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, July 21, 2023Featuring newly knighted (July 11, by King Charles) pianist Sir Stephen Hough, the 1819 Piano Concerto No. 3 by Johann Hummel - student of Mozart and later friend to Beethoven and Schubert - is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 20, 2023Completed in 1939 and dedicated to his cellist wife, the romantic and pastoral Symphony No. 2 by Swedish composer Dag Wirén (1905–1986) is today’s Midday Masterpiece
Classical Music Playlist, July 19, 2023Robert Schumann called Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D-minor “the master-trio of our time,” and called the composer “the Mozart of the nineteenth century.” Mendelssohn’s D-minor Piano Trio is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 18, 2023Musically depicting himself in battle with critics, Richard Strauss's autobiographical tone poem, “Ein Heldenleben” (“A Hero’s Life”), is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 17, 2023Today is the 44th birthday of Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic and advocate for diversity and inclusion in classical music. He’s the soloist in Mozart's tuneful Clarinet Quintet for today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 14, 2023In a single movement that fluidly changes tempos and reveals its melodies, the Frederick Delius Violin Concerto from 1916 has the feel of a dreamscape. It’s today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 13, 2023Though he studied law and worked as a civil servant for 40 years, music was his passion. So he mostly taught himself music and became huge in Danish musical life. The Symphony No. 1 by JPE Hartmann is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 12, 2023The Piano Concerto No. 2 by the Director of the Paris Conservatory from 1896 to 1905, Théodore Dubois, is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 11, 2023Mozart composed three string quartets for the King of Prussia, an amateur cellist. The first, Mozart’s String Quartet No. 21, is today's Midday Masterpiece.
Classical Music Playlist, July 10, 2023“Carmina Burana” is a cantata about the pleasures of life ruled over by the random kindness or cruelty of fate. For the composer’s birthday today, Carl Orff’s complete “Carmina Burana” is today's Midday Masterpiece.