featuring violinist Paul Huang (黃俊文) It’s been a little while since I’d seen the TSO. I wasn’t able to attend the all-Sibelius concert with Okko Kamu, unfortunately, but Varga was back in town tonight. Not for long, though. As the … Continue reading TSO’s Pre-Tour Concert
featuring Jan Vogler Programming is so important. And our NSO is sounding incredible this season. Some of you likely enjoyed, depending on your generation, making mixtapes, burning mixes on CD, or creating playlists to distribute or enjoy via various media … Continue reading NSO’s Poem of Ecstasy
performed by Sviatoslav Richter and the Bavarian State Orchestra under Carlos Kleiber I see I am unable to write a Concerto for a virtuoso; I must think of other things. Dvorak, about his piano concerto … there is nothing in … Continue reading Dvorak Piano Concerto in G minor, Op. 33
performed by the Borodin Quartet with Sviatoslav Richter My dear friend! Do you remember that quintet (A major) with piano which, thanks to your efforts, was performed in Prague for the first time, about 14 years ago? I cannot find … Continue reading Dvorak Piano Quintet No. 1 in A, op. 5, B. 28
featuring Ray Chen More Russian music. Another violin concerto. But this time, it’s goodbye to the NSO, temporarily anyway. They’re off to Europe this weekend, and before they go jet-setting, they gave us a preview of some of the pieces … Continue reading NSO’s Pre-tour Concert
performed by Carmine Miranda and the Moravian Philharmonic under Petr Vronský, or below in another stunning performance with Rostropovich and the London Philharmonic under Guilini, the same pairing from Saint-Saëns last week! If I had known that it was possible to … Continue reading Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Rafael Kubelik Yeah, a symphony that isn’t his ninth. And it’s superb, Dvorak at his finest. Dvorak could be one of those composers who’s been cursed by his own success from a few very … Continue reading Dvorak Symphony no. 7 in D minor, Op. 70
performed by the Prager Streichquartett, or below by the Cleveland Quartet This is one of those pieces that impedes the discovery of all the composer’s other works in the form. We’ll eventually get around to Saint-Saëns’ organ symphony, but it’s the one that makes … Continue reading Dvorak String Quartet no. 12 in F major Op. 96 ‘American’
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
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
featuring Carmine Miranda. Listen here or find Fugue for Thought in iTunes. As mentioned in the first part of my conversation with Mr. Miranda, much of the more successful blog articles and things that I prepare are on more obscure (or … Continue reading Podcast: Dvorak’s Diverse Concerto
featuring cellist Carmine Miranda. Listen here or find it in iTunes. I’m interested in interesting things. Aren’t you? Codes and ciphers are interesting. Is there something secretive in Schumann’s sole cello concerto? While not a performer of any kind, I agreed with what … Continue reading Podcast: Schumann’s Cipher
As you have perhaps been able to tell, it’s been a busy month for concerts. A few highly anticipated events were earlier this month, but it also seems to be the month in which the conductors (Gilbert Varga and 呂紹嘉) return to … Continue reading NSO’s Evening of Symphonic Blast
performed by the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra under Theodore Kuchar, or below by the Vienna Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa Excitingly another work from Dvořák this week, with his Noon Witch, a piece I had the chance to hear live a year or more … Continue reading Dvořák: The Noon Witch, op. 108
performed by the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra under Theodore Kuchar, or below with the Polish National Radio Symphony under Antoni Wit This is our 400th post here on Fugue for Thought! We’re coming up on a more significant milestone later in … Continue reading Dvořák: The Water Goblin, Op. 107 (B. 195)
So…. influential in a different way. While people like Nadia Boulanger or Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov were incredibly influential as, among other things, educators, the only student of Dvořák’s whose name jumped out at me was one Josef Suk (composer, not the violinist), … Continue reading Influential People: Antonín Dvořák
performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Raphael Kubelik, or below with the Vienna Philharmonic under Karajan: Some interesting facts about this piece: It’s worth noting (as I mentioned in the Dvorak 2 post) that until his earlier symphonies were discovered, this … Continue reading Dvorak Symphony no. 9 in Em, op. 95: 120th anniversary
This article has been marked as in need of a revisit. That’s where I feel like I didn’t do the piece justice or have more to say (usually because I didn’t know it nearly well enough or didn’t have the right perspective). I’ll keep the original article for posterity, but publish a new version that will eventually be linked here for my new take on it. performed by the Berlin Philharmonic under Raphael Kubelik It’s taking me more time to get through what I believe is enough listens to write these days. Started listening to this one last week, and … Continue reading Antonin Dvorak: Symphony no. 2, op. 4
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