The Life and Music of Lili Boulanger
The history of classical music is littered with the stories of great composers who tragically died young. The composer I've been talking about for the last two episodes, Franz Schubert, died at 31. Mo...
4 Jul 202447min
Schubert Sonata in B Flat, D. 960 (Part 2)
There are a few tropes when it comes to Schubert's late music. The pieces are very long. They have four movements. The first two movemnts are expansive, magisterial explorations of the human psyche, ...
20 Jun 202454min
Schubert Sonata in B Flat, D. 960 (Part 1)
For a long time I've received emails and messages from people asking, and sometimes demanding, that I explore the solo piano repertoire. Other than a look at the Goldberg Variations of Bach, I've basi...
6 Jun 202440min
Mozart Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466
H.C. Robbins Landon, the great musicologist, once wrote about Mozart that his music was "an excuse for mankind's existence and a small hope for our ultimate survival." I couldn't agree more, especiall...
24 Mai 202448min
What is a Mode?
My first interaction with the musical term modes was Leonard Bernstein's brilliant Young People's Concert, also called What is a Mode? In that show, Bernstein showed how modes are an essential part of...
9 Mai 202444min
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1
In 1857, Brahms wrote to his friend Joseph Joachim about his first Piano Concerto, saying, " "I have no judgment about this piece anymore, nor any control over it." Brahms first began sketching his f...
25 Apr 20241h 3min
Fast, Furious, Fortissimo
Very often, when I tell people that I'm a classical musician, I am told, "wow, I love classical music! It's so relaxing!" I think almost all classical musicians have heard that before, and you know wh...
12 Apr 202446min
Copland Symphony No. 3
There has always been a debate about "The Great American Symphony." By the time most prominent American composers got around to writing large scale symphonic works, the symphony had very nearly gone o...
28 Mar 20241h 1min
