BEST LOCAL CLASSICAL RECORDING 2017

“You may have missed the show itself last spring when Eugene Ballet staged its $300,000 production of The Snow Queen, an original full-length ballet based on the Hans Christian Andersen tale that inspired Disney’s Frozen. Whether you made it to the Hult Center that weekend or not, you can still enjoy the original music, which was composed by Portland’s Kenji Bunch and performed by Eugene’s OrchestraNext under the baton of Brian McWhorter. Bunch’s complete Snow Queen score — contemporary but still lush, romantic and very listenable — is available on a two-CD set, including photos from last year’s recording session with McWhorter and OrchestraNext at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. Get it at Amazon, iTunes and elsewhere” — Bob Keefer