performed by Hilary Hahn and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi (cover image by Daniel Olah) We’re still in 1775, but just barely, and we’re already at the fifth and final of Mozart’s entire violin concerto output. He churned … Continue reading Mozart Violin Concerto no. 5 in A, K. 219, ‘Turkish’
performed by Arabella Steinbacher and the Festival Strings Lucerne, or below by Pinchas Zukerman and the English Chamber Orchestra (cover image by Karsten Würth) We’re hopping back in time a little bit, to the year 1775, in Mozart’s Salzburg era. … Continue reading Mozart Violin Concerto no. 4 in D, K. 218
performed by the Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly, or below by the Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado in a performance very worth watching (cover image by Annie Gray) Now that we’re back to Bach, it’s a good time to discuss the … Continue reading Bach Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 in G, BWV. 1048
performed by Arabella Steinbacher and Festival Strings Lucerne, or as below by Johannes Leertouwer and La Borea (cover image by Zhang Kaiyv) This is a suitable end to our long stretch of Mozart pieces. Thoughts I have about this piece … Continue reading Mozart Violin Concerto no. 3 in G, K. 216
performed by Isabelle Faust and Il Giardino Armonico under Giovanni Antonini, or below by Johannes Leertouwer and La Borea (cover image by Brooke Lark) The second of Mozart’s five legitimate (numbered, verified) violin concertos also dates from 1775, is also … Continue reading Mozart Violin Concerto no. 2 in D, K. 211
performed by Isabelle Faust and Il Giardino Armonico under Giovanni Antonini, or below by Johannes Leertouwer and La Borea (cover image by Anastasia Zhenina) We welcome Mozart’s violin concertos to the blog. It was thought for a time, or perhaps … Continue reading Mozart Violin Concerto no. 1 in B-flat, K. 207
performed by Stepan Turnovsky and the Vienna Mozart Academy under Johannes Wildner, or below, likely Aligi Voltan and the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza under G.B. Rigon (cover image by Ales Krivec) Name another bassoon concerto. I’m sure you … Continue reading Mozart Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, K. 191
performed by Rhondda Gillespie and the Helsinki Philharmonic under the late Jiří Bělohlávek, available on Spotify (cover image by David Clode) This is not an easy one to write about, but I’d say that it’s easier to listen to, probably, upon … Continue reading Meriläinen Piano Concerto no. 2
performed by Matti Raekallio and the Tampere Philharmonic under Eri Klas, or below by Niklas Sivelöv and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Jorma Panula (but I strongly recommend Raekallio’s recording) I can see your destiny in your eyes. You will … Continue reading Englund Piano Concerto no. 1
performed by Lev Vinocour and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Wien under Johannes Wildner Find out the secret of Henselt’s hands. Franz Liszt, to his pupils (cover image by Will van Wingerden) What pianist in history excelled at the piano works of … Continue reading Adolf von Henselt: Piano Concerto, op. 16
performed by Rudolf Serkin and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy (cover image by Irene Ortiz) It’s been some time since we’ve seen Mendelssohn around these parts, already more than a year, actually. That won’t do. We shan’t be giving … Continue reading Mendelssohn Piano Concerto no. 1 in Gm, op. 25
performed by Jaakko Kuusisto and the Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic Orchestra under Ari Rasilainen, available on Spotify (cover image by Andrew Kovac) For some reason, I expected Sallinen to have more than one violin concerto to his name, but no. His … Continue reading Sallinen Violin Concerto, op. 18
performed by Mark Lubotsky and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under Eri Klas, available on Spotify (cover image by Bohdan Lesiv) I see a desperate striving to find myself in the work on this concerto. This quest was very rarely successful, … Continue reading Schnittke Violin Concerto no. 1
performed by Wolfgang Schneiderhan and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the composer’s baton (cover image by Zak Elley) Hans Werner Henze wrote three violin concertos, each decades apart from one another, in total spanning a half a century of … Continue reading Henze Violin Concerto no. 1
performed by Linus Roth and the Berlin German Symphony Orchestra under Mihkel Kütson, available on Spotify I am very impressed by M.S. Vainberg’s Violin Concerto, superbly interpreted by the Communist violinist L.B. Kogan. It is a magnificent work. And I am weighing my … Continue reading Weinberg Violin Concerto in Gm, op. 67
performed by Mikkel Futtrup, violin; Tim Frederiksen, viola; and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra under Hannu Koivula, available on Spotify (cover image by Eberhard Grossgasteiger) We have a special guest in today’s episode. This isn’t quite how I expected to … Continue reading Holmboe Chamber Concerto no. 9 for violin and viola, op. 39
performed by Josef Suk and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Václav Neumann “…for me this will mean great publicity, as well as a great deal of work.” Martinů, of his first violin concerto (cover image by Gonard Fluit) He was wrong. … Continue reading Martinů Violin Concerto no. 1, H. 226
performed by Charles Barkel, violin, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hilding Rosenberg (although the YouTube video lists Tor Mann as conductor, I’m almost positive it’s under the composer’s baton) (cover image by Geoffrey Datema) Rosenberg’s first violin concerto … Continue reading Rosenberg Violin Concerto no. 1, op. 22
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra under Sir Jeffrey Tate (cover image by John McCann) This work is the farthest along we’ve gotten in any of Mozart’s works in any form (with the exception of the … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 11 in F, K. 413
performed by Jenő Jandó, Dénes Várjon, pianos, and the Concentus Hungaricus under Mátyás Antal, or as below, with Alfred Brendel, Imogen Cooper and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under Sir Neville Marriner (cover image by Nicolas Gras) I’ve always thought that so many … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 10 in E-flat, K. 365
performed by Dame Mitsuko Uchida and the English Chamber Orchestra under Sir Jeffrey Tate (cover image by Leonard Cotte) Mozart’s ninth piano concerto is actually his fifth original concerto for the piano (after the first four, which were more or … Continue reading Mozart Piano Concerto no. 9 in E-flat, K. 271, ‘Jenamy’
Fugue for Thought 