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 Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra under Adam Fischer, or below with the Philharmonia Hungarica under Antal Dorati Well, here we are… at our final Haydn (symphony) for a while, after another stretch of works. Again, I promise once we … Continue reading Haydn Symphony no. 11 in E-flat (H. I/11)
performed by the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra under Adam Fischer, or below with the Philharmonia Hungarica and Antal Dorati Phew. Good thing this symphony is awesome, because they were starting to seem a little similar. There are a few notable differences with … Continue reading Haydn Symphony No. 25 in C (H. I/25)
Adam Fischer/Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, or below by the Philharmonia Hungarica under Antal Dorati Bam. Here we are again. More Haydn. Also, MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU. If it’s still the third, come back in twelve hours. Similar to yesterday’s … Continue reading Haydn Symphony No. 19 in D (H. I/19)
Adam Fischer/Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, or below with The Philharmonia Hungarica under Antal Dorati I’ll be typing that a lot this week. Symphony number 17. H. C. Robbins Landon’s The Symphonies of Joseph Haydn states that the work might have been written by 1757, … Continue reading Haydn Symphony No. 17 in F (H. I/17)
performed by the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra under Adam Fischer, or below by the Philharmonia Hungarica under Antal Dorati Haydn symphonies, man. There’s a ton of them. I feel bad-ish for burning through them in quick stretches like this, but if … Continue reading Haydn Symphony no. 20 in C (H. I/20)
It was an ambitious program, one that convinced me to go see them. I’ve been to every one of their concerts over the past few years. They’ve played things like Rachmaninoff’s second symphony, Brahms’ second, Tchaikovsky’s second piano concerto, and … Continue reading Concert Review: 師大音樂學系交響樂團- Espansiva
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 Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra under Adam Fischer, or below by L’Estro Armonico under Derek Solomons This was originally intended to be the last post in the second installment of Haydn symphonies by fives. We did 1-5 sometime last … Continue reading Haydn Symphony no. 10 in D, H. I/10
performed (as always) by the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra under Adam Fischer (from whence comes the cover image for this article), or below by the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood So we’re going to get back around to Haydn … Continue reading Haydn Symphony no. 18 in G, H. I/18
performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis Berlioz tells it like it is. You take a trip, you wind up screaming at your own funeral. Honorable mention in the “Symphonic but not a symphony” category is this … Continue reading Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, or in a version below with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra Here we are again at another revisit, from the days when I (still) didn’t know how to talk about music, but more importantly … Continue reading Revisit: Prokofiev Symphony no. 4, op. 47
performed by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under Evgeny Svetlanov playlist of the entire work here Yesterday we talked a bit about Myaskovsky’s early life and his second symphony. Today we’ll talk a bit more about his life and his … Continue reading Revisit: Myaskovsky Symphony no. 3 in Am, op. 15
performed by the Columbia Symphony under the composer’s baton To think that this is the first Stravinsky piece we’ve touched in our more-than-two-years here… better late than never. For those of you who think of Stravinsky as a wild, imaginative … Continue reading Igor Stravinsky: Symphony in Eb major, op. 1
performed live by (again) the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvensky, or in a very nice performance below by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra (perhaps before they were ‘Royal’?) under Vladimir Ashkenazy This, this other terrible first. The … Continue reading Rachmaninoff Symphony no. 1 in D minor, op. 13
as performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Jascha Horenstein; Earl Wild, piano Wait, what? A piano concerto? Yes. So it just now occurred to me that this is the composer’s opus no. 1. And that is only another supporting reason for … Continue reading Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no. 1 in F#m, op. 1
(this piece is featured on a list of pieces I heartily recommend to music directors for inclusion on their season programs. Check out the article here.) While I felt Arensky’s symphony last week had its shining moments (particularly the fourth … Continue reading Vasily Kalinnikov: Symphony no. 1 in G minor
performed by the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvensky “[Tchaikovsky] also knew my Third Symphony, which is dedicated to him. Much in it found his approval and, at his request, I often played the scherzo of the … Continue reading Alexander Glazunov: Symphony no. 3 in D, op. 33
Fugue for Thought 