Jaakko Kuusisto’s Violin Concerto: Elina Vähälä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra

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Jaakko Kuusisto (1974-2022) was one of Finland’s most versatile musicians. As a violinist, he studied at Indiana University with Miriam Fried, made numerous recordings, and, in the 1990s, was a top prizewinner at the Sibelius and Nielsen competitions. After serving as concertmaster of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Kuusisto became active as a conductor. Perhaps he made his most enduring mark as a composer of approximately 40 pieces, which include operas, film scores, …

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Ives’ “Central Park in the Dark”: Sound Pictures of the Night

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In his program note for the brief and atmospheric 1906 tone poem, Central Park in the Dark, Charles Ives wrote, This piece purports to be a picture-in-sounds of the sounds of nature and of happenings that men would hear some thirty or so years ago (before the combustion engine and radio monopolized the earth and air), when sitting on a bench in Central Park on a hot summer night. Originally titled, A …

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Beethoven’s Mass in C Major: Gentleness, Cheerfulness, and Humanity

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Completed in 1807, Beethoven’s Mass in C Major came seventeen years before the premiere of the monumental Missa solemnis. In its way, it is a work which is equally mould-shattering. Beethoven, who seldom attended church, considered music to be “the mediator between intellectual and sensuous life…the one spiritual entrance into the higher world.” His Mass in C Major moves away from dogma to embrace the free, all-encompassing sanctity of the individual. A serene, …

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Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 885: Double Invertible Counterpoint

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Reflecting on the work of his father, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote, If ever a composer has shown polyphony in all its strength, it was surely Bach…. Nobody has shown as much as he, in works which normally seem so dry, as much imagination and originality of thought…. His melodies were indeed unusual, but they were always varied, rich in invention, and they are not at all like those of other composers. …

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Dvořák’s Humoresque in G-flat Major: Ignaz Friedman and Art Tatum

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Antonín Dvořák was one of the greatest composers of melody. Perhaps the most catchy and popularly enduring example is the Humoresque No. 7 in G-flat Major (Poco lento e grazioso), originally written for solo piano. Propelled forward by an infectious, lilting rhythm, the melody develops in two-note steps which ascend gradually and explore a variety of motivic combinations before sinking into repose at the end of the phrase. As with much of …

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Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major: The Cleveland Quartet

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In 1892, Antonin Dvořák left his beloved Bohemian homeland to accept an invitation to serve as director of New York’s National Conservatory of Music. In his words, Dvořák had been brought to the New World to “discover what young Americans had in them, and to help them express it.” During the nearly three year stay, Dvořák traveled as far west as Spillville, Iowa, and composed some of his most famous works, including …

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Janáček’s Sinfonietta: A Festive Flourish

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The impetus for Leoš Janáček’s blazing Sinfonietta came one day in 1925 when the Moravian-born Czech composer encountered a military band performing in a park. As the story goes, Janáček was so drawn to the spirited, patriotic strains that he vowed to write his own set of military fanfares. A few months later, the perfect outlet came when Janáček received a commission from the organizers of the Sokol Gymnastic Festival. Founded in Prague …

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