Hindemith Conducts Hindemith:
The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon
Conductor: Paul Hindemith
Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic
Performers: Monique Haas, Hans Otte (Piano), Hans Gieseler (Violin)
Years of recordings: 1954-1957
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
SPARS Code: AAD, ADD
About the Composer: A dedicated musical theorist and staunch critic of Atonalism, German composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) produced a large number of [...]
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Howard Hanson Conducts Bloch
Conductor: Howard Hanson
Orchestra: Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Performer: Georges Miquelle (Cello)
Years of recordings: 1959, 1960
Label: Mercury Living Presence
SPARS Code: ADD
About the Composer: Born in Switzerland, Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) was a Jewish composer who wrote several orchestral works, many of which derive inspiration from Hebraic literature. After touring extensively [...]
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Salonen: Wing on Wing
About the Composer: Aside from his extensive conducting career, Finlander Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958- ) has spirited away to his writing desk on several occasions and has cemented his reputation as one of the most significant modernist composers.
About the Music: Shortly after Vince began exploring various Naxos Lutosławski recordings and discussed them in [...]
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Rolling thunder from the kettles, Orchestra London opened this year’s Valentine’s concert with Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela. Such a quiet piece, its dark edge of restraint holds the attention surprisingly well. Orchestra London’s own Jennifer Short entered the spotlight with her rich English Horn.
Following along the Finnish theme, we next heard Rautavaara’s Concerto for [...]
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Scott: New Music for Bowed Piano
About the Composer:
Stephen Scott (1944-present) is an American composer and professor at Colorado College.
About the Music:
The bowed piano is not an instrument so much as a technique for playing the strings on a Grand Piano. Ten musicians use mono-filament bows to play these strings, often without ever using the piano [...]
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Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta; Hungarian Sketches
About the Composer: A key figure of the Modernist school, Béla Bartók (1881-1945) was a Hungarian composer whose strong enamourment with traditional folk music led him to become one of his country’s most important musical pioneers. His most popular work is his [...]
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About the Author
Dmitri Shostakovich is the quintessential Soviet-era Russian composer, having scored dozens of films and created 15 Symphonies. You can use the blog search bar on the right to find our other posts about his work.
About the Music
Shostakovich’s 9th, like his 5th, is fraught with Stalinesque atmosphere. Having composed Stalin-pleasing No. 5 to return from official censure, Shostakovich [...]
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A friend recently asked me for some classical piano recommendations. He doesn’t particularly care for purely “academic sounding” exercises, meaning he wants something with emotion and melody. Nor is he interested in easy-listening renditions of classical music replete with fake strings and horns.
I hear a lot of music via the Naxos Music Library, much more [...]
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Over the past week or so, I’ve been enjoying works by Witold Lutoslawski. Probably Poland’s most famous composer after Chopin, Lutoslawski’s music is definitely 20th century.
About the Composer
Lutoslawski was born in Russia, just before his father and uncle were killed by the Bolshevik government (in 191 because of their political activities in trying to [...]
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Vangelis’ El Greco is probably my favorite musical piece. I blogged about it in a post titled “VANGELIS: El Greco” awhile back.
Other fans I’ve met find Movement V and Movement X serve as effectively refreshing interludes of melodic accesibility. Refreshing in the sense of a welcome water break while playing an enthusiastic basketball game, [...]
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