His only work for violin duo and orchestra, Sarasate’s Navarra is renowned as one of the most virtuosic duets ever written for the instrument, where neither player is lesser than the other – the two soloists’ melodic lines gracefully imitate and intertwine with each other, before exploding into a fiendishly difficult coda, which has taken… Read More Sarasate – Navarra, Op. 33
A young contemporary of Rachmaninov, Nikolai Medtner’s music was until recently overlooked, not seeming ‘modern’ enough for late 20th century musicologists. However, back in 1900 at the age of twenty, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, taking with him one of the highest accolades of the institute – the Anton Rubinstein Award. Just ten years… Read More Medtner – Piano Sonata in G Minor, Op. 22
Life was brilliant for Dvořák in 1875 – he was happily married with a one-year-old son, and had just been awarded the prestigious Austrian State Prize for Composition, unknowingly judged by none other than Johannes Brahms, who saw great promise in this newly emerging composer. So full of ideas was he at this happy time… Read More Dvořák – Serenade for Strings Op. 22
Spurred on by the heroism of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, Strauss began work on his eighth tone poem ‘Ein Heldenleben’ – a Hero’s Life – in 1898, while on holiday in the Bavarian Alps. Strauss himself is generally thought to be the ‘Hero’ mentioned in the movement subtitles, but he always denied this, answering “I’m no… Read More Strauss – Ein Heldenleben Op. 40
https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js Just a month before the Nutcracker Suite was premiéred in St. Petersburg, Tchaikovsky hurriedly set about orchestrating and completing ideas from his roughly sketched-out Nutcracker ballet, and compiling them into a short symphonic work, ready for its premiere in March 1892. By this point, he had not even named the work, and in surviving… Read More Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite Op. 71a
In 1883 – the same year as the premiére of his third symphony – Brahms began work on six short songs for unaccompanied choir; his 6 Lieder and Romances, each with lyrics written by several different German poets and writers, with little link between them. The first song, Der Bucklichte Fiedler, uses a traditional Rhenish… Read More Brahms – 6 Lieder and Romances Op. 93a
Edward Elgar (1857-1934) Serenade for String Orchestra in E Minor Op. 20, composed in 1892. Performed by ‘A Far Cry’ String ensemble Score and Audio downloaded from imslp.org
Carl Nielsen (1865 – 1931) Helios Concert Overture, composed 1903. Performed by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Herbert Blomstedt
Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886) ‘Totentanz’ Dance of the Dead for solo piano and orchestra, first published in 1849, this edition completed in 1853. Performed by Neal O’Doan Score and audio downloaded from the public domain via IMSLP.
AltoClef 