Classical Music Playlist, August 8, 2024Written with opportunities for the soloist to show off their skillful technique and poetic lyricism, the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, August 7, 2024Leader and mentor to a group of young composers that he directed to create a distinctly Russian national music, the Symphony No. 1 by Mily Balakirev is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, August 6, 2024A symphony’s worth of musical ideas are condensed into the single movement Symphony No. 7 by Jean Sibelius, today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, August 5, 2024Robert Schumann’s only Violin Concerto, written just before his permanent admission to a sanitarium in 1854 and the manuscript kept from the public for over 80 years until 1937, is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, August 2, 2024Well-crafted and demanding of the soloist (and featuring the unusual beginning of a minute-and-a-half piano solo), the popular Piano Concerto No. 2 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, August 1, 2024Composed after threatening Soviet critiques of his music, the Symphony No. 5 by Dmitri Shostakovich was a triumphant success and pleased Soviet officials, critics and the public and became his most popular symphony. It’s today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 31, 2024With subtle hints of ragtime and jazzy syncopation popular in 1931, the Symphony No. 2 by American composer Randall Thompson is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 30, 2024The short-lived arpeggione was similar to a guitar but played like a cello. Today, the cello usually takes its place in performances of Franz Schubert’s Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano. Cellist Yo Yo Ma plays it for today’s Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 29, 2024Inspired by his Scottish ancestry and the Scottish highlands and Hebrides Islands, London-born English composer Granville Bantock’s “Hebridean Symphony” is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 26, 2024Called Mozart’s greatest piano concerto and performed on period instruments including a fortepiano, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in c-minor is today’s Midday Masterpiece.