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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 24, 2011
Mozart. Recently, the chief music critic of the New York Times Anthony Tommasini wrote a series of highly entertaining but ultimately meaningless articles, reasoning his way into a list of 10 greatest classical composers. He ended up placing Mozart in third place. We'll leave it to Tommasini and his readers to argue the merits of a particular pecking order (it's enough to note that neither Haydn nor Mahler made the list). What is absolutely obvious to any music lover is that Mozart is one of the greatest geniuses in the history of music. On January 27 of this year, the world will celebrate the 255th anniversary of his birth. Our library is not as rich in Mozart's work as we would like: he was more interested in operas and symphonies than instrumental music. Still, we hope that our playlist will delight your ear.
We start with Giorgi Latsabidze playing Piano Sonata No. 9 in D Major, K. 311. The violinist Tessa Lark, and pianist Ron Regev will continue with Sonata No. 19 for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, K 302. The young mezzo Rebecca Henry sings Countess' aria Non so più cosa son from Le Nozze di Figaro. And then we'll hear a non-commercial recording made in 1958 by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Orchestra sinfonica di Napoli under the direction of Franco Caracciolo. They play the finale, Allegro, from the Piano Concerto no. 13 in C Major, K. 415.
If given the chance, we would have liked to finish this playlist with the trio Soave sia il vento, from Così fan tutte, probably the most sublime music ever written. Well, maybe the next year. In the mean time, click here to listen.
January 17, 2010
Three Cellists. Among our more recent uploads we have performances of three talented young cellists. Twenty-two year old Camille Thomas, a laureate of the Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation, has an active career both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has performed in a number of Europeans countries and famous venues, among them Konzerthaus and Curt Sachs Saal of the Berlin Philarmonie, Radio France, Sorbonne, and Théâtre Marigny. She was also invited to perform in different festivals, including Festival Pablo Casals in Prades. She has played as a soloist with the Philarmonie Baden-Baden and with the Cappella Academica Orchestra of Berlin. Camille is currently studying with Frans Helmerson at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. In the playlist we've included the first movement of Chopin's Cello sonata op. 65, but you can hear her play the complete sonata here. Camille's collaborator on this recording is Beatrice Berrut.
Russian-born cellist Alexei Romanenko began playing cello at the age of six. Before leaving for the United States, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory. In the US he continued his studies at the New England Conservatory of Music under Bernard Greenhouse and Laurence Lesser. In 1999, Alexei won First Prize at the 8th International Music Competition in Vienna, and in 2000 was awarded the First Prize at the 2nd Web Concert Hall International Auditions. In 2009 Alexei appeared in Vivaldi's Double Concerto with cellist Matt Haimvovitz in the "Cellobration" concert presented by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. You'll hear Alexei perform Sonata No.10 for Cello and Piano in E Major, Op. 8 by the Italian Baroque composer Giuseppe Valentini. He's accompanied by Christine Yoshikawa.
Wendy Law has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, and the Juilliard Orchestra. She has performed throughout North America, appearing in such venues as Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Jordan Hall, Boston. An active chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Borromeo String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, and Pamela Frank, among others. Wendy received her Bachelor of Music with Distinction from the New England Conservatory studying with Laurence Lesser, and her Master of Music and the Artist Diploma Program from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Joel Krosnick and Tim Eddy. In the playlist we have her performance of Robert Schumann's Fantasy Pieces Op. 73. To listen, click here.
January 10, 2011
In the wake of the New Year celebrations we failed to mention several significant birthdays. We'll correct our slip in this week's entry.
Mili Balakirev, born on January 2, 1827, may be better known for organizing The Five than his own compositions, but there's one clear exception: his Oriental Fantasy Islamey. Here it's played by the pianist Sonya Bach
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's birthday falls on January 4. Last year we celebrated the 200th anniversary of his birth. Mostly the composer of operas, he also wrote sacred music (we recently featured his Stabat Mater). Here is Sinfonia (overture) to his opera Lo frate'nnamuratof. It is performed by the Chicago-based period instruments ensemble Baroque Band.
The German composer Max Bruch was born on January 6, 1838. One of his most popular works is probably Violin Concerto no. 1 in g minor (the other one being the setting of Kol Nidrei; since the Nazis wrongly assumed that Bruch was Jewish, they banned his compositions from being performed in Germany). Here is a recording of the concerto made by the violinist Dmitri Berlinsky, with Jupiter Symphony, the late Jens Nygaard conducting.
The first week of January is rich with other musical birthdays as well: Medtner, Scriabin, and Poulenc were all born in early January. We'll celebrate their birthdays at a later date.
January 3, 2011
Welcome to 2011! This year we hope to add many more recordings to the 2,500 already in our library, and look forward to welcoming more performers to join the ranks of about 500 musicians who have already contributed their music to Classical Connect. Here are some of the recent recordings; we hope they give you some idea of the high caliber and talent of musicians who collaborate with Classical Connect.
The violinist Rachel Lee, who studied with Itzhak Perlman at the age of 10 and also with Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory, plays Leoš Janáček's Sonata for Violin and Piano. She's accompanied by Ron Regev.
The Korean pianist Soyeon Lee won the First Prize at the 2010 Naumburg Piano Competition. She studied at the Juilliard School with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald. She plays Prelude and Fugue in D-flat Major Op. 87, No. 15 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
The cellist Wendy Law has appeared as a soloist with renowned orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the Russian Philharmonic. Ms. Law has been appointed a Teaching Artist at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Here she plays 12 Variations on a theme from Mozart's "The Magic Flute" by Beethoven. Byron Sean is on the piano. To hear the complete playlist, click here.
December 27, 2010
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our musicians, and classical music lovers! Have a wonderful holiday season, and here to celebrate are two pieces written more than two centuries apart. Bach's Cantata BWV 110, one of the several he wrote for the Christmas day, was first performed in Leipzig on December 25, 1725. Here, in an old recording, is the opening chorus, Unser Mund sei voll Lachens (Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Psalm 126:2). It is performed by the Boys Choir (Knabenchor) of Windsbach, Bavaria, conducted by the choir's founder and director, Hans Thamm, with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra.
Olivier Messiaen, a deeply religious man, wrote his piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus, or Twenty contemplations on the infant Jesus, in 1944. The whole piece takes about two hours to play, but here you can listen to Movement 13, Noël (Christmas), performed by the pianist Minju Choi. Happy listening!
December 20, 2010
Beethoven's 240th birthday anniversary eclipsed several events that are very much worth noting. One of the greatest composers of the 20th century, Olivier Messiaen, was born on December 10, 1908. Messiaen was a bird-lover (as was one of his heroes, St. Francis of Assisi), considered himself an ornithologist, and incorporated birdsongs in many of his compositions. During World War II he spent a year in a prison camp where he composed one of his most profound pieces, Quartet for the End of Time (Quatuor pour la fin du temps). Here is Première communion de la vierge, from Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jésus, played by the French pianist Jean-François Latour. And yes, you can hear the birds.
Another great French composer, Hector Berlioz, was born on December 12, 1803. Even though musically Messiaen and Berlioz are worlds apart, a historical curiosity links the two: for many years Messiaen worked as an organist at the church of Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris - the same church in which Berlioz's funeral was held on March 11, 1869. Berlioz wrote operas, songs, but is probably best remembered as a great symphonist. Here is the first movement, "Rêveries - Passions" (Daydreams - Passions) of his Symphonie Fantastique in the old noncommercial recording by Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the direction of Igor Markevitch.