Schumann - Waldszenen




Pianist - Sviatoslav Richter
I - Part 1 - "Eintritt" (Entrance) / "Jäger auf der Lauer" (Hunter in Ambush) / "Einsame Blumen" (Solitary Flowers) / "Verrufene Stelle" (Haunted Spot) / "Freundliche Landschaft" (Friendly Landscape)
II - Part 2 - "Herbege" (At the Inn) / "Vogel als Prophet" (The Prophet Bird)

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Grieg - Piano Concerto - Leif Ove Andsnes


Conductor - Leonard Slatkin

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Piano Concerto (Grieg)
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed by Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works and among the most popular of all piano concerti.
History and influences
The work is among Grieg's earliest important works, written by the 24-year-old composer in 1868 in Søllerød, Denmark, during one of his visits there to benefit from the climate, which was warmer than that of his native Norway.
Grieg's concerto is often compared to the Piano Concerto of Robert Schumann — it is in the same key, the opening descending flourish on the piano is similar, and the overall style is considered to be closer to Schumann than any other single composer. Grieg had heard Schumann's concerto played by Clara Schumann in Leipzig in 1858, and was greatly influenced by Schumann's style generally, having been taught the piano by Schumann's friend, Ernst Ferdinand Wenzel. Compact disc recordings often pair the two concertos.
Additionally, Grieg's work provides evidence of his interest in Norwegian folk music; the opening flourish is based around the motif of a falling minor second followed by a falling major third, which is typical of the folk music of Grieg's native country. This specific motif occurs in other works by Grieg, including the String Quartet. In the last movement of the concerto, similarities to the halling (a Norwegian folk dance) and imitations of the Hardanger fiddle (the Norwegian folk fiddle) have been detected.
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Sviatoslav Richter plays Rachmaninov Concerto No.2, Op.18


00:00 – Moderato  11:21 - Adagio sostenuto  23:05 - Allegro scherzando

Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra / Kurt Sanderling / 1959
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Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between the autumn of 1900 and April 1901.The second and third movements were first performed with the composer as soloist on 2 December 1900.The complete work was premiered, again with the composer as soloist, on 9 November 1901,with his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting.
This piece is one of Rachmaninoff's most enduringly popular pieces, and established his fame as a concerto composer.
Background
At its 1897 premiere, Rachmaninoff's first symphony, though now considered a significant achievement, was derided by contemporary critics. Compounded by problems in his personal life, Rachmaninoff fell into a depression that lasted for several years. His second piano concerto confirmed his recovery from clinical depression and writer's block. The concerto was dedicated to Nikolai Dahl, a physician who had done much to restore Rachmaninoff's self-confidence.
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Mozart - The Magic Flute - Queen of the Night Aria


Soprano - Lucia Popp
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Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen

"Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart") is the second aria sung by a coloratura soprano role Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte).

The aria

"Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen", commonly abbreviated "der Hölle Rache", is often referred to as "the Queen of the Night Aria", despite the fact that the Queen of the Night character sings another distinguished aria earlier in the opera, "O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn". It is considered to be one of the most famous opera arias, highly memorable, fast paced and menacingly grandiose.

The aria forms part of the second act of the opera. It depicts a fit of vengeful rage, in which the Queen of the Night puts a knife into the hand of her daughter Pamina and exhorts her to assassinate Sarastro, the Queen's rival, on pain of denying and cursing Pamina if she does not comply.

Music

The aria is widely renowned for being a demanding piece to perform well. The aria's range is two octaves, from F4 to F6 and requires a very high tessitura.

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Wagner - Götterdämmerung - Siegfried's Death and Funeral March


Picture: "Path to the gothic Choir", 2006, by Raphael Lacoste
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Götterdämmerung
About this sound Götterdämmerung (help·info) (Twilight of the Gods) is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, or The Ring for short). It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the Ring.
The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse phrase Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war of the gods that brings about the end of the world. However, as with the rest of the Ring, Wagner's account of this apocalypse diverges significantly from his Old Norse sources.
The term Götterdämmerung is occasionally used in English, referring to a disastrous conclusion of events.
Noted excerpts
Two extended orchestral selections—"Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey", an abridged excerpt from the Prologue without the singers; and "Siegfried's Funeral March", lifted uncut from act 3—are often presented outside the opera house, and are published separately from the lengthy work. Early versions of these selections were approved by the composer himself. These excerpts include specially composed endings so that the excerpt is better able to stand on its own as a complete composition.
Other notable excerpts include
Siegfried and Brünnhilde's duet (Prologue). This is part of "Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey".
  • Hagen's Watch (Act 1)
  • Hagen summons the vassals and the Wedding March (Act 2)
  • Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene (Act 3) as a soprano solo with orchestra (Hagen's single line is omitted).
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Bach - "coffee" cantata, BWV 211






