performed by the Beaux Arts Trio, or below by the people credited in this video (cover image by Joanna Kosinska) Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born on May 29, 1897 in Brünn, Austria-Hungary, which is nowadays Brno, in what is apparently … Continue reading Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Piano trio in D, op. 1
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis, Wolfram Christ and Ottomar Borwitzky, or below with Sviatoslav Richter and members of the Borodin Quartet (cover image by Maciej Rusek) We recently discussed the G minor quartet, op. 25, and it was a reminder … Continue reading Brahms Piano Quartet No. 2 in A, op. 26
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis, Wolfram Christ and Ottomar Borwitzky, or below by Ax, Stern, Laredo, and Ma (cover image by Patrick Fischer) If you haven’t yet discovered Brahms’s chamber music, here’s a bit more for you. We’ve done a … Continue reading Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1 in Gm, op. 25
performed by Steven Isserlis, or below by Anner Bylsma (cover image by Ashley Knedler) We’ve finally made our way around to another installment of Bach’s cello suites. I remember nearly two years ago now when I began the weekend chamber … Continue reading Bach Cello Suite no. 5 in Cm, BWV 1011
performed by the Delmé Quartet (cover image by Cassie Boca) We will in due course get to the composer’s fourth, fifth, and sixth quartets, which are their own trilogy with a spiritual connection to Beethoven’s three Razumovsky quartets. This third … Continue reading Simpson String Quartet no. 3
performed by the Hamburg Philharmonic under Simone Young, or below with a second favorite, the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony under Stanisław Skrowaczewski (cover image by Cassie Boca) Back to Bruckner. He’s a link between Beethoven and the next composer we’ll be … Continue reading Bruckner Symphony no. 5 in B-flat, WAB 105
performed by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich (cover image by Rodion Kutsaev) Today’s work is the third and final installment in the op. 12 piano sonatas, completed in 1798 and dedicated to Antonio Salieri, with whom Beethoven studied for a … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 3 in E-flat, op. 12 no. 3
performed by Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich (cover image by Annie Spratt) As discussed in Monday’s post, these three violin sonatas are Beethoven’s first, dating from 1798, and dedicated to Antonio Salieri, the supposed antagonist of that Mozart film. These … Continue reading Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 2 in A, op. 12 no. 2
performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under the composer’s baton If music were a part of man’s everyday life, as it should be, there would certainly be less aggression and much more equality and love on Earth; for music is a … Continue reading Hans Werner Henze: Symphony no. 1
performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Leif Segerstam, or below by the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvensky While composing the symphony for four years, I simultaneously worked on the music to M. Romm‘s film I Believe…. … Continue reading Schnittke Symphony no. 1
performed by the Tempera Quartet (cover image by Kristopher Kinsinger) I feel that quartets are in a way the genre in which I am most at home. I use the instruments rather mildly, without any great technical finesse. Nordgren, from … Continue reading Pehr Henrik Nordgren: String Quartet no. 10
performed by the Cikada String Quartet, or as below You were not allowed to have pulse, or tonally oriented harmonies, or melodies. I don’t want to write music through negations. Everything is permissible as long as it’s done in good taste. … Continue reading Kaija Saariaho: Nymphéa
performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Jussi Jalas (No YouTube, but you can watch a performance here under Hannu Lintu. Click the video for the piece and it should load.) (cover image by Teddy Kelley) When a good … Continue reading Helvi Leiviskä: Symphony no. 3
performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä (no YouTube video here either, but I also strongly suggest getting a recording of this work and of Aho’s first. Maybe start with the first, and see what you think. I love … Continue reading Revisit: Aho Symphony no. 2
performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä (This work is so unfortunately not available for convenient sharing on YouTube, but I strongly suggest, if you like Shostakovich or any good, bleak 20th century symphony, to go purchase this … Continue reading Aho Symphony no. 1
performed by the Medici String Quartet (Again, we have a piece with no YouTube video. I’ll be perfectly honest: this piece will not be many people’s cup of tea, but if you’re a lover of Webern or Schoenberg or anything … Continue reading Usko Meriläinen: String Quartet no. 1
performed by the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under Max Pommer (in what I believe is the world premiere recording, maybe) second, third and fourth movements (cover image by Teddy Kelley) Einojuhani Rautavaara has been on the blog before. In fact, … Continue reading Rautavaara Symphony no. 3
performed by the Sibelius Academy Quartet (So this, I think, is the first time in the series that we don’t have a video available on YouTube, but it certainly won’t be the last. As it turns out, there are about a … Continue reading Joonas Kokkonen: Quintet For Piano And String Quartet, op. 5
performed by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Petri Sakari, or below by the Finlandia Orchestra under Tauno Hannikainen (cover image by Andreea Chidu) Aare Merikanto was born on June 29, 1893 in Helsinki, the son of Oskar Merikanto, himself a composer. … Continue reading Aarre Merikanto: Symphony No. 3
performed by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Pertti Pekkanen (cover image by Vincent Guth) This is a remarkable symphony, on par with, say, Shostakovich. Sven Einar Englund was born on June 17, 1916 in Ljugarn, Gotland (an island), Sweden, and was … Continue reading Einar Englund: Symphony no. 1, ‘The War Symphony’
performed by the Echnaton Trio, or below by Peter Sirotin, Violin; Michael Stepniak, Viola; Fiona Thompson, Cello (cover image by Geoffrey Datema) Today’s work is obviously a much later piece than the first symphony, with an identifiably chromatic vocabulary. Its four … Continue reading Melartin String Trio, op. 133
Fugue for Thought 