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Do you write about classical music? Are you a blogger? Want to team up with Classical Connect? Send us a message, let's talk!
January 18, 2010
Gary Noland’s music has received very high praise from some of this era’s leading musicians. He was born in Seattle in 1957 and raised in Berkeley, next to the famous People’s Park. As an adolescent, Gary lived for a time in Salzburg and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (home of Richard Strauss), where he absorbed many musical influences. He studied music at U.C. Berkeley, then at the Boston Conservatory, and finally Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. Gary confesses to having “very restless tonal ears” and feels closest to composers with “all-encompassing” harmonic palettes, such as Strauss, Mahler, Korngold, Hugo Wolf, Ernst von Dohnanyi, David del Tredici, Frederic Rzewski and György Ligeti, to name just a few. He’s not terribly fond of “harmonically limited” music... We create a playlist consisting of the following works: Fantasy in E Minor for cello & piano (Op. 24), Humoresque for piano (Op. 3), Romance for viola & piano (Op. 10), Grande Rag Brillante (Op. 15), and Septet for clarinet, alto sax, French horn, two violins, double bass, and piano (Op. 43). To listen, click here.
January 11, 2010
The pianist Beth Levin is an acclaimed recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and recording artist. Her repertory is broad, from Bach's Goldberg Variations to Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, to the romantics such as Schubert and Chopin. You can listen to the Diabelli in our library, but today we decided to present a selection from the recently uploaded complete set of 24 piano Preludes Op. 28 by Frédéric Chopin. Here are eight of them: no. 4 in e minor; no.7 in A major, no. 8 in f-sharp minor, no. 11 in B major, no. 12 in g-sharp minor, no. 13 in F-sharp major, no. 15 in D-flat major ("Raindrop Prelude"), and no. 19 in E-flat major. To listen, click here.
January 4, 2010
This week is especially rich in birthdays. Five talented composers were born between January 3 and January 9: Giovanni Pergolesi, Nikolai Medtner, Max Bruch, Alexander Scriabin and Francis Poulenc. We could play the music of these composers for many hours, but we have to be reasonable. So here is this week's playlist: we'll start with Medtner's Canzona serenata, from Forgotten Motives Op. 38, played by the Russian pianist Dmitry Paperno. Medtner is not particularly popular these days, but together with Scriabin and Rachmaninov, he was one of the most important Russian composers of the early 20th century. Then we'll hear two etudes by Scriabin: Etude in c-sharp minor, Op. 2, No. 1, played by the pianist Soyeon Lee; and Etude in c-sharp minor, Op. 42 No. 5, in Daniil Trifonov's interpretation. After these three Romantic pieces, we'll hear a very different performance: Poulenc's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano played by Alexander Fiterstein. To listen, click here.
December 28, 2009. From recent uploads.
The New York-based pianist and composer Jeffrey Biegel uploaded a number of performances, including three piano concertos: the Tchaikovsky First, Rachmaninov Third, and Prokofiev Third. Just as a sample, we included Franz Liszt's Sonetto del Petrarca no. 104 in E Major in the playlist. There's much more in the library, so please browse. The pianist Beth Levin uploaded a major piece: Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Op. 120, his last large-scale piano composition. (Don't miss Ms. Levin's very interesting liner notes to the Diabelli, which are on the Details page). Lasting about 60 minutes, the Diabelli requires a separate hearing, but Ms. Levin also uploaded an encore, Mozart's Fantasy no. 3 in d minor, which we also included in the playlist. And to conclude, from a recent concert by the flutist Jessica Warren-Acosta, Henri Dutilleux's Sonatine. To listen, click here.
December 21, 2009. Season's greetings!
We wish all our listeners and all the talented musicians who contribute their music to our site a joyous holiday season! In this spirit, we present three pieces. First, The National_Collegiate_Chorale_of_Scotland sings O Magnum Mysterium by the American composer Morten Lauridsen. Then the pianist Minju Choi plays Regard de première communion de la Vierge, from Vingt Regard sur l'Enfant Jésus by Olivier Messiaen. And we'll finish with the wonderful kids of Brighton School Chamber Choir singing Benjamin Britten's Wolcum Yule. Happy Holidays – and click here to listen!
December 14, 2009
This week the whole music world commemorates Ludwig van Beethoven's birthday. Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, so traditionally his birthday is celebrated on December 16. It is our pleasure to join these celebrations. We'll begin with the Piano Sonata No. 21 ("Waldstein"), played by Michael Mizrahi. Then Christina Castelli and Grant Moffett perform Sonata No. 9 ("Kreutzer") for piano and violin. Following that, Atlantic Piano Trio plays Trio Op. 11 for piano, violin and cello. We conclude with the finale (Allegro) of Symphony No. 5, with Pascal Verrot leading The Texas Festival Orchestra. These are just a few of our selections; we have much more Beethoven music in our library. To listen, click here.