performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado There had to come a day when we could hear how a chord of eight tones really sounds in the brasses! (cover image by Tara Evans) Earlier in the week, we had Schoenberg’s op. 16, … Continue reading Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra, op. 6
Performed by the Quatuor Diotima and Marie-Nicole Lemieux, or below by the Juilliard Quartet (without vocalist) If I haven’t already mentioned it, and I’m pretty sure I have, the works of Alban Berg might for many be the way into … Continue reading Berg: Lyric Suite
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado and all the people in this recording (Act 1 with subtitles below, Abbado and the Vienna State Opera) Still, alles still, als wär’ die Welt tot (Still, all is still, as if the … Continue reading Berg: Wozzeck, op. 7
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
with the Ensemble Quatrain Cologne and 陳必先 (Chen Pi-Hsien) Connections are a good thing to have. It took me some time to get into the system, to figure out how the ticket buying and membership-ing all works, but once you … Continue reading 2016 Innovation Series: Klassic Kindheit Concert
I have come to love string quartets. It seems this group of four instruments has the perfect balance of succinct compactness, clarity, cohesion, and range of expression. There are times when a quartet sounds perfectly like a quartet, with four … Continue reading Some 20th Century String Quartets: A small series
performed by the Kohon Quartet (Bernard Zaslav was violist, and is a former member of the Fine Arts quartet, whose wonderful performance [and sole recording] of Babbitt’s third string quartet I recently got my hands on) It’s always odd looking … Continue reading Berg String Quartet, op. 3
How I got here: As stated on my About Me page, my interest in music was rooted in a fascination with the piano. It seems natural, then, that as I started to familiarize myself with classical music, the piano was … Continue reading Dodecaphony: Part 3
I want to share a very long quote I was pleased to read the other day about a subject I had been thinking about not too long ago. As the title suggests, it’s from Erst Krenek, regarding his opinion based on his experience of finishing works left incomplete by other composers. He says the following: Completing the unfinished work of a great master is a very delicate task. In my opinion it can honestly be undertaken only if the original fragment contains all of the main ideas of the unfinished work. In such a case a respectful craftsman may attempt, … Continue reading Ernst Krenek on completing unfinished works
performed by Glenn Gould https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/QNk_A4ZoI30&source=uds (also, don’t watch this… just listen to it) Welcome to part two of three of our music-I-enjoy-and-appreciate-but-don’t-really-understand-so-can’t-say-anything-terribly-constructive-or-educational-or-useful-about-so-take-this-with-a-grain-of-salt series. The first in this series a few weeks ago was Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, which thankfully had a … Continue reading Alban Berg: piano sonata in Bm, op. 1
Fugue for Thought 