I - Movement 1 - 4 /II - Movement 5 - 6 /III - Movement 8
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Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211

Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Be still, stop chattering) (aka The Coffee Cantata) (BWV 211) is a secular cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach between 1732 and 1734. Although classified as a cantata, it is essentially a miniature comic opera.

In a satirical commentary, the cantata amusingly tells of an addiction to coffee, a pressing social problem in eighteenth century Leipzig, where this work was premiered.

The cantata's libretto (written by Christian Friedrich Henrici) features lines such as "If I can't drink my bowl of coffee three times daily, then in my torment, I will shrivel up like a piece of roast goat"—a sentiment that would likely have been appreciated by the patrons of Zimmerman's Coffee House in Leipzig, where Bach's Collegium Musicum, founded by Georg Philipp Telemann in 1702, would have originally performed the work.

Bach wrote no operas: the cantata was written for concert performance, but is frequently performed today fully staged with costumes.

Movements

1. Recitativo: Schweigt stille - Narrator

The narrator tells the audience to quiet down and pay attention, before introducing Schlendrian and Lieschen.

2. Aria: Hat man nicht mit seinen Kindern - Schlendrian

Schlendrian sings in disgust of how his daughter refuses to listen to him, even after telling her 1,000 times.

3. Recitativo: Du böses Kind - Schlendrian and Lieschen

Schlendrian asks his daughter again to stop drinking coffee, Lieschen defiantly tells her father to calm down.

4. Aria: Ei! Wie schmeckt der Kaffee süße - Lieschen

Lieschen sings a love song to her coffee

5. Recitativo: Wenn du mir nicht den Kaffee läßt - Schlendrian and Lieschen

Schlendrian starts giving ultimatums to his daughter, threatening to take away her meals, clothes, and other pleasures. Lieschen doesn't seem to care.

6. Aria: Mädchen, die von harten Sinnen - Schlendrian

In this sung monologue, Schlendrian tries to figure out what his daughter's weak spot is, so she absolutely couldn't want to drink coffee again.

7. Recitativo: Nun folge, was dein Vater spricht! - Schlendrian and Lieschen

Schlendrian threatens to prevent his daughter from marrying if she fails to give up coffee, Lieschen has a sudden change of heart.

8. Aria: Heute noch, lieber Vater - Lieschen

Lieschen thanks her father for offering to find her a husband, and vows to give up coffee if she can have a lover instead.

9. Recitativo: Nun geht und sucht der alte Schlendrian - Narrator

The narrator states that while Schlendrian goes out to find a husband for his daughter, Lieschen secretly tells potential suitors that they must let her drink her coffee if they care to marry her.

10. Trio: Die Katze läßt das Mausen nicht - Tutti

All three characters sing the moral of the story, "drinking coffee is natural".

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211

Roles - The Narrator - tenor / Schlendrian - baritone / Lieschen, daughter of Schlendrian - soprano

-- Prologue

Be silent, not a word, So every single note is heard; here comes Herr Schlendrian with daughter Liesgen close behind, he's in an rotten state-of-mind let's find out why he's ranting on.

-- Aria

How vexatious are one's children! Little devils hasten death! Yes as sure as she's is my daughter
everything that I have taught her was an utter waste of breath!

-- Recitative

Schlendrian: You wild girl, you evil child! Oh! If I only had my say: All coffee thrown away!

Liesgen: Dear father, don't be such a beast! If I cannot have my Coffee to drink three times a day at least, I will become as a result As burnt out as some roasted goat flesh.

-- Aria

Ah! how coffee tastes delicious sweeter than a thousand kisses smoother than a rarest of wine!
Coffee, coffee, you refresh me, and if one wants to impress me, Ah, just give me coffee, please!

