Various threads or chunks of history or music organized into strings of posts.
performed by the Amadeus Quartet This first string quartet effort, when the composer was only fourteen years old, has charm and interest in spades compared to the first efforts of Papa Haydn. While I’m sure his divertimenti served their intended … Continue reading W. A. Mozart String Quartet no. 1 in G, K. 80
performed by the Artemis quartet, or below by in a fantastic performance by the Ariel Quartet And here we are at Beethoven’s first quartets. Like Haydn’s op. 1 and others after, Beethoven’s no. 18 is a collection of six quartets, published … Continue reading Beethoven String Quartet no. 1 in F, op. 18, no. 1
performed by the Buchberger Quartet The opus 9 quartets, with links to performances of the works (not by Buchberger), are as follows: Quartet No. 11 in D minor, Op. 9, No. 4, FHE No. 16, Hoboken No. III:22 Quartet No. … Continue reading SQS: Haydn String Quartets #12-16, op. 9
performed by the Buchberger Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet The first string quartet (of all, but especially) of Haydn’s that we shall sink our teeth into for this series is his number 11, the fourth of his opus nine … Continue reading SQS: Haydn String Quartet no. 11, op. 9, no. 4 in Dm
again, performed by the Buchberger Quartet, or below by the Kodàly Quartet no. 8 no. 9 no. 10 Contained in this opus number are four quartets, per Wikipedia: Quartet No. 7 in A major, Op. 2, No. 1, FHE No. … Continue reading SQS: Haydn’s Divertimenti a Quattro, op. 2
performed by the Buchberger Quartet, or below by the Kodàly Quartet no. 2 no. 3 no. 4 no. 5 no. 6 The below from Wikipedia: Quartet No. 1 in B♭ major (“La Chasse”), Op. 1, No. 1, FHE No. 52, Hoboken … Continue reading SQS: Haydn’s Divertimenti a Quattro, op. 1, no.s 1-6
performed by Steven Isserlis, or below (in full) by Maurice Gendron So here we are for the second of our installments of the Bach cello suites. If you haven’t yet listened to the awesome third episode of the podcast with cellist Richard Narroway, … Continue reading Bach Cello Suite No.2 in D minor, BWV 1008
performed by Stephen Isserlis (the above video begins with the prelude of no. 1, but is excerpts of Isserlis’ performances of all the suites. Find plenty of full versions of the work on YouTube or practically anywhere music exists. I … Continue reading Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007
There are so many string quartets… The obvious contributors: Haydn has 68 numbered quartets Mozart has 23 Beethoven has 16 numbered quartets (and the Große Fuge) But that’s not all. There are composers the average classical music listener (including myself) has … Continue reading String Quartet Series
Well, here we are at the end of another series. Find the whole thing here. This one I feel was more varied, more vibrant than the Russian or German series, because the symphonic/tone poem is less a thing and more an idea. We … Continue reading The Symphonic Poem: A Wrap Up
performed by the Toulouse Capitole Orchestra under Michel Plasson It’s about trains. Or is it? So Pacific 231 is a kind of train, and Arthur Honegger was, as Wikipedia says: …widely known as a train enthusiast, and once notably said: “I … Continue reading Arthur Honegger: Pacific 231
performed by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Charles Dutoit Four years after yesterday’s Pines, and more than a decade after Fountains, we have Festivals. As Wikipedia says: Each of the four movements depict a scene of celebration from ancient or modern Rome. It is … Continue reading Ottorino Respighi: Feste Romane
performed by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Charles Dutoit The Pines of Rome Like I said in yesterday’s post, I have a strange nostalgic connection to these pieces. It’s not that they’re necessarily favorites, but I have a certain fond memory … Continue reading Ottorino Respighi: Pini di Roma
performed by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Charles Dutoit …or Fountains of Rome While it’s a four-movement work, this entire piece takes up only about fifteen minutes. But we should back up a bit and start by saying that this … Continue reading Ottorino Respighi: Fontane di Roma
performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, Anatol Ugorski, piano N0. 200 It’s been about two and a half years that I’ve been doing this, regularly but not always very professionally. I have some articles I’m not terribly … Continue reading Scriabin’s Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, op. 60
performed by the Chicago Symphony orchestra under Pierre Boulez The Poem of Ecstasy is the Joy of Liberated Action. The Cosmos, i.e., Spirit, is Eternal Creation without External Motivation, a Divine Play of Worlds. The Creative Spirit, i.e., the Universe … Continue reading Scriabin: Le Poème de l’extase, Op. 54
performed by The Cleveland Orchestra under Pierre Boulez There is no theory. You merely have to listen. Pleasure is the law. The full French title, for what it’s worth, is La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre, and it’s a piece I’ve … Continue reading Debussy: La Mer
performed by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, or in the version from Fantasia, by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra (which cannot be embedded) Famous to a fault? Cliché? Overdone? This is one of those pieces that, like, I … Continue reading Paul Dukas: L’apprenti sorcier
performed by the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra under Theodore Kuchar, or below by the Vienna Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa Excitingly another work from Dvořák this week, with his Noon Witch, a piece I had the chance to hear live a year or more … Continue reading Dvořák: The Noon Witch, op. 108
performed by the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra under Theodore Kuchar, or below with the Polish National Radio Symphony under Antoni Wit This is our 400th post here on Fugue for Thought! We’re coming up on a more significant milestone later in … Continue reading Dvořák: The Water Goblin, Op. 107 (B. 195)
or The Wood Nymph performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä I’m excited about the next few posts for this series because they touch on a special type of tone poem. There’s nothing anywhere (that I recall) about patriotic or … Continue reading Sibelius: Skogsrået
Fugue for Thought 