Cover photo by Dan Dimmock on Unsplash TL;DR- I’m going to start doing some exciting new things on Substack and I hope they justify a paid content model. Some ideas that come to mind worth addressing in this piece: A … Continue reading What Might Be New Around Here
Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash Everyone knows what a monopoly is. Everyone also knows that an alliteration can be very nice, and I love to use them. The opposite of a monopoly (where one seller controls the market) is … Continue reading The Monopsonistic Music Market?
photo by Lauren Sauder on Unsplash If I’ve said it once here, I’ve said it a thousand times: I love a good list. And what’s better than a list? A list in two dimensions. As in, like, a list just … Continue reading Comparing Recordings: a Chart
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash A lot has changed since I last wrote regularly. A lot has changed in just the past 6 months. But I want to get writing here again. One of the biggest changes is that … Continue reading Listening Lists
performed by the Vienna-Mozart Trio, or below by the Mozartean Players (cover image by Ales Krivec) It’s really a divertimento, I guess, scored for piano trio. Now, if we go back a few years to our discussion of Beethoven’s op. … Continue reading Mozart Piano Trio no. 1 in B flat, K. 254
performed by Jaakko Kuusisto and the Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic Orchestra under Ari Rasilainen, available on Spotify (cover image by Andrew Kovac) For some reason, I expected Sallinen to have more than one violin concerto to his name, but no. His … Continue reading Sallinen Violin Concerto, op. 18
performed by Mark Lubotsky and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra under Eri Klas, available on Spotify (cover image by Bohdan Lesiv) I see a desperate striving to find myself in the work on this concerto. This quest was very rarely successful, … Continue reading Schnittke Violin Concerto no. 1
performed by the Jean Sibelius Quartet, available on Spotify (cover image by Martin Adams) We now welcome Aulis Sallinen to the Editor’s Choice series. He’s the only living member of the roster that I’m aware of. We first saw him in the … Continue reading Sallinen String Quartet no. 1, op. 14
performed by Mikkel Futtrup, violin; Tim Frederiksen, viola; and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra under Hannu Koivula, available on Spotify (cover image by Eberhard Grossgasteiger) We have a special guest in today’s episode. This isn’t quite how I expected to … Continue reading Holmboe Chamber Concerto no. 9 for violin and viola, op. 39
performed by the Quatuor Danel, available on Spotify (cover image by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen) The second string quartet of Mieczysław Weinberg was written in 1940. There is unfortunately not really a lot online about this piece, so this introductory bit will … Continue reading Weinberg String Quartet no. 2, op. 3
performed by the Martinů Quartet, available from Spotify on this album (cover image by Chris Barbalis) Martinů’s brilliantly engaging second quartet was written in 1925, and published in 1927. Depending on the source, it was written either “in Paris” (says Keith Anderson … Continue reading Martinů String Quartet no. 2, H. 150
performed by Carolyn Huebl, violin; Mark Wait, piano (You can find this recording on Spotify, or with different performers on SoundCloud, but probably only if you’re in the U.S.) (cover image by Jez Timms) Alfred Schnittke published four violin concertos … Continue reading Schnittke Violin Sonata (1955)
performed by the Kontra Quartet (no YouTube, but you can listen to the work, at least to snippets, at Dacapo’s website for the complete quartets, here, or on Spotify, if that’s something you have. (cover image by Jeremy Bishop) Holmboe’s … Continue reading Holmboe String Quartet no. 3
performed by the Kontra Quartet (unfortunately there isn’t a recording on YouTube, but go check out all of Holmboe’s quartets on Spotify) (cover image by Trần Anh Tuấn) Covering this second quartet today means we’re 10% of the way through his twenty … Continue reading Holmboe String Quartet no. 2, op. 47