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 Kreeta-Julia Heikkilä, violin; Tuomas Lehto, cello; Roope Gröndahl, piano (cover image by Cassie Boca) Toivo Timoteus Kuula was born on July 7, 1883 in Vaasa, on the west coast of Finland. He studied privately with Sibelius from 1906-1908, and … Continue reading Toivo Kuula: Piano Trio, op. 7
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble, or below by the Prazak Quartet and Zemlinsky Quartet (in a recording I chose not for the sound quality but the engaging experience of watching only eight people … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Octet in E flat, op. 20
performed by Pinchas Zukerman & Daniel Barenboim (cover image by Ian Baldwin) Maybe I shouldn’t be discussing the first sonata before I address the violin concerto. The op. 78 sonata is only Brahms’ second work for the violin as a solo … Continue reading Brahms Violin Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78, ‘Regensonate’
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis and Ottomar Borwitzky, or below by Suk, Starker, and Katchen (cover image by Juja Han) Play this work while you’re reading, if you can, at least the first movement. Brahms was a prodigy for sure. … Continue reading Brahms Piano Trio no. 1 in B major, Op. 8
featuring Wen-Sinn Yang (楊文信 ), cello; May-Lin Ju (朱玫玲), clarinet; Chaio-Han Liao (廖皎含), piano Oh, how rarely we have local, affordable chamber music. The vast majority of the string quartet concerts we see are all from foreign ensembles, some … Continue reading NSO’s Trio Cantabile
performed by the Zurich String Trio, or below by Perlman, Zukerman, and Harrell This trio is the second in a series of three works that make up the opus no. 9, the first of which we discussed yesterday. This set … Continue reading Beethoven String Trio no. 4 in D, op. 9 no. 2
performed by the Zurich String Trio or below by the Grumiaux Trio Here we have from Beethoven another set of early works published under the same opus number, the three op. 9 string trios. We’ll be discussing one per article, … Continue reading Beethoven String Trio no. 3 in G, op. 9 no. 1
performed by Boris Berman and the Vermeer Quartet, or below by the Borodin trio and Mimi Zweig (violin), Jerry Horner (viola) The Gm piano quintet, one of the composer’s most enduring chamber works, comes right after the composer’s sixth symphony, … Continue reading Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor, op. 57
performed by the Prager Streichquartett Wow… this is a long quartet. But maybe it shouldn’t be. The Prague String Quartet’s recording comes in at 48 minutes, which feels pretty hefty for a chamber work, but other recordings, like that from the … Continue reading Dvorak String Quartet no. 1 in A, op. 2
performed by Hayoung Bang, Violin; Sebastian Ortega, Cello; Serina Chang, Piano Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was born on 9 October 1835 in Paris, child of an official in the French Ministry of the Interior, who died only a few months after his … Continue reading Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Trio No.1 in F major, op.18
featuring Lisa Casal-Galietta, artistic director of the Red Door Chamber Players, available here or in iTunes In a previous episode, a guest spoke to me convincingly about ‘entry points’ to classical music. We’re fortunate in this day and age to have … Continue reading Podcast: A (Red) Door to Classical
performed by Elisabeth Zeuthen Schneider, Amalie Malling & Morten Zeuthen (sorry, no video today… but here’s the album [with audio samples] or from iTunes, the score, and the parts for sale) Otto Valdemar Malling was born on 1 June, 1848 in Copenhagen (we’ll be … Continue reading Otto Malling: Piano trio in Am, op. 36
Per Sandklef, violin, Gideon Roehr , viola Åke Olofsson, cello Carin Gille-Rybrant, piano Johan August Söderman was born on 17 July, 1832 in Stockholm. Wikipedia says he “has traditionally been seen as the pre-eminent Swedish composer of the Romantic generation, … Continue reading August Söderman: Piano Quartet in E minor
Fugue for Thought 