August 2018 is the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. Many classical radio stations, performance groups, and writers marked the occasion. And so did #ClassicsaDay. Bernstein was known as a composer, conductor, performer and an educator. Since #ClassicsaDay is primarily a music feed, I concentrated on the first two of those roles (and occasionally the third). […]
Franz Schubert
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#ClassicsaDay #PoetryMonth Week 1
What’s the connection between classical music and classic poetry? That was theme some of us decided to explore with #ClassicsaDay. For April 2018 we posted examples of settings of poetry in classical music, works inspired by poetry, and more. Here’s an annotated list of the works I posted for the first week of #PoetryMonth. […]
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#ClassicsaDay #Opus1 Annotated List Week 2
I’m a regular contributor to the #ClassicsaDay Twitter feed. For January 2018, I decided to mark the first month of the new year with firsts. Each post features the first published work of a different composer. Emphasis on the word “published,” In some cases, the Opus 1 is the first mature work of the composer. […]
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The Deceptively Easy Mastery of Gilbert Kalish
In this recording of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert, Gilbert Kalish presents an appealing program of works he knows well. The opening and closing works are the final piano sonatas of their respective composers — Haydn and Schubert, with a selection of short works by Beethoven in the middle. Haydn’s Sonata No. 62 in E-flat (Hob.XVI:52) […]
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The Strange Case of the Schubert Symphonies
If there’s one thing most people know about Franz Schubert, it’s that his most popular symphony is unfinished. If there’s a second thing folk remember about Franz Schubert, it’s that he only wrote nine symphonies. But if you look carefully at the list, you’ll notice two oddities. Symphony No. 1 in D major, D 82 […]