-- Recitative

Schlendrian: If you keep drinking your caffeine I'll ban you from the social scen And you'll never go walking.

Liesgen: That's fine! I only want my drink divine!

Schlendrian: (Now I have her, the little creature!) You will not have a stylish dress with All the latest features.

Liesgen: Then I suppose it must be so.

Schlendrian: You won't stare out the window idly and watch the people come and go!

Liesgen: I must say that I don't care mightily. Just let me have my cup o' Joe!

Schlendrian: You will never again be giv'n a silver or a golden ribbon to weave into your tresses!

Liesgen: Yes, fine! It's coffee that impresses.

Schlendrian: You senseless little minx, you'd really give up all those things?

-- Aria

Women, when their moods are heated, are not easily defeated. But you find her secret yen, And how happily you win.

-- Recitative

Now do as I, your father, think!

Liesgen: I will Sir, in all things but drink.

Schlendrian: Well then! I hope you're quite contented to never wed till you've repented.

Liesgen: Oh yes! Please father, a betrothed!

Schlendrian: I swear now, that it's not in store.

Liesgen: Until I quit this vice you loathe? Right! Coffee, I henceforth disparage! Dear father, please, I won't drink any more.

Schlendrian: Then I'll begin to plan your marriage!

-- Aria

Liesgen: This very day, oh, dear father, right away! Oh, a man! Truly, it would be so grand. If I could but make it so: That instead of a latté before I call it a day I would have a handsome beau.

-- Recitative

Narrator: Now Schlendrian goes off and looks at last, to satisfy his daughter Liesgen he tries to find a husband fast. But Liesgen secretly implies: No man will pass before my eyes unless he's sworn and won't mistake it and signed his name to our marriage contract, that grants me freedom to the act of Coffee when I want to make it.

-- Chorus

As cats will always catch their mice, so ladies drink their grounds and water. If mothers love their coffee breaks, and grandmama also partakes, Who then sees fit to blame the daughters?

Bach - Double Violin Concerto






Violin - Itzhak Perlman & Isaac Stern /(Live performance)
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Concerto for Two Violins (Bach)
The Concerto for 2 Violins, Strings and Continuo in D Minor, BWV 1043, also known as the Double Violin Concerto or "Bach Double", is perhaps one of the most famous works by J. S. Bach and considered among the best examples of the work of the late Baroque period. Bach wrote it between 1730 and 1731 when he was the cantor at Thomasschule, in Leipzig, Germany. Later in 1739, in Leipzig, he created an arrangement for two harpsichords, transposed into C minor, BWV 1062. In addition to the two soloists, the concerto is scored for strings and basso continuo.
The concerto is characterized by the subtle yet expressive relationship between the violins throughout the work. The musical structure of this piece uses fugal imitation and much counterpoint.
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Beethoven - Fidelio Overture


