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The New York Times\u2019s classical music and opera critics see and hear much more than they review. Here is what has hooked them recently. Leave your own favorites in the comments.<\/em><\/p>\n For an opera lover seeking a bit of escapist fun, Rossini\u2019s \u201cThe Barber of Seville\u201d seems like a safe bet. The April 21 performance of Bartlett Sher\u2019s fluffy production at the Metropolitan Opera delivered just that, with the tenor Lawrence Brownlee and the mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard goofing about adroitly as the young lovers scrambling to outwit a jealous guardian and the Machiavellian music teacher who advises him.<\/p>\n But then came the \u201cSlander\u201d aria, in which that teacher, Don Basilio \u2014 sung with chilling charisma by the bass Alexander Vinogradov \u2014 outlines a method for ruining a rival\u2019s reputation. Rossini writes one of his trademark crescendos, painstakingly building up texture, volume and dramatic oomph.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Elsewhere in the opera, he uses this device to ratchet up the comic confusion of a group scene or highlight a character\u2019s emotional exuberance. Here, as Basilio sings about planting a falsehood and watching it take root in the public conscience, the \u201cRossini crescendo\u201d becomes a demonstration of the virality of fake news that is all the more devastating for being so delicious. Next week, a new set of singers step into the principal roles in \u201cBarber,\u201d but Vinogradov stays on as Basilio, injecting his brilliant, unsettling venom into an otherwise rosy-hued romantic comedy. CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM<\/p>\n When Klaus M\u00e4kel\u00e4 was announced<\/a> as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra\u2019s next music director last season, it was with a well-calculated rollout that included a concert<\/a> with his future ensemble the same week. Then he went back to his busy, peripatetic schedule.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t return until April, but he announced himself in grand fashion: with Mahler\u2019s Third Symphony, a 100-minute, nature-encompassing sprawl complete with a vocal soloist and two choirs (the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the girls of Uniting Voices Chicago, warmly angelic in the fifth movement).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n One person told me it was nice to have M\u00e4kel\u00e4 back, but multiple<\/em> audience members expressed excitement at hearing Esteban Batall\u00e1n, the principal trumpet. He had left for the Philadelphia Orchestra last fall only to return to Chicago after half a season. Regardless of what has happened behind the scenes recently, it didn\u2019t take long in Mahler\u2019s Third to understand why any ensemble would be lucky to have him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Given its scale, Mahler\u2019s Third is hard to forget, but this performance was particularly memorable for Batall\u00e1n\u2019s delivery of the famous posthorn solo in the third movement. Playing offstage, he was an invisible scene-stealer: jaw-droppingly impressive on a technical level, but also intensely moving as his pastoral calls gave way to lyrical expressions of longing and nostalgia. JOSHUA BARONE<\/p>\n At Firehouse12<\/a> in New Haven, Conn., I recently heard an evening set led by the cellist and composer Tomeka Reid. A star in progressive jazz circles<\/a>, she has also written music for exciting chamber music musicians like Johnny Gandelsman<\/a>.<\/p>\n On this night, Reid led an improvising septet in what she called \u201cA Tribute to Ellington.\u201d The compositions (all by her) were co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin. Reid\u2019s music could be aggressive in its extended technique, but it also featured plenty of delightful melodic interplay. An unofficial string trio within the ensemble \u2014 including the bassist Silvia Bolognesi, the violist Paul Barrels and Reid \u2014 gave elegant voice to the composer\u2019s talent for designing polyphony within steady, collective groove.<\/p>\n From the stage, Reid said that this program of septet music would be recorded at the venue (which doubles as a recording studio) the next day for a future release. Until that comes out, those curious to explore Reid\u2019s style should investigate her past albums for improvising groups<\/a>, as well as pieces for classical players, like \u201cProspective Dwellers,\u201d memorably recorded by the Spektral Quartet on YouTube. Following Ellington\u2019s example, Reid is pursuing music that can exist comfortably \u201cbeyond category.\u201d SETH COLTER WALLS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Watching Richard Strauss\u2019s one-act opera \u201cSalome,\u201d it\u2019s easy to forget that the title character is a 16-year-old girl. Sopranos who can sing the role are often in their 30s and 40s. Salome\u2019s youth, though, is at the crux of the work\u2019s sensationalism: This teenager is supposed to do an erotic dance for her stepfather, King Herod, in exchange for one wish, which she uses to demand the head of Jochanaan (John the Baptist) on a silver platter.<\/p>\n\u2018The Barber of Seville\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Chicago Symphony Orchestra<\/h2>\n
Tomeka Reid<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n