Hank Reynolds
Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf Several times in the course of writing this series (four years now) I have taken up a topic that I stick with for a few weeks, although I try to be sure each week’s entry can stand alone. Last week … Read more
Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15 Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) consists of 13 short character pieces. Because they are not especially demanding technically, you might assume they were written for children to play or for young audiences. And actually, they attracted me at a young age … Read more
Handel, Ombra mai fu (from Xerxes) Most everyone knows Handel’s Messiah, but Handel was primarily an opera composer. Oratorios followed the operatic style while omitting the staging in deference to Lent. The opera Xerxes (Serse) was written in 1738. It had little success, but the aria … Read more
Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition The Russian artist Viktor Hartmann died suddenly in 1873 at the age of 39. A few months later in 1874, a memorial exhibition of Hartmann’s works was held. Mussorgsky owned two paintings by Hartmann that were included in the exhibition. … Read more
Carl Nielsen, Quintet Op. 43 Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) ranks perhaps as Denmark’s most important composer, certainly one who plays an important role in the country’s artistic identity. He is also a study in contrasts. He may be classified as a nationalistic composer, and this owes … Read more
Chopin, Mazurka in B Minor, Op. 33, No. 4 The mazurka is a Polish folk dance derived from two older dance forms, the Kujawiak and Oberek. In the Kujawiak, dancers walked to a slow tempo making graceful turns. In contrast, the Oberek is much faster, … Read more
Satie, Gymnopédie 1 & 2 Eric Satie (1866-1925) was technically not a member of the group of composers known as Les six (discussed in last week’s Performance Pick). On the other hand, he was in some ways the group’s founder. Satie had a generation’s head start … Read more
Milhaud, Le Boeuf sur le Toit The bull on the roof? Now there’s one problem we never had to deal with back on the ranch. Our bulls stayed peacefully (mostly) in the pasture, and none of our neighbors (who loved to tell stories) ever mentioned … Read more
Crumb, Voice of the Whale And now for something completely different. The American composer George Crumb (b. 1929) pushed many of the boundaries in 20th-century avant garde music. But unlike some of his contemporaries, he didn’t do it merely as an experiment or for shock … Read more
Johann Stamitz, Clarinet Concerto in B Flat Major (1st movement) The clarinet was a very new instrument in 1755 when Johann Stamitz (1717-1757) wrote his clarinet concerto. For some time his was believed to be the first clarinet concerto, although clarinet concertos by Johann Melchior … Read more