For the third year running, the Classics a Day team chose to honor May Day. For the month of May, Soviet musicians are the theme. Last year I posted music by Soviet prize-winners. This time, I’m simply walking my way through the alphabet (Latin, not Cyrillic). The music I discovered proved anything but ordinary. Here […]
Classical
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Jan Ladislav Dussek Sonatas, Vol. 7 – simple vs. complex
Volume Seven of Brilliant Classics’ on-going series has a nice balance. Jan Ladislav Dussek’s massive sonata “Retour à Paris” is offset by the featherweight the Op. 47 “Sonata facile.” Sonata faciles were just that — easy sonatas. Designed for the amateur, these works were simple in structure, and simple to perform. Mozart and Beethoven both wrote sonata […]
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Charlottesville Symphony Season Ends Energetically
The final concert of the Charlottesville Symphony’s 2018-19 season started slowly and finished in triumph. It was quite a journey. The Saturday, April 24th concerto opened with Wagner’s Prelude from “Parsifal.” This is a quiet, introspective work that uses silence as an important element. The orchestra played beautifully, achieving a shimmering quality in some passages. […]
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#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalSpring Weeks 4 & 5
Classical Spring For January 2019 the #ClassicsaDay team made #ClassicalWinter then theme. It seemed only right to continue the trend and celebrate Spring. So for April 2019, everyone is encouraged to share classical works inspired by the season. Some famous pieces may readily come to mind, such as the “Spring” movement from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” or […]
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Reinecke String Quartets – authentically Romantic
The five surviving string quartets of Carl Reinecke describe an arc. His two earliest quartets were discarded and lost, but his first published quartet appears in 1845 at the start of his career. The last was completed in 1909, a year before his death. Reinecke studied with both Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. The influence […]
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Woldemar Bargiel – String Quartets Fall Between Mendelssohn and Brahms
Even in his lifetime, Woldemar Bargiel never quite escaped the shadow of his half-sister and his brother-in-law — Clara and Robert Schumann. At an early point in his career, Schumann rated Bargeil’s chamber music higher than that of newcomer Johannes Brahms. The rankings soon changed. Nevertheless, Bargiel was a talented composer, carefully crafting and refining […]
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Tasmin Little Plays Exceptional Music by Exceptional Women
Tasmin Little presents a solid program of late-Romantic violin works. As always, her performances let the emotional content of this music blossom forth in beauty. Little has done other outstanding recordings of this repertoire (her Brahms album springs to mind). She seems to have a natural affinity of the late-Romantic style. Oh – and all […]
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Arnold Rosner Orchestral Music Vol. 3 – more, please
Toccata Classics continues their exploration of Arnold Rosner’s orchestral music. Volume Three presents three world premiere recordings. Each one a masterwork, and each (in my opinion) deserving more performances. Rosner was fascinated with Medieval and Renaissance music and often used pre-Baroque voice-leading and modal harmonies in his work. The 1978 Nocture is one such example. […]
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#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalSpring Week 3
For January 2019 the #ClassicsaDay team made #ClassicalWinter then theme. It seemed only right to continue the trend and celebrate Spring. So for April 2019, everyone is encouraged to share classical works inspired by the season. Some famous pieces may readily come to mind, such as the “Spring” movement from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” or Copland’s “Appalachian […]