Music

saint-saens

Saint-Saens Piano Concertos 1-5

A few weeks ago I shared with my readers Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 1. To my surprise, I received a lot more ...

Casta Diva

Casta Diva

Norma premiered in La Scala (the Mecca of opera in Millan Italy) in 1831. Casta Diva is one of the most challenging arias ever written for soprano. During the rehearsals before the premier Italian soprano Giuditta Pasta refused to sign it she said it was “ill adapted to her vocal abilities”.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

I wanted to share with you Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. It is not a traditional symphony, because it uses voices in addition to instruments; thus it is called a choral symphony. Beethoven composed it when he was completely deaf.

Cavalleria Rusticana

I wanted to share with you music that you may have heard in the movie Godfather. No, not Godfather 1 (though you can listen to that here), but Godfather 3. It is an opera by Pietro Mascagni called Cavalleria Rusticana (loosely translated: Peasant’s Honor).

Great Conductors

On Saturday I was browsing TED talks and stumbled on this incredible talk by Itay Talgam, “Lead like the great ...

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Today I want to share with you Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” Niccolo Paganini, Italian violin virtuoso and ...

Macbeth

Today I wanted to share with you aria from Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth. I saw this opera for the first (and ...

Netrebko & Garanca

I wanted to share with you an aria from opera Lakme by French composer Leo Delibes (click here) . Ironically ...

Warsaw Concerto

Today I wanted to share with you the Warsaw Concerto, a piano concerto in one movement written by British composer Richard ...

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6

A good friend asked me if I thought Tchaikovsky was overrated or underappreciated. A few years ago I probably would ...

Mahler – Symphony No. 5

Last time I shared with you my conflicted thoughts on anti-Semitic German composer Richard Wagner. To balance things out, today ...

Wagner’s Lohengrin

I’ve been conflicted about listening to Wagner’s music for a long time. He was a raging anti-Semite and a horrible ...

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Last time, I discussed how Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Number 1 was rejected by Tchaikovsky’s mentor, the best pianist in Russia, ...

Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1

There is a great lesson that we all can learn from Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto Number 1. It was common at ...

Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin

I’ll dedicate the next few musical notes to Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I have always had a difficult relationship with his ...

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto Number 5

After I wrote last week about Arthur Rubenstein, the Polish-American-Jewish pianist, a  reader suggested I read Rubenstein’s autobiography, which consists ...

Grieg Piano Concerto

Today I wanted to share with you the Piano Concerto in A Minor by Norwegian composer Edward Grieg, the only ...

La Traviata – Joan Southerland

Pavarotti needs no introduction, but Joan Sutherland, who passed away in 2010, is maybe less known to the younger generation.

Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1

As one of my favorite childhood memories, I remember walking home with my father on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I was maybe nine years old. There was the sound of classical music coming from the fourth-floor window of our apartment building.

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto

I wanted to share with you probably the most unique performance ever recorded (other than Rachmaninoff playing Rachmaninoff): Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

Opera and I

When I was young there were a few things I could not understand – probably more than a few, but these stood out: why would anyone drink coffee or beer, since they both tasted awful; and why anyone willingly would listen to opera? My mother had a great voice and sang in a chorus, but I don’t remember my parents listening to opera at home.