Classical Music Playlist, July 16, 2024The passionate and powerful Symphony No. 1 from 1935 by English composer Sir William Walton is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 14, 2024The romantic String Quartet No. 2 by Alexander Borodin that he composed as a 20th anniversary gift for his wife that recalls their courtship is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 13, 2024French composer Francis Poulenc's 1959 sacred choral & instrumental work, “Gloria,” conducted by Seiji Ozawa who passed away last week, is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 12, 2024The slow-movement opening, the persistent minor-key and the somber tone of the music earned Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 in F-minor the title “La Passione.” It’s today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 9, 2024Pianist Yuja Wang, and Berkeley-born composer and conductor Teddy Abrams, both just won the Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for their performance of his 2021 Piano Concerto. It’s today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 8, 2024Based on themes he composed for his earlier 1930s scores to films with stars such as Errol Flynn, Bette Davis and Claude Rains, the 1945 Violin Concerto by Erich Korngold is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 7, 2024A musical autobiography of his physical and emotional states while composing it, and with movements that pass through anguish to agitation to melancholy and finally to victory, the Symphony No. 2 by Robert Schumann is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 6, 2024Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 7, written for Soviet Children’s Radio but with an underlying sense of melancholy and ending with a slowing rhythm like a ticking clock that mirrors his final year of life, is today's Midday Masterpiece at 2pm.
Classical Music Playlist, February 5, 2024Claude Debussy’s impressionistic evocation of The Sea at different times of day and its interaction with the wind, “La Mer,” is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 2, 2024After promising a heroic symphony that would glorify the Soviet system and Stalin, Dmitri Shostakovich surprised (and annoyed) Soviet officials with his light and humorous Symphony No. 9. It’s today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, February 1, 2024Sir Stephen Hough is the soloist in the notoriously difficult Piano Concerto #3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff for today's Midday Masterpiece at 2pm.