This marks the third year running that the Classics a Day team made Christmas music the December theme. I guess that makes it a tradition. When it comes to the music of the season, there’s plenty to choose from. Since the 1100s composers have written sacred music for Advent and Christmas — and plenty of […]
Classical
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Georgy Catoire & Ignaz Friedman quintets – alike yet different
Russian composer Georgy Catoire remains relatively unknown. His self-effacing nature kept his music out of the spotlight, and himself out of the company of other composers. The 1914 Piano Quintet in G minor shows the effect of that isolation. While it’s a late-Romantic work, it’s also a forward-looking one. Catoire methodically lays out his themes and develops […]
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Joseph Bodin de Boismortier Chamber Music all business
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that music is a business — even classical music. It’s something Joseph Bodin de Boismortier always remembered. And it made him wealthy. Boismortier was active in the early 1700s and a contemporary of Rameau. He was one of the first composers to be successful without a patron. Louis XV granted […]
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The Celebratory Suites of Pancho Vladigerov
In Bulgaria, Pancho Vladigerov is almost considered the founder of classical music. Like Bedrich Smetana and Antonin Dvorak, he deftly blended his country’s folk music with Western classical traditions. And like those composers, he created music of both national and international appeal. The characteristic odd meters of Slavic folk music gives Vladigerov’s compositions a bubbling […]
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Margaret Bonds – The Ballad of the Brown King
Margaret Bonds is considered one of America’s most important 20th Century composers of color. And yet, because most of her work remains unpublished, little of it gets recorded. Which is why I was so excited to get this release. Malcolm J. Merriweather, the conductor of the Dessoff Choirs in New York City, has become a […]
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#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalEleven Week 4
Numbers have meaning. But meaning can depend on context. The Classics a Day team made “eleven” the theme for November, the eleventh month. The challenge is to post performances of classical music that involve the number. I chose a mix. Some pieces involve eleven players. Some are the eleventh type of piece by a composer. […]
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Anne-Marie McDermott launches Mozart series
Anne-Marie McDermott’s new Mozart series starts off with two showcase concertos. The Piano Concerto in C major, K. 415 was one of three Mozart wrote in 1783 to spotlight his talent as a composer and performer. The Piano Concerto in B-flat major, K. 238 was featured in Mozart’s 1777 European tour with his sister Nannerl. […]
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Ockeghem Songs Blue Heron’s latest and greatest
There are two things I can count on: blue-chip stocks, and Blue Heron recordings. The former retain their value year after year. The latter produces top-flight recordings. This new release is no exception. It’s the first installment of a new series, traversing the songs of 15th Century composer Johannes Ockeghem. Ockeghem was one of the […]
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Michel Yost Clarinet Concertos approach Mozart
Michèl Yost was not only one of the greatest clarinetists of the late 1700s. He was also one of the cofounders of the French school of clarinet playing. Like other virtuosos of his age, Yost wrote concertos to perform in concert. This release presents three of his fourteen concertos. Stylistically, the concertos resemble Mozart’s. They […]