performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, or The Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood This current era of Mozart symphonies we’re working through is when he composed what are referred to as the Salzburg symphonies, … Continue reading Mozart Symphony no. 20 in D major, K. 133
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, or below by The Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood Let’s just ponder for a moment. Did you read yesterday’s article about The Young Mozart’s fifth string … Continue reading Mozart Symphony No. 19 in E flat, K. 132,
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below by the Festetics Quartet Mozart’s fifth string quartet was written in 1773, the fourth of the Milanese quartets, as they are called, for where they were composed. Like all of the Milanese quartets, … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 5 in F major, K. 158
performed by Anne Sofie von Otter and the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado or, because she’s an outstanding performer and it’s a (somewhat unclear) video of a live performance, Jessye Norman and the London Symphony under Pierre Boulez If you’ve … Continue reading Berg: Sieben frühe Lieder
for clarinet and piano performed by Sabine Meyer and Oleg Maisenberg But I must thank you for your censure just as much as for everything you ever gave me, in the full knowledge that it is meant well—and for my … Continue reading Berg: Vier Stücke, op. 5
performed by the Quatuor Diotima and Sandrine Piau, or below by the New Vienna String Quartet and Evelyn Lear If I had to pinpoint a moment in musical history, a piece in particular that is the breaking point, the straw that … Continue reading Schoenberg String Quartet no. 2, op. 10
performed by Violeta Urmana, Michael Schade and the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez With one stroke, I have lost everything I have gained in terms of who I thought I was, and have to learn my first steps again like … Continue reading Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez Es gibt doch nur eine VI. trotz der Pastorale. Alban Berg The sixth is a collection of questions, an enigma, a knot to be untied by repeated listenings and the development of your … Continue reading Revisit: Mahler Symphony no. 6 in Am
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez I recently featured this piece on a concert program alongside Mozart’s D minor piano concerto. Please go check out that article on my new Substack, where I do most of my writing … Continue reading Revisit: Mahler Symphony no. 5
performed by the Saito Kinen Orchestra and the Shinyukai choir under Seiji Ozawa, Emiko Suga, soprano; Nathalie Stutzmann, contralto; or below, with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, Eteri Gvazava, soprano; Anna Larsson, mezzo-soprano The music that can change … Continue reading Revisit: Mahler Symphony no. 2, ‘Resurrection’
performed by the Chicago Symphony orchestra under Pierre Boulez Here we are, beginning a whole new journey sort of all over again. I started listening to Mahler’s symphonies not in any real order, and more out of curiosity or fascination than actual … Continue reading Revisit: Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major
performed by the Melos Quartet Quick on the heels of the young composer’s incomplete fifth quartet is his sixth, in D major. The composition of this work begun just days after the completion (or abandonment?) of the fifth quartet, and … Continue reading Schubert String Quartet no. 6 in D major, D. 74
performed by the Melos Quartet 1813 was a busy year for the young Franz Schubert. But then again, to have died at 31 and written as much as he did, perhaps every year was a busy year for Franz Schubert. … Continue reading Schubert String Quartet no. 5 in B flat, D. 68
performed by Fritz Wunderlich, tenor; Hubert Giesen, piano While we’ve addressed Schubert as the composer of symphonies and some solo piano works, his real fame and the bulk of his output comes from Lieder, songs for voice, and our piece today is one … Continue reading Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795
Mozart’s fourth string quartet is the third of the six so-called Milanese quartets (no. 1 not included in that set). Like all the Milanese quartets, it’s in three movements, and like most of them, contains a middle movement in the … Continue reading Mozart String Quartet no. 4 in C, K.157
performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Gottfried Rabl Egon Joseph Wellesz was born on October 21, 1885 to Hungarian Christians of Jewish ancestry. He grew up Protestant, but later converted to Catholicism. He studied under both Arnold Schoenberg, father … Continue reading Egon Wellesz: Symphony no. 4, ‘Sinfonia Austriaca’
performed by the Amadeus Quartet and movement 2 and movement 3 respectively, or in a complete performance here (with the score) that is also very nice And now we’ll jump back more than two hundred years before last week’s quartet … Continue reading W. A. Mozart String Quartet No. 3 in G, K. 156
performed by members of the London Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, or the below with (members of) the Berlin Philharmonic also under Boulez Greater unity is impossible. Even the Netherlander didn’t manage it. In the fourth variation there are constant … Continue reading Webern: Symphony, op. 21
performed by the Juilliard Quartet Non multa sed multum (Not much in quantity, but much in content) A Deruchie We’re nearing the end of a long stretch of history (of course skipping over a lot) into the modern era, but … Continue reading Webern: Six Bagatelles, op. 9
performed by the Chicago Symphony, with the Vienna State Opera Chorus, Singverein Chorus, and the Vienna Boys Choir, under Sir Georg Solti, vocalists: Heather Harper, Lucia Popp, Arleen Auger, Yvonne Minton, Helen Watts, René Kollo, John Shirley-Quirk & Martti Talvela (I’ll … Continue reading Mahler Symphony no. 8 in E-flat major
(Songs on the Death of Children) performed by Anne Sofie von Otter and the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez Rückert’s 428 poems on the death of children became singular, almost manic documents of the psychological endeavor to cope with such … Continue reading Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
Fugue for Thought 