performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado There had to come a day when we could hear how a chord of eight tones really sounds in the brasses! (cover image by Tara Evans) Earlier in the week, we had Schoenberg’s op. 16, … Continue reading Berg: Three Pieces for Orchestra, op. 6
performed by the Hamburg Philharmonic under Simone Young, or as below with the Vienna Philharmonic under Carl Maria Giulini (cover image by Fábio Ferreira) Bruckner’s seventh symphony, one of his most famous and successful, was written between 1881 and 1883, … Continue reading Bruckner Symphony No. 7 in E, WAB 107
performed by The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under the late Sir Neville Marriner, or in a superb recording with the Vienna Philharmonic under István Kertész (cover image by Patrick Baum) It’s also been a while since we’ve … Continue reading Schubert Symphony no. 6 in C, D. 589
performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti, or below with the Vienna Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado (cover image by Nick Scheerbart) I’ve been needing to do this for some time. Back when I wrote about Brahms’ first … Continue reading Revisit: Brahms Symphony no. 1 in C minor, op. 68
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado and all the people in this recording (Act 1 with subtitles below, Abbado and the Vienna State Opera) Still, alles still, als wär’ die Welt tot (Still, all is still, as if the … Continue reading Berg: Wozzeck, op. 7
Performed by the Orchestre National de France under Bernard Haitink, with Anne Sofie von Otter, Wolfgang Holzmair, Laurent Naouri, et al., or below by the Vienna Philharmonic and many more under Claudio Abbado So here we are with our first opera of … Continue reading Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
performed by Anne Sofie von Otter and the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado or, because she’s an outstanding performer and it’s a (somewhat unclear) video of a live performance, Jessye Norman and the London Symphony under Pierre Boulez If you’ve … Continue reading Berg: Sieben frühe Lieder
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez Es gibt doch nur eine VI. trotz der Pastorale. Alban Berg The sixth is a collection of questions, an enigma, a knot to be untied by repeated listenings and the development of your … Continue reading Revisit: Mahler Symphony no. 6 in Am
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez From the order of the movements (where the usual first movement now comes second) it is difficult to speak of a key for the ‘whole Symphony’, and to avoid misunderstandings the key … Continue reading Revisit: Mahler Symphony no. 5
performed by Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan Yes, the four seasons. All of them. And yeah, it’s that melody. The one that’s recognizable to a fault. It’s the one people call to mind when they think of a fancy, … Continue reading Antonio Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni
performed by Gidon Kremer and the Vienna Philharmonic under Christoph von Dohnanyi, or below by Karen Gomyo and the Hague Residentie Orchestra under Brad Lubman “I wrote the piece in 1987 thinking, let me write a piece that my father … Continue reading Glass Violin Concerto no. 1
performed by the Wiener Jeunesse-Chor, Günther Theuring, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado Today we begin a rather brief discussion of one of the pillars of the Darmstadt school, in fact of the very man who coined the phrase … Continue reading Luigi Nono: Liebeslied for mixed choir and instruments
(Songs on the Death of Children) performed by Anne Sofie von Otter and the Vienna Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez Rückert’s 428 poems on the death of children became singular, almost manic documents of the psychological endeavor to cope with such … Continue reading Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Carlos Kleiber Many hail this as the greatest recorded performance of the Brahms, and it is indeed exquisite. We are here, I must admit, with even a little bit of apprehension, at the end … Continue reading Brahms Symphony no. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
The Overture to the Ballet performed by the Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly, or below by the Vienna Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado So we’re not talking about the entire ballet, at least not yet. Maybe we should. In any case, if you’ve … Continue reading Beethoven’s Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, op. 43
performed by Maurizio Pollini and the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado I find Brahms so intimidating to talk about (if you haven’t already noticed). Like I mentioned in Tuesday’s post about the piano sonata, there’s always so much going on, … Continue reading Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 83
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
So much to say, and yet so little that needs saying. It’s the Vienna Philharmonic. We have been extremely fortunate lately here in Taipei to have some really wonderful ensembles lined up. As you may have read, I saw the … Continue reading Concert Review: Vienna Philharmonic in Taipei- Part 1
performed by Maurizio Pollini with the Vienna Philharmonic under Eugen Jochum So here we are at Beethoven’s second piano concerto. The analysis of his works up to this point has been at once incredibly enlightening, enjoyable, fulfilling, and exhausting. There’s … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Sir Charles Mackerras 1Q84 I was doing some reading about this piece a number of months ago, trying to decide whether it would take this spot in the blog or not, and one thing led to another, and that secured its spot for today’s post. The other option was something longer and more Alpine, but that will be for later. Plenty of German and Austrian stuff already. I only became familiar with this piece when it was listed on the program for this concert a while back, with Maestro Antoni Wit conducting Eastern European … Continue reading Leoš Janáček: Sinfonietta
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,
Fugue for Thought 