performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Josef Krips, or below by The Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood (cover image by Federico Respini) Well here we are with a Mozart symphony, for the first time in a while, … Continue reading Mozart Symphony no. 22 in C, K. 162
This now marks the fourth time I’ve seen the BRSO. They came almost two years ago and held three concerts, thankfully all with Mariss Jansons himself. They presented three excellent programs then, and there were two exceptional programs lined up … Continue reading Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Zubin Mehta
performed by the Éder Quartet with János Fehérvári, or below by Les Adieux (cover image by Jan Meeus) As evidenced by the catalogue number for this work, Mozart’s first quintet for strings came right on the heels of the six … Continue reading Mozart String Quintet no. 1 in B flat, K. 174
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by David von Diemar) Mozart’s 13th string quartet is the last of his set of six ‘Viennese quartets,’ and the only one in a minor key. In … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 13 in Dm, K. 173
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
(I recently wrote about this piece over on my Substack as part of a concert program with this as the central work. Please go read the article there.) performed by Matti Raekallio and the Tampere Philharmonic under Eri Klas, or … Continue reading Englund Piano Concerto no. 1
performed by the Meta4 Quartet (cover image by Aaron Burden) We welcome Erkki Melartin back to the blog, after around a year since the Finnish symphony series, but finally with his first quartet. There’s (perhaps unsurprisingly) precious little information available … Continue reading Melartin String Quartet no. 1 in Em, op. 36 no. 1
performed by the Amadeus quartet with Cecil Aronowitz and William Pleeth, or below by the Alberni Quartet with Roger Best and Moray Welsh (cover image by Brooke Lark) If you have, like I used to have, any doubt that where … Continue reading Brahms String Sextet in G, op. 36
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 the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Neven Krcmarek) As discussed yesterday, Mozart’s ‘Viennese’ quartets were his second set of six (grouped together as suggested by his father), after the ‘Milanese’ quartets. Todays’ … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 12 in B flat, K. 172
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet (cover image by Mitch Lensink) Mozart’s eleventh string quartet is the fourth in his second series of six string quartets, which came to be known as the ‘Viennese’ quartets. … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 11 in E flat, K. 171
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, or below by the Ensemble Zefiro in a wildly different tempo in places (cover image by Jess Watters) This piece is for an ensemble of only ten instruments, all winds, and so is … Continue reading Mozart Divertimento no. 4 in B flat, K. 186
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner (cover image by Chris Barbalis) Here we are with yet another of Mozart’s very early… what shall we call these divertimenti and serenades and cassations and … Continue reading Mozart Divertimento no. 2 in D, K. 131
performed by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra under Joseph Keilberth, or below by the Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach Orchestra under Hartmut Haenchen (cover image by Brooke Lark) Among the juvenilia we are discussing this week, there are some significant firsts, if you use that … Continue reading Mozart Divertimento no. 1 in E flat, K. 113
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, or below by the Camerata Academica des Mozarteums Salzburg (now known as the Camerata Salzburg) under Sándor Végh (cover image by Karl) I should say that I’m … Continue reading Mozart Serenade in D, K. 185, ‘Antretter’
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, or below by the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim under Jirí Malát (cover image by Arash Asghari) We should consider it one of the great luxuries of living as … Continue reading Mozart Cassation (Serenade) in D, K. 100
performed by Delmé Quartet, available on iTunes or from Hyperion (cover image by Paul Morris) Robert Simpson’s fifth string quartet dates from 1974 and is the second of the three quartets (4-6) that make up a small set of quartets … Continue reading Simpson String Quartet no. 5
performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Vernon Handley, available on iTunes or Hyperion (cover image by Robson Hatsukami Morgan) (this piece is featured on a list of pieces I heartily recommend to music directors for inclusion on their season … Continue reading Simpson Symphony no. 4
performed by the Delmé Quartet, available digitally basically nowhere but the iTunes store or Hyperion (cover image by Serge Kutuzov) Ah, Robert Simpson, the real inspiration behind the Editor’s Choice series, and someone I discovered just by digging through forums … Continue reading Simpson String Quartet no. 4
Symphonic Dialogue for percussion and orchestra performed by Gert Mortensen and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under Okko Kamu, available on Spotify (cover image by Gerald Berliner) Full disclosure: I’m not entirely sure what makes this a symphony and not a … Continue reading Sallinen Symphony no. 2, op. 29
Fugue for Thought 