Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat, III – Finale.

Here at Professor Carol, we want to inspire people to discover good music. That’s why we created the courses you see on this site. But whether you take the courses or not, the music is sitting there waiting for you, much of it free on the Internet.

Our unscientific research tells us that a lot of people don’t listen to Classical Music (let’s call it that for now) because they don’t know where to start. The answer to that is simple: it doesn’t matter where you start. You won’t be ruined if you don’t choose the best thing. But we understand, people like to have some guidance when exploring unfamiliar territory.

So we are starting a weekly series of posts that will show you some of the better performances on YouTube and elsewhere on the web. We may add a little commentary, but the goal is mainly to show you some good performances of some good music. Our “picks” may help you figure out what you would like to explore in more detail. Those of you who are more familiar with classical music may enjoy these too.

Keep one thing in mind. Music should be heard with the best sound possible, and you cannot get the best sound through earbuds or tinny computer speakers. While it can be interesting to watch video performances online, you will get a much better musical experience if you get a high-quality audio recording and play it through real speakers or headphones. Of course, nothing equals hearing it live. So we hope you take that next step.

I’m going to start with a professionally produced video of the third movement of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat. Why? Because Haydn’s style is thoroughly classical, this movement has immediate appeal, it is performed by an interesting young artist, and the video is slick.