For the month of October, the #ClassicsaDay team (of which I’m a part), decided to go with a Halloween theme. The idea is to share works marked in some way with the composer’s demise. It can be the last piece a composer completed before death, or one left incomplete at death. For my part, I […]
Classical
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Czech Choral Masterworks: Martinu, Reznicek, Fiala
This has to be one of the most unusual albums of choral music I’ve listened to. The concept is solid — sacred music by 20th Century Czech composers. What’s unusual is the relationship between the composers. The Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno performs two works by Bohuslav Martinu. Rounding out the album are works by […]
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Vasks – Laudate Dominum “strengthens faith, love, and soul”
This is the third release by the Latvian Radio Choir of Peteris Vasks’s music. The choir has long collaborated with the composer. And what a fruitful partnership. Several of his works they premiered appear in this release. The music of Latvian-born Peteris Vasks shares some qualities with that of other regional composers, such as Arvo […]
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#ClassicsaDay #FamousLastWorks Week 2
For the month of October, the #ClassicsaDay team (of which I’m a part), decided to go with a Halloween theme. The idea is to share works marked in some way with the composer’s demise. It can be the last piece a composer completed before death, or one left incomplete at death. For my part, I […]
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Pizzetti Symphony in A and Harp Concerto – neo-classical or pre-classical?
Pizzetti’s sprawling 43-minute symphony was written to commemorate the 2600th Anniversary of the Japanese Imperial Dynasty. This 1940 Symphony doesn’t have a particularly Japanese feel to it. Rather, the work has a strong modal flavor — in some places it reminded me of Vaughan Williams. Pizzetti was a contemporary of Ottorino Respighi and shared his […]
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#ClassicsaDay #FamousLastWorks Week 1
For the month of October, the #ClassicsaDay team (of which I’m a part), decided to go with a Halloween theme. The idea is to share works marked in some way with the composer’s demise. It can be the last piece a composer completed before death, or one left incomplete at death. For my part, I […]
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São Paulo Symphony and Karabtchevsky Deliver with Villa-Lobos Symphonies, Vol. 5
Volume five of Naxos’ Villa-Lobos Symphonies features three works written for American premieres. Symphony No. 8 was completed in 1950, No. 9 in 1952, and No. 11 in 1955. Despite the five-year span, the three works share several similarities. All three are relatively short works. Villa-Lobos’ motifs are almost epigrams, and yet these are densely-compact […]
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F is for Fake – Copyleft in 18th Century Music
I suspect the ubiquity of the term “fake news” inspired this compilation. But it does raise an interesting point. How much does authorship influence our assessment of a work? The Trio Glie Speziali present a variety of Baroque compositions that were attributed to others — some famous, and some not. Misattribution could be accidental. The […]
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#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalNine Week 4
September is the ninth month of the year. And so the #ClassicsaDay team decided to make the number the theme. For September 2018, the challenge is to post classical works that have to do with the number nine. I chose to alternate between nonets, opus nine compositions and works with a catalog number of nine. […]