Schubert, Piano Quintet in A Major (“Trout”) Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet gets its name from the fourth movement (at 21:21), a set of variations on Schubert’s song Die Forelle (trout). The quintet was composed in 1819 but not published until 1829, after Schubert’s death. The work … Read more
What a funny week. Maybe you had one like it—hard to recall, super busy, yet hard to explain why. Partly it was filled with summery activities like taking grandkids to swim lessons, watering the garden, and grilling with our neighbors. Partly it was devoted to … Read more
Mozart, Variations on “Ah! Vous dirai je maman” I have “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” on the brain. Having two small grandchildren in the house can do that as the melody takes on an important developmental role. But the tune “Ah! Vous dirai je maman” has … Read more
Virtually anything we try to do nowadays, from buying tickets to conducting our banking to making medical appointments, requires that we fill out on-line forms. And these forms are rigid, demanding an arbitrary array of information—often intrusive information. All of this is annoying enough, but … Read more
Cole Porter, Too Darn Hot Professor Carol was in Ljubljana, Slovenia, for the first time earlier this summer. I’ve never been, but she tells me we’re moving there. She described its many attributes, all of which sound nice. But she left out two very important … Read more
Our nearby county pool is closing for the summer on August 11. I did a double-take when I read that date. How is this possible, I wondered, particularly since the eleventh is not even mid-August? Then I remembered: insidiously, someone at some point somewhere decided … Read more
Rossini, La Gazza Ladra Overture Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) made his fortune early composing operas and then, at the young age of 37, he quit. With 34 operas under his belt, he spent the last 40 years of his life writing no operas and very little … Read more
I stare out my cabin window to watch the western shore of the Rhine pass by. The morning clouds, thick in our overnight port of Koblenz, disperse with each kilometer. At the river’s edge, snappy German trains weave in and out of tunnels in the … Read more
Walton, Viola Concert (3d Movement) William Walton (1902-1983) became a chorister at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford in 1912 and began his studies at Oxford University at the young age of 16. He immersed himself in the modern styles of Stravinsky, Debussy, and Sibelius. While … Read more
Stephen Foster, Hard Times Come Again No More Each year as the Fourth of July approaches, I look for a Performance Pick that speaks to our American heritage. We’ve gone in many directions: Vieuxtemps’ variations on “Yankee Doodle,” works by Copland, Ives, Bill Monroe, and … Read more