Tag Archives: Tone Poem Tuesday

There is something oddly seductive about the way the Russian Romantic composers, while trained in the musical traditions of the west, often looked eastward for inspiration. That exotic flavor lives so sparklingly in the work of Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin, and … Continue reading →

Max Reger was a late-Romantic era composer who isn’t heard a lot these days, owing to his reputation of having written mostly very dense works that aren’t the easiest listens in the world. I’m all for difficult listening, but I’m … Continue reading →

Film music is often rearranged by the composers into suites that make for better performance in concert settings, and this is one of the better ones. I had this performance on a cassette tape many moons ago, but I never … Continue reading →

There’s always something fascinating about obscure Beethoven. You can’t help listening to it, trying to find hints of the staggering genius that would craft some of the greatest works of art in human history, and not just musical art. You can hear … Continue reading →

The business of transcription is an interesting one. This is where works that are written for one instrument or group of instruments (or even voices) is rewritten, usually by a different composer than the original, for a different instrument or … Continue reading →

In honor of tomorrow being Valentine’s Day, here’s one of the most famous musical treatments of one of the most famous love stories of all time: Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. I just listened to this the other day … Continue reading →

I’ve listened to this piece four times tonight in succession, so beautiful did I find it. Karl Goldmark was a Hungarian composer in the Romantic era who lived much of his life in Vienna, and as such his music is … Continue reading →

The words of a truly great President seem apropos tonight, as a truly execrable President takes the stage. Here is Aaron Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait.

It’s always worth remembering that classical music isn’t just about dusty old works by composers long dead. British composer Eric Whitacre is still very much alive, and he is actually only a little less than two years older than me. … Continue reading →