Conductor - Harnoncourt

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Fidelio
Fidelio (Op. 72) is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora by Ferdinando Paer (a score of which was owned by Beethoven). The opera tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio", rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison.
Background
Bouilly's scenario fits Beethoven's aesthetic and political outlook: a story of personal sacrifice, heroism and eventual triumph (the usual topics of Beethoven's "middle period") with its underlying struggle for liberty and justice mirroring contemporary political movements in Europe.
As elsewhere in Beethoven's vocal music, the music is not especially kind to the singers. The principal parts of Leonore and Florestan, in particular, require great vocal skill and endurance in order to project the necessary intensity, and top performances in these roles attract admiration.
Some notable moments in the opera include the "Prisoners' Chorus", an ode to freedom sung by a chorus of political prisoners, Florestan's vision of Leonore come as an angel to rescue him, and the scene in which the rescue finally takes place. The finale celebrates Leonore's bravery with alternating contributions of soloists and chorus.
Performance history
Like many other works in Beethoven's career, Fidelio went through several versions before achieving full success. The opera was first produced in a three-act version at Vienna's Theater an der Wien, on 20 November, 1805, with additional performances the following two nights. While this earlier version is sometimes referred to as Leonore in order to distinguish it from the final two-act version, this is incorrect as it was premiered as Fidelio.
The success of these performances was greatly hindered by the fact that Vienna was under French military occupation, and most of the audience were French military officers. After this premiere, Beethoven was pressured by friends to revise and shorten the opera into just two acts, and he did so with the help of Stephan von Breuning. The composer also wrote a new overture (now known as "Leonore No. 3"; see below). In this form the opera was first performed on 29 March and 10 April, 1806, with greater success. Further performances were prevented by a dispute between Beethoven and the theater management.
In 1814 Beethoven revised his opera yet again, with additional work on the libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke. This version was first performed at the Kärtnertortheater on 23 May, 1814, under the title Fidelio. The 17-year-old Franz Schubert was in the audience, having sold his school books to obtain a ticket. The increasingly deaf Beethoven led the performance, "assisted" by Michael Umlauf, who later performed the same task for Beethoven at the premiere of the Ninth Symphony. The role of Pizarro was taken by Johann Michael Vogl, who later became known for his collaborations with Schubert. This version of the opera was, finally, a great success for Beethoven, and Fidelio has been an important part of the operatic repertory ever since.
Beethoven cannot be said to have enjoyed the difficulties posed by writing and producing an opera. In a letter to Treitschke he said, "I assure you, dear Treitschke, that this opera will win me a martyr's crown. You have by your co-operation saved what is best from the shipwreck. For all this I shall be eternally grateful to you."
The opera was published in all three versions as Beethoven's Opus 72.
The overtures to Fidelio
Beethoven struggled to produce an appropriate overture for Fidelio, and ultimately went through four versions. His first attempt, for the 1805 premiere, is believed to have been the overture now known as "Leonore No. 2". Beethoven then focused this version for the performances of 1806, creating "Leonore No. 3". The latter is considered by many listeners as the greatest of the four overtures, but as an intensely dramatic, full-scale symphonic movement it had the effect of overwhelming the (rather light) initial scenes of the opera. Beethoven accordingly experimented with cutting it back somewhat, for a planned 1808 performance in Prague; this is believed to be the version now called "Leonore No. 1". Finally, for the 1814 revival Beethoven began anew, and with fresh musical material wrote what we now know as the Fidelio overture. As this somewhat lighter overture seems to work best of the four as a start to the opera, Beethoven's final intentions are generally respected in contemporary productions.
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Beethoven - Leonore Overture 3




Conductor - Rene Leibowitz /The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1962)

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Beethoven - Leonore Overture - No.2 Op.72a




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Beethoven - Fidelio - Prisoners' Chorus


PrisonersChorus O Welche Lust, in freier Lust from Beethoven's Fidelio. Leonard Bernstein conducting the Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, 1978.

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Satie - Gnossienne No. 1 - 3






I - Pianist - Daniel Varsano /Artwork - Remedios Varo / III - Pianist - Cubus
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Gnossiennes (Satie)
"Gnossienne" is the name given to several piano pieces by the French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century.
Characteristics
Satie's coining of the word "gnossienne" was one of the rare occasions when a composer used a new term to indicate a new "type" of composition. Satie had and would use many novel names for his compositions ("vexations", "croquis et agaceries" and so on). "Ogive," for example, had been the name of an architectural element until Satie used it as the name for a composition, the Ogives. "Gnossienne," however, was a word that did not exist before Satie used it as a title for a composition. The word appears to be derived from "gnosis"; Satie was involved in gnostic sects and movements at the time that he began to compose the Gnossiennes. However, some published versions claim that the word derives from Cretan "knossos" or "gnossus" and link the Gnossiennes to Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur myth. Several archeological sites relating to that theme were famously excavated around the time that Satie composed the Gnossiennes.
The Gnossiennes were composed by Satie in the decade following the composition of the Trois Sarabandes (1887) and the Trois Gymnopédies (1888). Like these Sarabandes and Gymnopédies, the Gnossiennes are often considered dances. It is not certain that this qualification comes from Satie himself—the sarabande and the Gymnopaedia were at least historically known as dances.
The musical vocabulary of the Gnossiennes is a continuation of that of the Gymnopédies (a development that had started with the 1886 Ogives → Sarabandes → Gymnopédies → Gnossiennes) later leading to more harmonic experimentation in compositions like the Danses Gothiques. These series of compositions are all at the core of Satie's characteristic 19th century style, and in this sense differ from his early salon compositions (like the 1885 "Waltz" compositions published in 1887), his turn-of-the-century cabaret compositions (like the Je te Veux Waltz), and his post-Schola Cantorum piano solo compositions, starting with the Préludes flasques in 1912.
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Verdi - Requiem - Dies Irae


