Works that I do my best to write about (at least once a week, usually on Thursdays). For collections of pieces, check out the Series link above.
performed by Carmine Miranda and the Moravian Philharmonic under Petr Vronský, or below in another stunning performance with Rostropovich and the London Philharmonic under Guilini, the same pairing from Saint-Saëns last week! If I had known that it was possible to … Continue reading Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Rafael Kubelik Yeah, a symphony that isn’t his ninth. And it’s superb, Dvorak at his finest. Dvorak could be one of those composers who’s been cursed by his own success from a few very … Continue reading Dvorak Symphony no. 7 in D minor, Op. 70
performed by the Prager Streichquartett, or below by the Cleveland Quartet This is one of those pieces that impedes the discovery of all the composer’s other works in the form. We’ll eventually get around to Saint-Saëns’ organ symphony, but it’s the one that makes … Continue reading Dvorak String Quartet no. 12 in F major Op. 96 ‘American’
performed by the Prager Streichquartett Wow… this is a long quartet. But maybe it shouldn’t be. The Prague String Quartet’s recording comes in at 48 minutes, which feels pretty hefty for a chamber work, but other recordings, like that from the … Continue reading Dvorak String Quartet no. 1 in A, op. 2
performed by Sir Steven Isserlis and the London Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, or below from Mstislav Rostropovich and the London Philharmonic under Carlo Maria Giulini “Here, for once, is a violoncello concerto in which the solo instrument displays every register … Continue reading Saint-Saens Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 33
performed by the Orchestre National De L’O.R.T.F. under Jean Martinon Not the typical symphony choice is it? In fact, searches for other symphonies (on library bookshelves, the iTunes store, Amazon, etc.) are so riddled with recordings of the composer’s third symphony … Continue reading Saint-Saëns Symphony in A major
performed by Hayoung Bang, Violin; Sebastian Ortega, Cello; Serina Chang, Piano Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was born on 9 October 1835 in Paris, child of an official in the French Ministry of the Interior, who died only a few months after his … Continue reading Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Trio No.1 in F major, op.18
performed by the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich under David Zinman Radiant beams shoot through this region’s deep night, and we become aware of gigantic shadows which, rocking back and forth, close in on us and destroy everything within us except the … Continue reading Beethoven Symphony no. 5 in Cm, op.67
performed by Yefim Bronfman, Truls Mørk and Gil Shaham with the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman, or below by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Bernard Haitink with: Renaud Capuçon, violin Gautier Capuçon, cello Frank Braley, piano So our first … Continue reading Beethoven Triple Concerto in C major, op. 56
for violin, viola and cello, performed by the Zurich String Trio, or below by the Grumiaux Trio So it’s 2017 and all… We’ve yet to complete even our traversal of the op. 18 string quartets, and that will slowly but surely … Continue reading Beethoven Serenade in D major, op. 8
performed by Barbara Hannigan and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, or below with Hannigan and the Gothenburg Symphony under Kent Nagano Abrahamsen – let me tell you from Göteborgs Symfoniker on Vimeo. (I recently featured this piece … Continue reading Hans Abrahamsen: let me tell you
performed by the Odense Symphony Orchestra under Edward Serov (please note that the ‘third symphony’ on YouTube is actually his first. That’s an error. It’s a nice piece, but not the one we’ll talk about today. There’s no video available … Continue reading Ib Nørholm: Symphony no. 3, op. 57 ‘Day’s Nightmare’
performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under Leif Segerstam I remember that every section of the symphony came to me, at strange moments, in a ‘complete vision’, like a sounding vision in time. Quoted from the composer, here (this … Continue reading Per Nørgård: Symphony no. 1, op. 13 ‘Sinfonia austera’
performed by the Kontra Quartet In his book Surprised by Beauty, Robert R. Reilly suggests taking the Holmboe quartets in their published order, saying they might be the most challenging listens of everything the composer wrote. He hails Holmboe’s output as … Continue reading Holmboe String Quartet no. 1, op. 46
performed by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard A week ago, we discussed Rued Langgaard’s first symphony, an enormous five-movement thing of craggy, youthful, ambitious Romantic music, if not a bit too ambitious for a kid of only … Continue reading Langgaard Symphony no. 12 ‘Helsingeborg’, BVN 318
performed by the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra under Owain Arwel Hughes (sorry- no video for this work. I highly, strongly recommend purchasing at least whatever album the fifth symphony appears on, if not the entire cycle, but I can understand that that may … Continue reading Vagn Holmboe: Symphony no. 5, op. 35
performed by the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra under Frank Cramer, a world premiere recording, or below by the Danish Composers’ Society Niels Finn Høffding was born on 10 March 1899 in Copenhagen. He studied under a person I wanted to introduce earlier, … Continue reading Finn Høffding: Symphony no. 3, op. 12
performed by Steve’s Bedroom Band (I think) (more about that below), or from a very recent recording on Dacapo, linked below (second, third and fourth movements) Gustav Helsted was born 30 January, 1857, and was a composer. That’s literally all … Continue reading Gustav Helsted: String Quartet no. 4 in Fm, op. 33
‘Mountain Pastorals’ performed by the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra under Ilya Stupel, or below by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard in what is likely a better performance, or this one with Segerstam Rud Immanuel Langgaard (spelled like … Continue reading Rued Langgaard: Symphony no. 1, BVN 32, ‘Klippepastoraler’
performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi, with Soile Isokoski and Jorma Hynninen Nielsen’s third symphony premiered on 28 February 1912, in the same concert as the premiere of his violin concerto, this time with the composer on the … Continue reading Nielsen Symphony no. 3, op. 27 “Sinfonia Espansiva”
performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi So… The inevitable Carl Nielsen. This is (likely) the Dane you’re looking for. I’d written multiple articles on works of Nielsen in the past, but they’re kind of like the middle … Continue reading Revisit: Nielsen Symphony no. 1 in Gm, op. 7
Fugue for Thought 