Composed in 1906, Charles Ives’ Hallowe’en evokes childhood memories of a growing bonfire and playful mischief. Ives wrote, It is a take-off of a Halloween party and bonfire – the elfishness of the little boys throwing wood on the fire, etc, etc… it is a joke even Herbert Hoover could get. Scored for “string quartet, piano and optional drum,” the work begins as a whisper, with only two voices, the second violin and …
Listen to the cosmic, elemental opening of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, and you may be reminded of contemporary music, from the atmospheric soundscapes of John Luther Adams, to the minimalist arpeggios of Philip Glass. Beginning as a low rumble in the depths of the orchestra, the Prelude to Das Rheingold features a pure E-flat major chord which continues for over four minutes. It is an epic celebration of the eternal flow of the Rhine …
Set in Egypt around 80 BC, Handel’s Berenice tells the story of the Egyptian Queen’s involvement in a convoluted romantic web which is happily resolved in the end. The three-act opera premiered at London’s Covent Garden Theater on May 18, 1737, but proved to be unsuccessful, and closed after only four performances. In the Baroque period, the French overture provided a familiar formal template. It begins with a stately slow introduction propelled and enlivened …
Last Month, the newest installment of American composer Michael Torke’s Last was released earlier this week. Scored for solo violin and string orchestra, the collection of twelve meditative pieces can be performed separately, or as a whole. The titles evoke memories and the passage of time. (Last Fall, Last Year, Last Month, Last Sunday, etc.) Torke comments that they “are almost like second movements of violin concertos.” His program notes for Last are as follows: The Stoics recommend …
Sergei Prokofiev’s satirical 1921 opera tells the fairytale story of a young prince who is cursed by a witch to fall in love with three oranges. The prince travels to far off lands in search of the citrus fruits, each of which, when peeled, contains a princess. The first two princesses die instantly when exposed to the elements. The third survives and marries the prince. The libretto, written by the composer, is …
In 1995, the 15-year-old Hilary Hahn performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Lorin Maazel and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The youthful vigor of that exhilarating early performance has given way to depth and maturity, as exhibited in Hahn’s recent performance with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and conductor Alain Altinoglu, recorded on May 9, 2025. Four unassuming timpani beats open the Concerto’s first movement (Allegro ma non troppo), and provide the seed out of …
German composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) had a deep fascination for the colors and technical capabilities of musical instruments. Principally a violinist and violist, Hindemith was proficient on numerous other instruments, including the piano, bassoon, clarinet, and cello. He composed more than forty sonatas which encompassed nearly every standard orchestral instrument. His orchestral music unfolds with a sonorous majesty. The composer considered many of the sonatas to be technical exercises, written concurrently with …