Requiem / Sir Georg Solti / Wiener Philharmonic / Joan Sutherland Soprano / Luciano Pavarotti Tenor / Marilyn Horne Mezzo Soprano / Martti Talvela Bass / Recorded 1967

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Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin - Polonaise / Waltz




I - Polonaise / II - Waltz - London Festival Orchestra
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Eugene Onegin (opera)

Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, (Russian: Евгений Онегин, Yevgény Onégin) is an opera ("lyrical scenes") in 3 acts (7 scenes), by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin.
Eugene Onegin is a well-known example of lyric opera; the libretto very closely follows Pushkin's original, retaining much of his poetry, to which Tchaikovsky adds music of a dramatic nature. The story concerns a selfish hero who lives to regret his blasé rejection of a young woman's love and his careless incitement of a fatal duel with his best friend.
The opera was first performed in Moscow in 1879. There are several recordings of it, and it is regularly performed. The work's title refers to the protagonist.
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Chopin - Fantaisie-Impromptu - Yundi Li


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Fantaisie-Impromptu

Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op. posth. 66, is a solo piano composition and one of his best-known pieces. It was composed in 1834 and dedicated to Julian Fontana, who published the piece in spite of Chopin's request not to do so.

The melody of the Fantaisie-Impromptu's middle section was used in the popular song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". It was also quoted in Variation 10 of Federico Mompou's Variations on a Theme of Chopin, which is otherwise based on Chopin's Prelude No. 7 in A major.

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Satie - Gnossienne No. 4 - 7








I - Pianist - Cubus / II,III - Pianist - Reinbert De Leeuw / IV - Pianist - Bojan Gorisek

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Schumann - Kinderszenen




Piano - Vladimir Horowitz / A 1962 studio recording from New York City
I -
Movement 1: Von Fremden Ländern Und Menschen (Of Foreign Lands and Peoples)
Movement 2: Kuriose Geschichte (A Curious Story); starts at 1:33 /
Movement 3: Hasche, Mann (Blind Man's Bluff); starts at 2:42
Movement 4: Bittendes Kind (Pleading Child); starts at 3:18
Movement 5: Glückes Genug (Happiness); starts at 4:13
Movement 6: Wichtige Begebenheit (An Important Event); starts at 5:02
Movement 7: Träumerei (Reverie); starts at 5:49
II -
Movement 8: Am Kamin (At the Fireside)
Movement 9: Ritter Vom Steckenpferd (Knight of the Hobbyhorse); starts at 1:07
Movement 10: Fast Zu Ernst (Almost Too Serious); starts at 1:46
Movement 11: Fürchtenmachen (Frightening); starts at 3:30
Movement 12: Kind Im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep); starts at 5:13
Movement 13: Der Dichter Spricht (The Poet Speaks); starts at 7:00
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Kinderszenen

Kinderszenen (original spelling Kinderscenen, "Scenes from Childhood"), Opus 15, by Robert Schumann, is a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838. In this work, Schumann provides us with his adult reminiscences of childhood. Schumann had originally written 30 movements for this work, but chose 13 for the final version. Robert Polansky has discussed the unused movements.

Schumann had originally labeled this work Leichte Stücke (Easy Pieces). Likewise, the section titles were only added after the completion of the music, and Schumann described the titles as "nothing more than delicate hints for execution and interpretation"Timothy Taylor has discussed Schumann's choice of titles for this work in the context of the changing situation of music in 19th century culture and economics.

In 1974, Eric Sams noted that there was no known complete manuscript of Kinderszenen.

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Mendelssohn - Symphony No. 4, "Italian"








Conductor - Leonard Bernstein /New York Philharmonic Orchestra
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Symphony No. 4 (Mendelssohn)

The Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, commonly known as the Italian, is an orchestral symphony written by German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847).

