Tag Archives: Something For Thursday

Not my favorite piece in the world — I always find it a bit repetitive on the way to its unquestionably thrilling climax — but I’ve had it on the brain a bit since linking part of it in my … Continue reading →

Time for a break from all the classical of late and for something Celtic. Here is the band Great Big Sea, joining in with the Chieftains for a raucous rendition of the song “Lukey”. (Lyrics here, for reference.)

Emanuel Chabrier was a French composer at the end of the nineteenth century. He was active at the time when Debussy and Ravel were coming into their own, and Chabrier’s voice is a more minor one in the annals of … Continue reading →

Sometimes one wants a bit of musical perfection; when I’m in such a mood, I generally turn to one of two sources: Mozart or Bach. Here is Hilary Hahn playing the Gavotte from Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E for … Continue reading →

Gerald Finzi was a twentieth century English composer who wrote mostly meditative, pastoral works in the tradition of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Finzi’s output was small, but full of vital warmth. Here is his Eclogue for Piano and Strings.

I’ve had marches on the brain for a while, but I think it’s time to change the pace a bit. All marches — funeral marches, circus marches, military marches, grand marches — are, at heart, processionals; but there are other … Continue reading →

Well, sticking with my “Grand Marches from Operas” theme from the last two weeks, after the high opulence of Verdi and the portentious gravity of Wagner, here’s a Grand March that keeps its tongue firmly planted in cheek. From The … Continue reading →

Last week we had a grand march from Verdi; this week, we’ll hear Richard Wagner’s approach to the grand march concept. Here’s the Entry of the Guests into the Wartburg, from Tannhauser. Wagner didn’t care for Verdi, but in our … Continue reading →

Decades before movies like Ben Hur, Spartacus, and Cleopatra, there was the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi. Here, in a concert presentation with ballet interlude, is the Triumphal March (it’s in two parts owing to length of YouTube video constraints, … Continue reading →

I found this by sheer serendipity. I looked about YouTube for a performance of one of my favorite classical music works, and sure enough, I found one…but with a difference. George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody #1 has been a cherished work … Continue reading →