Impressions in Blue: Ravel & Gershwin
In the mid-1920s, Maurice Ravel wrote a letter to the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger's class was a mecca for composers, both young and old, and musicians from all over the wo...
7 Aug 202544min
Beethoven Piano Sonata in B Flat Major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier" - Part 2
There is a special category when it comes to Beethoven; a catalogue that doesn't include complete symphonies, sonatas, concerti, string quartets, etc., but just single movements. This is the catalogue...
24 Juli 202553min
Beethoven Piano Sonata in B♭ major, Op. 106, "Hammerklavier" - Part 1
Beethoven once wrote to his publisher: "What is difficult, is also beautiful, good, great, and so forth. Hence everyone will realize that this is the most lavish praise that can be bestowed, since wha...
10 Juli 202544min
Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins
The collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht is rightly legendary. The two men could not have been more different from each other, and like the Brahms/Joachim relationship I mentioned in my...
26 Juni 20251h
The Ravel Sound with Norbert Müllemann and Stefan Knüpfer
I so enjoyed making this latest episode in my collaboration with G Henle Publishers. I talked with two absolute experts in their fields, Norbert Mülleman and Stefan Knüpfer, all about how to edit Rave...
12 Juni 202545min
Dvorak Violin Concerto
Admit it: if you're a fan of classical music—or even just a regular concertgoer—you might have glanced at the title of this episode and done a double take. The Dvořák Violin Concerto? Not the Cello Co...
29 Maj 202549min
Brahms Double Concerto
It's entirely possible that we would not know the name of Johannes Brahms very well if Brahms hadn't met Joseph Joachim as a very young man. Joachim, who was one of the greatest violinists of all time...
15 Maj 202558min
Copland Clarinet Concerto
The commission for a new Clarinet Concerto from the great American composer Aaron Copland came from a rather unlikely source: Benny Goodman, the man known as the King of Swing. Goodman was one of the ...
1 Maj 202548min
