Hank Reynolds
J.S. Bach, Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 In August last year we did several consecutive posts on the Baroque suite. The suite consisted of a collection of dances forms, usually an allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue. Suites could often include other dances as … Read more
Charpentier, O Dieu, que n’étois-je en vie; Messe de Minuit pour Noël (Sanctus) I had planned to feature Charpentier’s La Messe de Minuit pour Noël (Midnight Mass for Christmas) last week during the Christmas season, but we decided it was important to say something about the tragic loss … Read more
The Parting Glass, Irish Song (arr. Earley) A simple song well sung. Simplicity is a virtue in music too often forgotten. We have a tendency to celebrate complexity and bigness for their own sake. Just look at the Super Bowl Halftime Show each year where … Read more
Mahler, Symphony No. 1 We are being rather ambitious today, featuring a Mahler symphony. But the Mistral Chamber Orchestra is more ambitious by performing the Mahler Symphony No. 1 with a small ensemble and no conductor. It’s not what you would normally expect with a … Read more
Pierre de la Rue: Plorer, gemir, crier Pierre de la Rue (c. 1452-1518) was a Franco-Flemish composer remembered primarily for his sacred music. Plorer, gemir, crier is a lamentation that takes part of its text from the Requiem Mass and combines it with a French text. … Read more
Ravel, La valse We associate the waltz with late 19th-century Vienna and particularly with the many waltzes of Johann Strauss. It was a time of opulence and stability, or so it seemed. But as Professor Carol likes to explain (in Discovering Music and elsewhere) with … Read more
Dukas, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice We are in Germany, Halloween is upon us, and Goethe’s house sits 100 yards away. So what makes more sense for this week’s pick than The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a poem by Goethe set to music by Paul Dukas? Goethe’s poem, Der Zauberlehrling, … Read more
The Cuckoo in the Grove, Traditional Scottish Air Do people ask you to name your favorite song or composer? I get that question frequently, and I can never answer it. It upsets my daughter that I don’t have favorites in virtually any category: music, food, … Read more
Wagner, Siegfried Idyll If you wake up on Christmas morning in a Swiss villa with an orchestra at the foot of the staircase playing Siegfried Idyll, you’ll have something in common with Cosima Wagner. She had that experience in 1870. Richard composed the work as a little Christmas … Read more
Schubert, Impromptu in B-flat, Op. 142 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) produced two sets of four impromptus in 1827. An impromptu, loosely translated as “offhand,” fit the times as a character piece suitable for the aristocratic salons. The salons—gatherings in private homes—had become the critical source of patronage in … Read more