performed by the Amar Quartet, or below by the Danish String Quartet (cover image by Annie Sprat) Paul Hindemith’s first string quartet wasn’t recognized as such until recently. In Stephen Luttman’s book Paul Hindemith: a Guide to Research, he makes a … Continue reading Hindemith String Quartet no. 1 in C, op. 2
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 Mstislav Rostropovich and Rudolf Serkin, or below with Jacqueline du Pré and Barenboim (The work is officially titled ‘Sonate für Klavier und Violoncello‘; we will discuss this shortly.) (cover image by Miguel Mateo) Brahms completed his first sonata … Continue reading Brahms Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, op. 38
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
performed by Trio Wanderer, or below by the Castle Trio, on period instruments (cover image by Martin Oslic) More Beethoven! Today’s work acts as sort of an introduction to what we’ll be doing in the month of August, similar to … Continue reading Beethoven Variations in E-flat piano trio, op. 44
The TSO continues their presentation of Carl Orff’s operatic works, which began with last year’s performance of Die Kluge in their old stomping grounds the Zhong Shan Hall. That was the primary reason I didn’t go… But tonight we got Der Mond, a … Continue reading TSO’s Der Mond
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 Maurizio Pollini and the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, or below by Mitsuko Uchida and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mariss Jansons Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto, with an opus number of 58, dates from the time of … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 4 in G, op. 58
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 Jean Efflam-Bavouzet, or below by Annie Fischer In the two posts from earlier this week, we discussed the other two sonatas from Beethoven’s op. 10, the fifth sonata, in Cm, as well as the sixth, in F. These … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 7 in D, op. 10 no. 3
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Annie Fischer In today’s work, as with all previous Beethoven sonatas, and likely with all future ones as well, we turn to the wealth of knowledge to be found in the lecture series … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 6 in F, Op. 10, No. 2
performed by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, or below by Annie Fischer I cannot overstate the wonderfulness of Sir András Schiff’s series of lectures about the Beethoven sonatas. They make me feel like I know these works so well, and even after having listened … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 5 in Cm, op. 10 no. 1
performed by the Endellion String Quartet and David Adams, viola, or below by the Zurich String Quintet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md5qlgDHADU Composed in 1795, Beethoven’s op. 4 was originally an octet written for pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons and horns. That work was … Continue reading Beethoven String Quintet in E flat, op. 4
performed by the London Mozart Players under Matthias Bamert Yes, that William Herschel. The one who discovered Uranus. Feel free to giggle. Frederick William Herschel (but actually Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel) was born on 15 November, 1738, in Hanover, “in Germany, then part of … Continue reading William Herschel: Symphony no. 8 in Cm for strings
performed by Peter Damm and the Staatskapelle Dresden under Rudolf Kempe, or below by Stefan Dohr and the Oklahoma Symphony under Hansjörg Schellenberger This is very early Strauss. It was written by a very young Richard Strauss to his father, a horn player … Continue reading Strauss Horn Concerto no. 1 in E-flat, op. 11
performed by Tamás Vásáry, Thomas Brandis & Norbert Hauptmann, or below by Dale Clevenger, Itzhak Perlman, and Daniel Barenboim It’s been a while since we’ve seen Brahms on the blog, in fact about nine months, in his fourth and final symphony. Today’s … Continue reading Brahms Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40
performed by Barry Tuckwell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner (from the same album mentioned earlier in the week), or below by Anthony Halstead, natural horn, with The Hannover Band under Roy Goodman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn6nsiNFiVs This is our first appearance … Continue reading Carl Maria von Weber: Concertino for Horn in Em, J188 (Op. 45)
performed by Andrew Clark, natural horn; Geoffrey Govier, fortepiano Who is this Beethoven? His name is not known to us. Of course, Punto is very well known. Hungarian Music Critic, in response to a performance of the work by its … Continue reading Beethoven Horn Sonata, op. 17
performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden under Rudolf Kempe, unquestionably the best recording of the work, in my opinion The death of this aspiring, idealistic, energetic artist is a grave loss… Strauss, on the death of Gustav Mahler Today’s work is … Continue reading Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie, op. 64
performed by the Hagen Quartet, or below by the Cherubini Quartet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVgFd5Z34w After Schumann’s vocal phase in 1840 and 1841, he turned to chamber music. All three quartets, collectively published under opus no. 41, as well as the piano quintet … Continue reading Schumann String Quartet no. 2 in F, op. 41 no. 2
Fugue for Thought 