Dan Davis

Dan Davis is a New York-based speechwriter, travel writer and music reviewer. He reviews audio equipment and classical music recordings for the preeminent high-end audio journal, The Absolute Sound. Davis also reviews classical releases for various print and Web publications, including Amazon.com and Classics Today, for whom he also does concert reviews. His speechwriting clients include prominent corporate and civic leaders and his travel writings appear in newspapers affiliated with Copley News Service, and magazines such as In Style and Diversions. He’s also authored six books on various historical subjects.

OONY’s Star-Studded Concert Version of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena

’Twas a dark and stormy winter night, the snow drifts in front of Carnegie Hall melting under the lashes of pounding rain. But inside the hall 2,500 opera buffs basked in the warm, welcoming glow of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, one of his finest works, bristling with dramatic arias and ensembles suitable for world-class virtuoso singers.

OONY’s Star-Studded Concert Version of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena

’Twas a dark and stormy winter night, the snow drifts in front of Carnegie Hall melting under the lashes of pounding rain. But inside the hall 2,500 opera buffs basked in the warm, welcoming glow of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, one of his finest works, bristling with dramatic arias and ensembles suitable for world-class virtuoso singers.

Operatic Rarities Highlight Early Summer in N.Y.

Rare and rarer best describes a trio of operas performed in June and July in three New York venues. They may never win great popularity — not a Bohème among them — but they provided three evenings of great music strikingly performed.

Operatic Rarities Highlight Early Summer in N.Y.

Rare and rarer best describes a trio of operas performed in June and July in three New York venues. They may never win great popularity — not a Bohème among them — but they provided three evenings of great music strikingly performed.

From the Archives: Casals, Furtwängler, and More

Historical performance buffs never had it so good. The sheer variety of reissued recordings and newly issued live performances from the past century can sometimes seem overwhelming.

From the Archives: Casals, Furtwängler, and More

Historical performance buffs never had it so good. The sheer variety of reissued recordings and newly issued live performances from the past century can sometimes seem overwhelming.

Vintage Falstaffs

Falstaff, that most elusive, atypical, and wondrous of all Verdi operas, is enjoying new life these days thanks largely to Bryn Terfel’s outsized portrayal at the Met and Covent Garden, and on disc under the baton of Claudio Abbado.

Vintage Falstaffs

Falstaff, that most elusive, atypical, and wondrous of all Verdi operas, is enjoying new life these days thanks largely to Bryn Terfel’s outsized portrayal at the Met and Covent Garden, and on disc under the baton of Claudio Abbado.

Vintage Klemperer and Schuricht

Do we really need recordings of “live” performances issued on small independent labels by artists who have recorded the same repertory in superior sound for easily available large labels?

Vintage Klemperer and Schuricht

Do we really need recordings of “live” performances issued on small independent labels by artists who have recorded the same repertory in superior sound for easily available large labels?

The Storage Dilemma

or, Honey, I Shrunk the Plastic

The Storage Dilemma

or, Honey, I Shrunk the Plastic

Lennie Redux

What best becomes a legend? Reissue status.

Lennie Redux

What best becomes a legend? Reissue status.

Koussy’s Tchaikovsky

Has Koussevitsky’s turn come? Overflowing CD bins feature such luminaries of the 1930s and 1940s as Toscanini, Furtwangler, Stokowski, Mengelberg, but until fairly recently Koussevitsky CDs have been hard to come by.

Koussy’s Tchaikovsky

Has Koussevitsky’s turn come? Overflowing CD bins feature such luminaries of the 1930s and 1940s as Toscanini, Furtwangler, Stokowski, Mengelberg, but until fairly recently Koussevitsky CDs have been hard to come by.

Singers, on Disc and on the Page

Like pornography, singers’ biographies are a literary genre that appeal to hard-core devotees.

Singers, on Disc and on the Page

Like pornography, singers’ biographies are a literary genre that appeal to hard-core devotees.

New Label, Old Treasures

There are few certainties in life, but one of them is the assurance that when Ward Marston’s name is on the back of a historical CD reissue as the transfer engineer, the results will be first-rate.

New Label, Old Treasures

There are few certainties in life, but one of them is the assurance that when Ward Marston’s name is on the back of a historical CD reissue as the transfer engineer, the results will be first-rate.