Hank Reynolds
Chesnokov, Tebe Poem Many readers of this site will recognize his anthem “Salvation Is Created” (Spaseniye Sodelal), featured way back in Friday Performance Pick 8 Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (1877-1944). We sang it in youth choir when I was growing up, although I did not grasp … Read more
Cuong, Concerto for Two Oboes I featured Re(new)al by Viet Cuong in Friday Performance Pick 450, and here were are a mere 10 weeks later with another work by the same composer. I would not usually have two works by the same composer in such … Read more
Opera in Germany has a tough time. Actually Germans seem to love opera. The productions are numerous and well attended. But despite their love of opera, Germans tolerate some of the most iconoclastic and even nihilistic productions. One of my German friends tells me that … Read more
Alfvén, Aftonen We try to cover the widest possible repertoire here, something will necessarily take a lot of time, and not focus too much on any one composer, genre, or performer. That said, we have turned frequently to Voces8 in this series. I’m not sure … Read more
Kern, Bill A short while ago, we did a webinar on the 1927 musical Show Boat as part of our series “A Night at the Opera.” Show Boat was a groundbreaking work and arguably the first of the genre of opera that we call “Broadway … Read more
Xenakis, Rebonds B Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) was born to Greek parents in a Greek community in Romania. In 1932, he began attending a boarding school in Greece where he studied music while also excelling in mathematics. He entered the National Technical School in Athens in … Read more
Schumann, Piano Quartet The chamber music of Robert Schumann (1810-1856) makes up a relative small portion of his large corpus of works. An extremely accomplished pianist, his compositions focus heavily on that instrument: works for solo piano, a piano concerto, and an enormous body of … Read more
Wolf, Verborgenheit Hugo Wolf (1860-1903) is known primarily as a late-Romantic composer of German Lieder, a successor to Schubert and Schumann. He drew his texts from numerous sources, including some poets favored by Schubert and Schumann such as Goethe, Heine, and Rückert. He was born … Read more
Scriabin, Poem of Ecstasy The Poem of Ecstasy by Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) often goes by its French title Le poème de l’extase. It is one of only five symphonic works written by Scriabin, along with Prometheus: Poem of Fire and three numbered symphonies. He tended … Read more
Morales, Lux aeterna The renowned early music scholar Gustav Reese called Cristóbal de Morales (1500-1553) the “first great Spanish master of the Late Renaissance.” Where does that fit with our discussion a few weeks back about Juan de Anchieta (1462-1523)? Morales belonged to the generation … Read more