performed by Manuel Ignacio de Íñigo, or below by Stanislav Neuhaus (cover image by Mike Sharp) Scriabin’s op. 45 dates from 1904, putting it between the fourth and fifth sonatas. In this work, you can still hear the kind of … Continue reading Scriabin: Trois Morceaux, op. 45
performed by Steve’s Bedroom Band (cover image by Francisco Aceldo) Frederick Shepherd Converse was born on January 5, 1871 in Newton, Massachusetts. He studied at Harvard with John Knowles Paine, and his op. 1 violin sonata from 1893 got ‘highest honors’ as … Continue reading Frederick Converse: String Quartet no. 2 in Am, op. 18
performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Niklas Willén The symphony has no programme, it depicts neither concrete nor abstract. It is an expression of the joy of living, an expression of the sun-lit happiness that filled my whole being. … Continue reading Hugo Alfvén: Symphony no. 3 in E major, op.23
performed by the New Vienna String Quartet (above is the first ‘movement’; the entire work is available from this playlist) I have conducted the most difficult scores of Wagner; I have written complicated music myself in scores of up to … Continue reading Schoenberg String Quartet no. 1, op. 7
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and Violeta Urmana under Pierre Boulez, or in full here with Anna Larsson. Below is a recording of Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen with Magdalena Kožena and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado So it’s a leap … Continue reading Leap Day: Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder
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 the Chicago symphony under James Levine (this is the performance I’ve been listening to, and it’s a fantastic recording. The below is apparently the same, but some of the tempi [and the audio quality] seem off…..) The above video is … Continue reading Mahler Symphony no. 7
Fugue for Thought 