performed by Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements (cover image by Lex Sirikiat) You like forensics, don’t you, dear reader? After shows like CSI and others, as well as what seems (at least to me) to be the growing fad of … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 13 in B flat, K. 333
performed by Mitsuko Uchida (cover image by Vincent Giersch) This is a piece that has captivated me, and although it may not be, like the finale of the previous sonata, one of those immediately recognizable, iconic passages, it exudes such … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 12 in F, K. 332
performed by Mitsuko Uchida second and third movements (cover image by Joanna Kosinska) Mozart’s eleventh piano sonata was composed somewhere, at some point. It’s not often that we don’t have all the juicy details about the composition of Mozart’s efforts … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 11 in A, K. 331
performed by Mitsuko Uchida, or below by Krystian Zimerman (cover image by Tim Mossholder) As if we didn’t have enough Mozart last year, with week after week of his music, we’re going to see his name yet a few more … Continue reading Mozart Piano Sonata no. 10 in C, K. 330
performed by Jean-Guihen Queyras, or below by Pieter Wispelwey (cover image by Patrick Hendry) And now for something a little lighter. I’d originally intended to cover all six of these suites across three consecutive weekends, but later thought better of … Continue reading Bach Cello Suite no. 6 in D major, BWV. 1012
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, with the fourth below it played sublimely by Eric Lu (cover image by Jez Timms) Chopin composed his op. 17 mazurkas between 1832 and 1833, and they were published in Leipzig in 1834. The composer … Continue reading Chopin: Four Mazurkas, op. 17
performed by Steven Isserlis, or below by Anner Bylsma (cover image by Ashley Knedler) We’ve finally made our way around to another installment of Bach’s cello suites. I remember nearly two years ago now when I began the weekend chamber … Continue reading Bach Cello Suite no. 5 in Cm, BWV 1011
performed by Rafał Blechacz It’s about darn time to get Chopin’s music back on the blog, and so we’ll revisit him by discussing a work that so simply, so powerfully expresses the entire gamut of human emotion in an irresistible, … Continue reading Chopin: Preludes, op. 28
performed by William Purvis (sorry, no YouTube today, but hop on over to the Naxos page featuring this album to hear a few snippets of this vibrant, varied work for solo horn.) Doesn’t anyone here know anything about baseball? … … Continue reading Babbitt: Around the Horn
performed by Steven Isserlis, or below by Rostropovich (Is it sacrilege to say I don’t like M-Rost’s Bach? As I have discussed below, I have gotten very attached and used to Isserlis’ readings of these works, as new a recording … Continue reading Bach Cello Suite No. 4 in E-flat, BWV 1010
I had started this article before the concert with a small introduction and basic thoughts. Scratch it all. But if you don’t get to anything else, look at the program and jump to the subtitle below. There’s something inexplicably magical … Continue reading Hélène Grimaud’s ‘Water Reflection’
All six of them. These pieces have been interjecting themselves into my life lately. When I started the String Quartet Series back in February, I decided to start with Bach because it’d been two and a half years on the blog and … Continue reading Concert Review: Alexander Rudin plays Bach
performed by Steven Isserlis, or below (in full) by Maurice Gendron So here we are for the second of our installments of the Bach cello suites. If you haven’t yet listened to the awesome third episode of the podcast with cellist Richard Narroway, … Continue reading Bach Cello Suite No.2 in D minor, BWV 1008
performed by Martha Argerich The article from a few days ago about Liszt was to try to give a few of the highlights that I personally enjoyed about Liszt’s life. This virtuoso performer and composer is likely more known through … Continue reading Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178
…unlike Wagner, Alkan did not seek to refashion the world through opera; nor, like Berlioz, to dazzle the crowds by putting orchestral music at the service of literary expression; nor even, as with Chopin or Liszt, to extend the field … Continue reading Charles-Valentin Alkan: Souvenirs: Trois Morceaux dans le genre pathétique, op. 15
performed by Claudio Arrau Yesterday we spoke at some length about the early history of Brahms and his classical, traditional bent. His first piano sonata and his first symphony, among other works, show clear influence from Beethoven, and a great … Continue reading Brahms: Scherzo in Eb minor, op. 4
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, or below by Murray Perahia I feel I must add a few words about the origin of the Papillons, for the thread that is meant to bind them together is scarcely visible. You will remember the … Continue reading Schumann: Papillons, op. 2
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, or below by Christoph Eschenbach On to Schumann! Schumann was born the same year as Chopin, on June 8, 1810, and as we’ve stated with some of Chopin’s pieces, he made glowing statements about Chopin’s early works in his own early days as a music critic, even inspiring his own future father-in-law to sing the praises of Chopin’s op. 2, embarrassing its composer in the process. While Chopin marked the end of our really hefty address of some of the earliest piano works of really significant composers, I couldn’t help but add a few things to … Continue reading Schumann: Variations on the name Abbeg, op. 1
performed by Idil Biret no. 2 here no. 3 here There are three of these works, but I’m not going to address them on separate days as we did with the works that make up Beethoven’s ops 1 and 2. … Continue reading Chopin Nocturnes, op. 9
performed by Idil Biret, or as below by Vladimir Ashkenazy Hello again, and welcome back to our second installment today, continuing our discussion about Chopin’s early mazurkas. If you didn’t catch the earlier discussions of what a mazurka is, check … Continue reading Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 7
performed in my favorite rendition by Idil Biret or below by Arthur Rubinstein no. 2 no. 3 no. 4 I shall begin this discussion of the Chopin mazurkas in a way that I also did not expect. YouTube videos are one … Continue reading Chopin: 4 Mazurkas, Op. 6
Fugue for Thought 