The work has its origins, like the composer's Scottish Symphony and the orchestral overture The Hebrides (Fingal's Cave), in the tour of Europe which occupied Mendelssohn from 1829 to 1831. Its inspiration is the colour and atmosphere of Italy, where Mendelssohn made sketches but left the work incomplete:

"This is Italy! And now has begun what I have always thought.. to be the supreme joy in life. And I am loving it. Today was so rich that now, in the evening, I must collect myself a little, and so I am writing to you to thank you, dear parents, for having given me all this happiness."

In February he wrote from Rome to his sister Fanny:

“The ‘Italian’ symphony is making great progress. It will be the jolliest piece I have ever done, especially the last movement. I have not found anything for the slow movement yet, and I think that I will save that for Naples.”

The Italian Symphony was finished in Berlin, 13 March 1833, in response to an invitation for a symphony from the London (now Royal) Philharmonic Society; he conducted the first performance himself in London on 13 May 1833, at a London Philharmonic Society concert. The symphony's success, and Mendelssohn's popularity, influenced the course of British music for the rest of the century. However, Mendelssohn remained unsatisfied with the composition, which cost him, he said, some of the bitterest moments of his career; he revised it in 1837 and even planned to write alternate versions of the second, third, and fourth movements. He never published the symphony, which only appeared in print in 1851, after his death.

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Schubert - Unfinished Symphony No. 8


Conductor - Wolfgang Sawallisch / Orchestra - Staatskapelle Dresden (1967)
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Symphony No. 8 (Schubert)
Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor (sometimes renumbered as Symphony No. 7), commonly known as the "Unfinished Symphony" (German: Unvollendete), D.759, was started in 1822 but left with only two movements known to be complete, even though Schubert would live for another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages orchestrated, also survives. It has long been theorized that Schubert may have sketched a finale which instead became the big B minor entr'acte from his incidental music to Rosamunde, but all the evidence for this is circumstantial. One possible reason for Schubert's leaving the symphony incomplete is the predominance of the same meter (three-in-a-bar). The first movement is in 3/4, the second in 3/8 and the third (an incomplete scherzo) also in 3/4. Three consecutive movements in exactly the same meter rarely occur in the symphonies, sonatas or chamber works of the great Viennese composers (one notable exception being Haydn's Farewell Symphony).
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Schubert - Trout quintet


Pianist - Mieczyslaw Horszowski  /  Budapest String Quartet
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Trout Quintet
The Trout Quintet is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major by Franz Schubert. In Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of Schubert's works, it is D. 667. The work was composed in 1819, when Schubert was only 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year after his death.
Rather than the usual piano quintet lineup of piano and string quartet, Schubert's piece is written for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass. The composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel had rearranged his own Septet for the same instrumentation, and the Trout was actually written for a group of musicians coming together to play Hummel's work.
The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied "Die Forelle" (The Trout). Apparently, the quintet was written for Sylvester Paumgartner, of Steyr in Upper Austria, a wealthy music patron and amateur cellist, who also suggested that Schubert include a set of variations on the Lied. Sets of variations on melodies from his Lieder are found in four other works by Schubert: the Death and the Maiden Quartet, the "Trockne Blumen" Variations for Flute and Piano (D. 802), the Wanderer Fantasy, and the Fantasia in C major for Violin and Piano (D. 934, on "Sei mir gegrüßt").

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Haydn - Trumpet Concerto - Alison Balsom / Tine Thing Helseth




I - Alison Balsom, Haydn Trumpet Concerto in Eb, 1st mov.t Recorded live at Royal Albert Hall, London.
II - Tine Thing Helseth: Haydn Trumpet Concerto, 3rd mv
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Trumpet Concerto (Haydn)

Joseph Haydn's Concerto per il Clarino, Hob.: VII e, 1 (Trumpet Concerto in E flat major) was written in 1796, when he was 64 years old, for his long time friend Anton Weidinger.

Form

The work is composed in three movements (typical of a concerto), and they are marked as follows:

1. Allegro (sonata) / 2. Andante (sonata) / 3. Finale-Allegro (rondo)

In addition to the solo trumpet, the concerto is scored for an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 (presumably natural) trumpets (which generally play in support of the horns or timpani rather than the solo trumpet), timpani and strings.

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Trumpet Concerto (Haydn)
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