Tag: Music

Works that I do my best to write about (at least once a week, usually on Thursdays). For collections of pieces, check out the Series link above.

Music2 Comments

Schoenberg: Drei Klavierstücke, op. 11

Fugue for Thought

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 Maurizio Pollini That looks intimidating, those three links, but honestly, these pieces aren’t terribly overwhelming. In total, they come to about 13 or 14 minutes of music. Very delicious, important music. While … Continue reading Schoenberg: Drei Klavierstücke, op. 11

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Schubert Symphony no. 4 in Cm, D. 417, ‘Tragic,

Fugue for Thought

performed by the ASMF under Sir Neville Marriner, or below by the Vienna Philharmonic under Nikolaus Harnoncourt at the Muskverein Mini-German part 3 I’ve never really cared much for nicknames or monikers for pieces… They are often not chosen by the composer, sometimes not even approved of, and sometimes not even coined until long after the composer is gone.At least in the instance of Schubert’s Tragische, the name was of his own devising. My other gripe with names like this is that I don’t always (in fact, rarely do I) agree with them. ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Titan’ come to mind. ‘From … Continue reading Schubert Symphony no. 4 in Cm, D. 417, ‘Tragic,

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Schubert Symphony no. 3 in D major, D. 200

Fugue for Thought

performed, as always, by Neville Marriner and the ASMF, or below by Marriss Jansons and the Concertgebouw (apologies for the anime image, but it’s a nice performance) Mini-German: Part 2(I know he’s Austrian) Now for a slight change of pace. Sort of. While this work came a decade after last week’s Beethoven piece, it is… at least to my ears, not as far ahead of its time. That’s no criticism at all. Let me explain.For one, Eroica was just kind of a phenomenal thing. Beethoven was already into his thirties when this piece was written. Schubert was about half that … Continue reading Schubert Symphony no. 3 in D major, D. 200

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Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto

Fugue for Thought

performed by Martin Frost and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra So here we are in our final installment of a brief but surprisingly enjoyable miniseries on the clarinet.  What’s left? Well, we haven’t had a concerto yet, and this week’s piece brings us solidly into the modern era, with a piece written within the lifetimes of some people still around today.  Copland’s clarinet concerto was written shortly after his third symphony. I feel like this shouldn’t be the piece we use to first represent Copland on the blog, as he has lots of other stuff worth talking about, but in the … Continue reading Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto

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Grainger: Molly on the Shore

Fugue for Thought

performed by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra (or below by the North Texas Wind Symphony) This is the second piece of the great and interesting Percy Aldridge Grainger that we’ll be discussing, the first of which was his Children’s March.  We played this one in school as well, and it’s just so much fun. I know Grainger was Australian, but this is perhaps the reason I think of him as so Irish, because this piece is the first of his that I had any familiarity with, and it’s a setting of two Irish reels. As usual, Wikipedia … Continue reading Grainger: Molly on the Shore

concerto, Music1 Comment

Centenniel Music Post: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in Dm, op. 30

Fugue for Thought

performed by the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin under Riccardo Chailly; Martha Argerich, piano //player.vimeo.com/video/63725542 This is intimidating. I guess everything about this piece is except for listening to it, and sometimes even that. There’s so. much. to. say. about this piece that I almost don’t want to try. There are so many theses, recordings, liner notes, program notes, concert talks and everything else about this piece that it would be ludicrous for me to think I have anything else to add but my own opinion and feelings of the piece, so that’s pretty much all I’m going to share, aside from some basics. For the technical bits … Continue reading Centenniel Music Post: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in Dm, op. 30

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Ravel: Bolero

Fugue for Thought

performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado MYCU: Part 6  In one swift stroke of genius, I wrote a wonderful post about this piece, and then Blogger ate it. I am livid. Thankfully, I have most of it still in mind. Thanks for nothing, technologies. From Wikipedia: Ida Rubinstein, the inspiration behind Boléro. Portrait by Valentin Serov. I had to check with a friend to make sure this wouldn’t sound weird, but there’s basically two things you need to know about this piece, and they are as follows: It’s a fantastic treatise in orchestration It’s like, the sexiest piece of classical … Continue reading Ravel: Bolero

German(ic) Symphony Series 2014, Music, Symphony2 Comments

Bruckner Symphony no. 4 in Eb major, ‘Romantic’ (Haas, 1881)

Fugue for Thought

performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Karl Böhm (1973 recording), or below with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado So did I have that epiphany (from Tuesday’s post)? I think I may have. It seems there comes some point … Continue reading Bruckner Symphony no. 4 in Eb major, ‘Romantic’ (Haas, 1881)

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Percy A. Grainger: Children’s March (or ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’)

Fugue for Thought

performed by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind EnsembleAwesomely cool easy to follow condensed conductor’s score with notes here (PDF)Music You Can Understand: Part 5 https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/k8oRPbjZt4Q&source=uds So this is like…. Different.  And also, before you listen to it, in my experience and those of my classmates in high school, this piece is an earworm of the worst kind.  In my About Me page, I mentioned band in high school. I never had any formal (or even informal, really) musical training. I remember once when our director told a percussionist to go play a C major chord and then a … Continue reading Percy A. Grainger: Children’s March (or ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’)

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Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in Cm, op. 18

Fugue for Thought

performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Jascha Horenstein, Earl Wild, piano This may not be the most popular version of the work, but it’s the one I ‘learned’ this piece from; it’s the one I came to love this piece as a result of, and no other performance compares. It may be a bit brisker than a few other interpretations, but it’s perfect. These people knew what they were doing.  and this is a must-watch   Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Nikolai Lugansky) from Philharmonia Orchestra on Vimeo. So…. This is an important piece. I’d been thinking what to … Continue reading Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in Cm, op. 18