Hank Reynolds
Weber, Bassoon Concerto How often have you been to a concert or recital featuring solo bassoon? Probably not many, if any at all. Unless you’re a music student attending the performances of your friends, or required to attend a ongoing series of student performances, you … Read more
Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 12, K414 Almost a year ago we featured a performance by Buskaid, a group of young black musicians from the townships of South Africa. They have since added some new video. In a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major (K. … Read more
Ibert, Trois pièces brèves (3rd movement) Writing this series of performance picks gives me the chance to wade through a lot of music. I hope to draw you into that discovery process by showing you some of what I’ve discovered over the years. It’s a continuing process. … Read more
C.P.E. Bach, Cello Concerto in A minor, Wq. 170 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was born in our adopted home town of Weimar in 1714. Professor Carol frequently speaks about Weimar as the Cultural Capital of Germany, and we recommend it as a base for anyone wanting … Read more
Bach, French Suite No. 2 in C Minor I want to close out our discussion of the Baroque suite with the granddaddy of them all. As with many of the genres and styles of the Baroque era, J.S. Bach represents the culmination. Keep in mind … Read more
Peterson, 8 Bar Boogie Blues And now for something completely different. Yes, we’ve featured things other than “classical” music in this series—an occasional folk song (more to come) and some jazz. It may seem like a divergence, but it’s a small one. The various music genres … Read more
Handel, Suite No. 5 in E Major (HWV 430) George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) wrote a total of 22 keyboard suites. Eight of those are grouped together and referred to as the eight great suites (HWV 426-433). We looked at some late Renaissance precursors to the suite … Read more
Praetorius, Dance Suite from Terpsichore After galliards and pairs of court dances, like pavan-galliard and pavan-salterello, you might ask what composers would think of next. The answer naturally was to come up with bigger combinations of court dances that could be linked together in some … Read more
Byrd, Pavan and Galliard a6 If you liked the galliard from last week’s pick, you may want to dig a little deeper into the late Renaissance court dances. The galliard was frequently paired with a pavan as in this week’s selection by the English composer … Read more
Trabaci, Gagliarda Seconda detta la Scabrosetta Maybe you played the recorder at some point in your life or watched your kids learn to play one while studying the rudiments of music. Its popularity possibly owes something to the fact that it can be made rather cheaply. … Read more