Classical Music Playlist, July 17, 2024It was 307 years ago today, July 17, 1717, that Handel’s “Water Music” was first performed as entertainment for the King as he floated down the River Thames and back. All three suites of the COMPLETE “Water Music” are today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 12, 2023Inspired by the paradox of beautiful sunsets the composer witnessed over WW I killing fields in northern France, the Symphony #3, the “Pastoral,” by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 11, 2023Ranked by his contemporaries as among the best composers of their era - but of limited output because he spent most of his time teaching - the only symphony by Paul Dukas is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 10, 2023The charming melodies and colorful folk dances of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 9, 2023“West Coast Pictures” of a tiny Swedish village on the western shore of a Swedish island are the subject of the Symphony No. 3 by Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg, today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 6, 2023Despite there being little interest in it at the time, Mauro Giuliani mastered the guitar and made the instrument, and himself, hugely popular in early 19th century Vienna. Giuliani’s Guitar Concerto No. 3 is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 5, 2023While most French composers in the mid-late 1800s composed operas almost exclusively, Camille Saint-Saëns composed a good amount of chamber music including a Piano Quintet in A-minor in 1855. It’s today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 4, 2023With Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes as the soloist, the iconic Piano Concerto in A-minor that Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg wrote at age 25 in 1868 is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 3, 2023A staple of the concert repertoire for about 50 years, the 1820 Symphony No. 2 by German composer Louis Spohr is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, October 2, 2023His final major chamber work and written about the same time as his opera “The Magic Flute,” Mozart’s String Quintet No. 6 in E-Flat Major (K. 614) is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, September 29, 2023The Philadelphia Orchestra’s new recording of the 1945 Florence Price Symphony No. 4 is today's Midday Masterpiece.