performed by David Pyatt and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner, or below with the fantastic Radek Baborák and the Mito Chamber Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa W. A. Mozart took pity on Leitgeb, ass, ox and fool … Continue reading Mozart Horn Concerto no. 2 in E flat, K. 417
performed by David Pyatt, horn; Kenneth Sillito, Robert Smissen, Stephen Orton & Stephen Tees, or below by members of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble, with Timothy Brown as soloist (I’d also like to mention Andrew Clark’s recording with Ensemble Galant, … Continue reading Mozart Horn Quintet in E flat, K. 407
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner, or below with The Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood There are only two full sentences on Wikipedia for today’s symphony, and the first one, rivetingly, … Continue reading Mozart Symphony no. 21 in A, K. 134
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
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
… in which the audience voted for at least part of the program. The voting process for this evening’s program was announced last summer and began some months ago. Among the options included Bernstein’s overture to Candide, a Respighi piece, … Continue reading NSO’s New Year Concert
Mahler, Mahler, Mahler! Performances of Mahler symphonies aren’t rare, nowadays, by any stretch of the imagination, but locally, in one area, it may not be so often to be able to walk in on a performance of such a mammoth work as Mahler’s … Continue reading NSO’s Titan Arise
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
ASMF/Marriner It’s a bit ridiculous to say I hear development or progress from this work as compared with yesterday’s piece that didn’t move me much, because they were written within weeks of each other, in May of 1772, but this symphony is, at least to me, … Continue reading Mozart Symphony No. 18 in C, K. 130
ASMF/Marriner (who I think is playing below) After telling us that Mozart composed this work in 1772 at 16 years of age (the very same month he completed K. 128) (and that “some of its sections may have been written earlier”), … Continue reading Mozart Symphony no. 17 in G, K. 129
ASMF/Marriner, who I believe also plays in the video below: Of the sixteenth symphony, Wikipedia says “The form is that of a standard three-movement Italian overture,” unlike yesterday’s work. Both the first and second movements are ‘essays in sonata-allegro form,’ … Continue reading Mozart Symphony no. 16 in C, K. 128
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Sir Neville Marriner The second of the Salzburg symphonies, no. 15 in G is in four movements and clocks in at a whopping 12 and a half minutes. Wikipedia’s … Continue reading Mozart Symphony No. 15 in G, K. 124
performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner, or below by the Vienna Philharmonic under James Levine, who observes some repeats that make the work an extra 4-ish minutes longer Well, hello again, Mr. Mozart. … Continue reading W. A. Mozart Symphony no. 14 in A, K. 114
performed by the Amadeus Quartet, or below, in an echoey recording by the Festetics Quartet We are now into the ‘Milanese quartets’, a true cycle of six quartets the young Mozart wrote in Milan between 1772 and 1773. These Milanese quartets … Continue reading W. A. Mozart String Quartet No. 2 in D major, K. 155
I love the French horn. But it has to be one of the most difficult, unreliable, wobbly instruments in the ensemble. In most (rare-ish) cases of a missed entry or high note, a ‘whoops’ of loss of tone or control, the … Continue reading Concert Review: NSO’s Blast of Spring
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 (what’s with the academies?) So it’s been some time since we got around to a Mozart … Continue reading Mozart Symphony no. 13 in F, K. 112
performed by the Amadeus Quartet This first string quartet effort, when the composer was only fourteen years old, has charm and interest in spades compared to the first efforts of Papa Haydn. While I’m sure his divertimenti served their intended … Continue reading W. A. Mozart String Quartet no. 1 in G, K. 80
This will be a short one. Salient points as follows: Mozart in Mandarin and Min nan (instead of German recitative) No English (or even German) marquee (the former I understand why not) Local political issues infused into centuries old German opera … Continue reading ESO’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail
The actual music portion. Part one yesterday I suppose was more like a long preface or lead-in to the two concerts that will go down in my books as the most anticipated things I’ve ever attended. But yesterday, all we talked … Continue reading Concert Review: Vienna Philharmonic in Taipei- Part 2
Fugue for Thought 