable Performances and Recordings of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nico Muhly, \u201cStranger,\u201d \u201cLorne Ys My Likinge,\u201d \u201cImpossible Things\u201d; Nicholas Phan<\/strong><\/a>, Brooklyn Rider, Reginald Mobley, Lisa Kaplan, Colin Jacobsen, Eric Jacobsen<\/strong> <\/a>conducting the Knights<\/strong><\/a> (Avie)<\/p>\n

Rossini and Donizetti, French Bel Canto Arias; Lisette Oropesa, Corrado Rovaris<\/strong> conducting the Dresden Philharmonic and the Dresden State Opera Chorus (Pentatone)<\/p>\n

The New Yorker<\/a>
\nThe Best Books of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every Good Boy Does Fine
\nby Jeremy Denk<\/strong><\/a> (Random House)
\nBilled as \u201ca love story, in music lessons,\u201d this memoir by a MacArthur-winning pianist began as an article in the magazine. With self-deprecating humor, Denk charts his progress from awkward, precocious boyhood to awkward, precocious adulthood and classical-music eminence via the many teachers he had along the way. He also attempts\u2014in a sequence of interludes examining rhythm, harmony, and so on\u2014to account for music\u2019s hold over us.<\/p>\n

Chicago Tribune<\/a>
\nBest of Classical and Jazz in 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best Beethoven: The \u201cEroica\u201d was the only work on the Grant Park Music Festival\u2019s July 15-16 program that wasn\u2019t new, and that symphony is hyper-familiar to classical fans. But revelations came fast and furious in guest conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s account of this most battle-scarred of war horses. Watching me jot in my notebook, at one point my seat neighbor grumbled to his wife: \u201cThe person next to me is going crazy.\u201d He wasn\u2019t wrong.<\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/a>
\nThe Top 10 Classical Releases of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

10 Kurt\u00e1g: Kafka Fragments | Anna Prohaska\/Isabelle Faust<\/strong><\/a>
\nWe said: \u201cAmong the best of what has become one of Kurt\u00e1g\u2019s most frequently recorded works.\u201d<\/p>\n

WQXR<\/a>
\nBest Classical Albums of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lost Birds
\nChristopher Tin, conductor | Barnaby Smith, conductor | VOCES8<\/strong><\/a> | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
\nThis, now Grammy-Award nominated, album struck us\u2014and you, we\u2019re told\u2014at first listen. We\u2019re thrilled to include this one as one of the best albums of 2022. We feel the same as WQXR listener Patricia: \u201cAbsolutely loved Lost Birds \u2026 The music transports one to bird flight and song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honorable Mentions<\/em>
\nHow could one\u2019s heart not beat a little faster at the thought of Chopin played by Emanuel Ax<\/strong><\/a>? The Polish-born American pianist, at 72 in the late stages of a distinguished career, interpreting the visionary last utterances of Poland\u2019s greatest composer in a May recital at Carnegie Hall. The program consisted of eleven of the kind of single-movement character pieces on which Chopin\u2019s reputation largely rests, then closing with the Piano Sonata No. 3. Delivered with unflagging imagination and deep resources of tone and touch, the imaginative program made for a satisfying, often illuminating, recital. For much of the evening, as barcarolle followed mazurka followed nocturne, introspection was the predominant mood, pianissimo the go-to dynamic. But Ax had plenty of power and brilliance in reserve, and when he let it fly in the sonata the effect was exhilarating.<\/p>\n

There are few singers that can effortlessly fill the Metropolitan Opera and Lise Davidsen is one of them. Her regal Ariadne made the Met\u2019s revival of\u00a0Elijah Moshinsky\u2019s production of Strauss\u2019s\u00a0Ariadne auf Naxos\u00a0one for the memory books. The sight of the three Nymphs floating across the stage remains one of the most beautiful sights ever to appear on the Met\u2019s stage. The Met Orchestra with Marek Janowski<\/strong><\/a> was the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n

Washington Classical Review<\/a>
\nTop Ten Performances of 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best Debut<\/em>
\nConductor Karina Canellakis<\/strong><\/a> made a sparkling first appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra in November. She led an extraordinary rendition of Bart\u00f3k\u2019s Concerto for Orchestra, as well as a fine Ravel Concerto for the Left Hand with C\u00e9dric Tiberghien as soloist. The much-missed French pianist also offered an incredibly deft, nuanced encore of \u201cOiseaux tristes\u201d from Ravel\u2019s\u00a0Miroirs.<\/p>\n

Best New Work<\/em>
\nIn May Louis Langr\u00e9e led the National Symphony Orchestra and soloist Alisa Weilerstein<\/strong><\/a> in the world premiere of\u00a0A New Day, a major new cello concerto by Joan Tower. The 83-year-old composer dedicated the work to her partner of 48 years, Jeff, with four movements depicting their days together. Tower\u2019s command of the orchestra is unparalleled among American composers, now that Christopher Rouse has left us. The lush Ravelian harmony in the first movement of the piece, co-commissioned by NSO and premiered elsewhere in 2021, made it fit perfectly with the program of Debussy and Ravel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NPR Music 10 Best Classical Albums of 2022 Wild Up (Christopher Rountree) Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy For Those Who Like: Albert Ayler, Steve Reich, ecstatic excursions The Story: If only Julius Eastman were alive to enjoy the recent, richly deserved resuscitation of his uncompromising music, which during his short career put him in … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3636,3688,4435,7148,4247,7024,7109,4956,4967,3824,3687,4853,4196,4188,3706,7220,4622,5936,6046,7218],"class_list":["post-11277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-album","tag-alisa-weilerstein","tag-best-of","tag-book","tag-christopher-rountree","tag-classical-music","tag-corrado-rovaris","tag-daniil-trifonov","tag-emanuel-ax","tag-eric-jacobsen","tag-inon-barnatan","tag-isabelle-faust","tag-jeremy-denk","tag-karina-canellakis","tag-marek-janowski","tag-miguel-harth-bedoya","tag-nicholas-phan","tag-the-knights","tag-voces8","tag-year-end-list"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11277"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17370,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11277\/revisions\/17370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/11276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}