This week we celebrate three composers: Haydn, Busoni and , and Rachmaninov.The great classical composer and "father of the Symphony," Franz Joseph Haydn, who was born on March 31, 1732, doesn't need our introduction. The first piece in our playlist is a piano Sonata in A Major Hob. XVI:30, performed by Catherine Gordeladze. It was composed in 1767. At that time Haydn was the Kapellmeister (Music Director) in Esterháza, an enormous palace of the Esterházy family, one of the wealthiest families in the Austrian Empire. Haydn worked in Esterházy's employ for thirty years and produced a large number of compositions, including all the pieces that we hear in this playlist. We follow with the String Quartet op. 20, No. 4, performed here by Aeolus Quartet. It dates from 1772. We conclude the Haydn playlist with another piano sonata, in A-flat Major, Hob XVI: 46. As the sonata in A Major, it is performed by Ms. Gordeladze. To listen, click here.
Italian composer and pianist Ferruccio Busoni was born on April 1, 1866. These days he is best remembered for his transcriptions of the music of Bach, but he was an original composer in his own right. A brilliant pianist, he was also renowned as a teacher. Among his pupils were Egon Petri, Alexander Brailowsky, and Elena Gnesina, who started a music school in Moscow, which later became the famous Gnesin Music Academy. Here is Busoni's piano piece, Red Indian Diary. It's performed by Mauro Bertoli.
April 1 is also the birthday of Sergei Rachmaninov, who was born in 1873. Here is his probably most famous work, Piano Concerto No. 3 in d minor. It is performed by Eteri Andjaparidze, with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra led by the orchestra's founder, the conductor Djansug Kakhidze.
March 28, 2011
This week we celebrate three composers: Haydn, Busoni and , and Rachmaninov.The great classical composer and "father of the Symphony," Franz Joseph Haydn, who was born on March 31, 1732, doesn't need our introduction. The first piece in our playlist is a piano Sonata in A Major Hob. XVI:30, performed by Catherine Gordeladze. It was composed in 1767. At that time Haydn was the Kapellmeister (Music Director) in Esterháza, an enormous palace of the Esterházy family, one of the wealthiest families in the Austrian Empire. Haydn worked in Esterházy's employ for thirty years and produced a large number of compositions, including all the pieces that we hear in this playlist. We follow with the String Quartet op. 20, No. 4, performed here by Aeolus Quartet. It dates from 1772. We conclude the Haydn playlist with another piano sonata, in A-flat Major, Hob XVI: 46. As the sonata in A Major, it is performed by Ms. Gordeladze. To listen, click here.
Italian composer and pianist Ferruccio Busoni was born on April 1, 1866. These days he is best remembered for his transcriptions of the music of Bach, but he was an original composer in his own right. A brilliant pianist, he was also renowned as a teacher. Among his pupils were Egon Petri, Alexander Brailowsky, and Elena Gnesina, who started a music school in Moscow, which later became the famous Gnesin Music Academy. Here is Busoni's piano piece, Red Indian Diary. It's performed by Mauro Bertoli.
April 1 is also the birthday of Sergei Rachmaninov, who was born in 1873. Here is his probably most famous work, Piano Concerto No. 3 in d minor. It is performed by Eteri Andjaparidze, with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra led by the orchestra's founder, the conductor Djansug Kakhidze.