Hank Reynolds
Mozart, Symphony No. 40 in G Minor I recall a relative many years ago taking a course in music appreciation and falling in love with Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. She had some prior exposure to Classical music, but this was probably her first serious study. … Read more
Vaughan Williams, Songs of Travel Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) composed Songs of Travel early in his career. The cycle of nine songs is taken from a collection of 46 poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. Baritone Roderick Williams presents six of the songs in this video. … Read more
Vivaldi, Concerto No. 11, Op. 3 (L’estro Armonico) Most people are familiar with the concertos of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) known as The Four Seasons written in 1723. We featured that work here. But Vivaldi composed more than 500 concertos. His first collection of concertos, opus … Read more
I’m currently spending some time at the Professor Carol remote headquarters in Germany. Most of the concert and theater venues here are dark for the summer months, but organ music continues year round. I attended an organ recital at the Marienkirche in Lübeck where Dieterich … Read more
Myaskovsky, Cello Sonata No. 1 Nikolai Myaskovsky (1881-1950) holds a prominent place in Russian music of the early 20th century, although he is somewhat in the shadow of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. He was born in Novogeorgiyevsk (Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki) near Warsaw, a fortress town on … Read more
Chopin, Życzenie A Maiden’s Wish, Op. 74, No. 1 Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) wrote almost exclusively for the piano. It was an unusual choice for a composer at the time when success was achieved primarily by creating large scale works—operas and symphonies. Chopin wrote two piano … Read more
Webern, Cinq Pièces Five pieces in under six minutes—it says something about the sparseness of Webern’s music. The Austrian composer Anton Webern (1883-1945) is one of three primary figures in the Second Viennese School. Arnold Schoenberg and his acolytes Webern and Berg pioneered the compositional … Read more
Wagner, Die Meistersinger Prelude We have had numerous occasions to discuss the “singers’ wars” in our courses and various other materials on this website. Richard Wagner built his opera Tannhäuser around this competition (Sängerkrieg) of the Minnesingers that occurred at the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach. … Read more
Ives, Songs My Mother Taught Me If I had it to do over again, I might argue in favor of including this song in our collection of traditional songs Hurrah and Hallelujah. No, it’s not really a traditional song. It was written by the American … Read more
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1 Beethoven wrote his early piano concertos as a way to showcase his virtuosity as a pianist. He premiered an early version of his Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1795 but continued to rework it until 1800. Because there were many … Read more