Classical Period

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: Nathan Milstein, Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic

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Nathan Milstein (1903-1992) was one of the most elegant and innately gifted violinists of the twentieth century. The biographer Boris Schwarz called his playing, “a rare combination of classical taste and technical perfection,” adding that “the effortless nonchalance with which he achieves sophisticated technical feats is amazing.” Born in Odessa, Milstein studied with the renowned Pyotr Stolyarsky, who was also teaching the six-year-old David Oistrakh at the time. At the age of …

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Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11, “Gassenhauer”: A Clarinet and a Catchy Tune

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Composed in 1797, the Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11 is spirited, fun-loving music of the 26 year old Beethoven. It is scored for clarinet, cello, and piano. At the time, the still-emerging clarinet was a novelty. Beethoven was impressed with the sound of Viennese clarinetist Franz Josef Bähr (1770-1819). The Trio was written for Bähr, and dedicated to Countess Wilhelmine von Thun, a prominent patron of both Beethoven and Mozart. With …

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Remembering Roger Norrington

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Sir Roger Norrington, the English conductor known for historically informed performances, passed away last Friday, July 18. He was 91. Born in Oxford, Norrington rose to prominence in the 1960s when he revived and championed the choral music of the 17th century German composer, Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672). In 1962, Norrington founded the Schütz Choir. He went on to found the London Classical Players, an ensemble he led until 1997. In later years, he …

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Beethoven’s Bagatelle, Op. 33 No. 4: Paul Lewis, Live at Wigmore Hall

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From his teenage years in Bonn until the end of his life, Beethoven composed piano bagatelles. These brief, unpretentious pieces, which the composer called Kleinigkeiten, or “trifles,” were published in three sets (Op. 33, Op. 119, and Op. 126). They set the stage for the Romantic character pieces of later composers, such as Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms. Pianist Paul Lewis writes, “Beethoven, the architect of massive, great formal structures, shows himself in …

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Remembering Alfred Brendel

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Alfred Brendel, the Czech-born Austrian pianist, writer, composer, and lecturer, passed away on Tuesday (June 17) at his home in London. He was 94. Largely self-taught after the age of 16, Brendel followed a unique path to the top. As a teenager, he was already an author and an exhibited painter. At the age of 14, in the final days of the Second World War, he dug trenches in Yugoslavia. In 1949 …

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Schubert’s Octet: A Journey to the Magic Land of Song

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Although they lived in Vienna as contemporaries, it is unclear if Schubert and Beethoven ever met. The two composers shared a mutual respect, but in many ways they were polar opposites. While Beethoven dazzled audiences as a revolutionary giant of the symphony, during his lifetime, Schubert was known almost exclusively for his songs. Publishers failed to take interest in Schubert’s instrumental works, and many, such as the “Great” C Major Symphony No. …

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Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major: Comic, Majestic, and Adventurous

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Mozart was at the height of his popularity in Vienna when, in March of 1785, he composed the Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467. In a letter dated March 12, two days after the Concerto’s premiere, Mozart’s father, Leopold, wrote to his daughter back home in Salzburg, We never get to bed before one o’clock and I never get up before nine. We lunch at two or half past. …

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