performed by the Quatuor Diotima (cover image by Frantzou Fleurine) Everyone knows the middle movement, but what about what comes before and after it? This quartet, while an early work, is powerful and more than worthy of a listen from … Continue reading Barber String Quartet in Bm, op. 11
performed by the New Black Music Repertory Ensemble under Leslie B. Dunner (cover image by Dave Robinson) This is a historic symphony. Florence Beatrice Smith was born to Florence (née Gulliver) and James H. Smith on April 9, 1897 in Little … Continue reading Florence Price: Symphony no. 1 in Em
performed by the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein, or below by the Detroit Symphony under Neeme Järvi second part of the above video It is based on no program either literary or spiritual. It is not cyclical. I wanted … Continue reading Randall Thompson: Symphony no. 2 in Em
performed by the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin …a popular concert work which is the epitome of the twentieth-century symphony that could have been written by an American. (cover photo by Les Anderson) Howard Harold Hanson is not a … Continue reading Howard Hanson: Symphony no. 2 in D-flat, op. 30, ‘Romantic’
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 Neeme Järvi and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra second, third and fourth movements (cover image by Kent Henderson) George Gershwin won’t make it into the series, he has plenty of fame already. For a genius jazzy symphony, here’s something … Continue reading William Grant Still: Symphony no. 1 in A flat, ‘Afro-American’
performed by the Japan Philharmonic under Akeo Watanabe …coming back from Europe I found America a very strange place. Some of the musical life had become quite European, with the arrival of so many distinguished musicians who had fled the … Continue reading Roger Sessions: Symphony no. 1
performed by the Eastman Rochester Orchestra under Howard Hanson, or below by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under the late Sir Neville Marriner, who died exactly a year ago today (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) … Continue reading Ives Symphony no. 3, ‘The Camp Meeting’
performed by the Rawlings Piano Trio (cover image by Kassey Downard) Horatio Parker was born on September 15, 1863 in Auburndale, Massachusetts. He studied first with his mother, then with Chadwick at the New England Conservatory. He also studied, as did … Continue reading Horatio Parker: Suite for Piano Trio in A, op. 35
performed by the DaVinci Quartet and James Barbagallo, or as below by five other people second and third/fourth movements (cover image by Matthew Landers) Arthur William Foote was born on March 5, 1853 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was organist of the … Continue reading Arthur Foote: Piano Quintet in Am, op. 38
performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi (cover image by Igor Goryachev) George Whitefield Chadwick was born on 13 November 1854 in Lowell, Massachusetts. I haven’t seen a lot around about his musical education, but he took organ … Continue reading George Whitefield Chadwick: Symphony no. 3 in F
performed by Neeme Järvi and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra …[w]e of the North should be far more likely to be influenced by old English, Scotch or Irish songs, inherited with our literature from our ancestors. -Amy Beach (cover image by … Continue reading Beach Symphony in E minor, Op. 32, ‘Gaelic’
performed by the Ulster Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta, or below by the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta (cover image by Freddie Marriage) Before Mr. Paine, there had never been an American music writer worthy of serious consideration in the … Continue reading John Knowles Paine: Symphony no. 1 in Cm
or The American Symphony: a Series I’ve been wanting to use that line for so long, and I am positive someone’s used it somewhere but I haven’t even bothered looking because I’m so proud I thought of it. In any case, … Continue reading America’s Next Top Mahler
performed by Dennis Russell Davies and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra Philip Glass’s first piano concerto isn’t (usually) referred to as piano concerto no. 1. Instead, it’s given the above name, the Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. It was completed … Continue reading Glass: Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
performed by Judith Bettina and Parnassus under Anthony Korf (sorry, there’s no video here again today, but if you can spare the dollar or whatever, I highly recommend purchasing the recording [I guess it has to be the entire album, so about $10…] on … Continue reading Babbitt’s The Head of the Bed
performed by Barbara Hendricks and the London Symphony Orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas, a remarkable performance, or below by Dawn Upshaw and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under David Zinman We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville, Tennessee … Continue reading Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915
performed by the Kronos Quartet and Aki Takahashi or below from the Midsummer Chamber Music Festival at the Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland Morton Feldman was born on January 12, 1926 and is considered “a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with … Continue reading Morton Feldman: Piano and String Quartet
performed by the Pacifica Quartet on Cedille Records (sorry, no YouTube), or here in iTunes Meet Easley Blackwood, a living American composer. Easley Blackwood, Jr. was born on April 21, 1933 in Indianapolis, Indiana, started studying piano, and by 14 was making solo … Continue reading Easley Blackwood: String Quartet no. 1
performed by the folks in this video: second and third movements Amy Mary Cheney Beach was born on September 5, 1867 in New Hampshire. She showed a stunning talent for music from an extremely young age, but her musical career … Continue reading Amy Beach: Piano Quintet in f sharp minor, op.67
performed (and premiered) by Maria Bachmann and Jon Klibonoff, second movement below The last work in our little series of pieces for the violin is a very recent work, having only been premiered in 2009. The piece was written specifically for Bachmann, and … Continue reading Glass Sonata for Violin and Piano