Hank Reynolds 
Mendelssohn, Hebrides Overture Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) traveled to England in 1829. His journey included a tour of the Scottish Highlands, and there, on the Hebrides islands, he was inspired to sketch out what would become his Hebrides Overture. Among the Hebrides, Fingal’s Cave lies on … Read more
Brahms, Paganini Variations The theme of Paganini’s Caprice No. 24 has inspired numerous composers to craft a set of variations based on it. In this series, we have already featured the variations of Rachmaninov, Liszt, Lutoslavksi, and Fazil Say. But I don’t think we can … Read more
Imogen Holst, A Hymne to Christ Imogen Holst (1907-1984) was the daughter of composer Gustav Holst. She received a composition scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music. She worked as a composer, writer, educator, performer, conductor, and arts administrator. Her writings include the definitive biography … Read more
Chesnokov, Tebe Poem Many readers of this site will recognize his anthem “Salvation Is Created” (Spaseniye Sodelal), featured way back in Friday Performance Pick 8 Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (1877-1944). We sang it in youth choir when I was growing up, although I did not grasp … Read more
Cuong, Concerto for Two Oboes I featured Re(new)al by Viet Cuong in Friday Performance Pick 450, and here were are a mere 10 weeks later with another work by the same composer. I would not usually have two works by the same composer in such … Read more
Opera in Germany has a tough time. Actually Germans seem to love opera. The productions are numerous and well attended. But despite their love of opera, Germans tolerate some of the most iconoclastic and even nihilistic productions. One of my German friends tells me that … Read more
Alfvén, Aftonen We try to cover the widest possible repertoire here, something will necessarily take a lot of time, and not focus too much on any one composer, genre, or performer. That said, we have turned frequently to Voces8 in this series. I’m not sure … Read more
Kern, Bill A short while ago, we did a webinar on the 1927 musical Show Boat as part of our series “A Night at the Opera.” Show Boat was a groundbreaking work and arguably the first of the genre of opera that we call “Broadway … Read more
Xenakis, Rebonds B Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) was born to Greek parents in a Greek community in Romania. In 1932, he began attending a boarding school in Greece where he studied music while also excelling in mathematics. He entered the National Technical School in Athens in … Read more
Schumann, Piano Quartet The chamber music of Robert Schumann (1810-1856) makes up a relative small portion of his large corpus of works. An extremely accomplished pianist, his compositions focus heavily on that instrument: works for solo piano, a piano concerto, and an enormous body of … Read more
