Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade

Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov traveled the world as a naval officer, but it was his musical journey into the world of the Arabian Nights that became one of his most colorful and enduring masterpieces.

Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2

Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2

When Johannes Brahms wrote his first Piano Concerto, he was worried about the judgment of history. By the time he wrote his second Piano Concerto, he was making history.

Sibelius Symphony No. 2

At the close of the nineteenth century, Finnish natives were enjoying a renaissance of their native culture, in opposition to their Russian occupiers.  Jean Sibelius was swept up in this nationalistic fervor, and composed several patriotic tone poems, including Finlandia.  Symphony No. 2, misinterpreted at its premiere as a commentary on the Finnish political conflict, was composed mostly in Italy, where Sibelius was renting a studio.  Working with fragments and sketches intended for four separate tone poems, Sibelius then assembled the pieces into this full-fledged symphony. 

Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1

Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1

Franz Liszt may have been one of the nineteenth century’s most exasperating underachievers, to say nothing of committing the unforgivable sin of success on a staggering scale, but he was a genius. This concerto can remind us. Begun in 1835 at the ripe old age of 24, Liszt did not complete his first piano concerto until nearly twenty years later.  A final draft appeared in 1849, which was revised before the 1855 premiere (conducted by Hector Berlioz), and then revised yet again before its publication in 1856.  Béla Bartók called the concerto “the first perfect realization of cyclic sonata form, with common themes being treated on the variation principle.” 

Brahms Symphony No. 2

Brahms Symphony No. 2

Brahms's Symphony No.2 is generally thought of as his most lighthearted, but it's actually built on the contrasts between light and dark, between sunshine and clouds. Kind of like life.

Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3

Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3

Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 contains some of his best-known music, including the beautiful "Air on the G String." But it also contains the origins of the modern symphony orchestra.

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4

The Fourth Symphony was a product of the most turbulent time of Tchaikovsky's life - 1877, when he met two women (Nadezhda von Meck, a music-loving widow of a wealthy Russian railroad baron, and Antonina Miliukov, an unnoticed student in one of his large lecture classes at the Moscow Conservatory), who forced him to evaluate himself as he never had before.