Mikis Theodorakis - Zorba's Dance - David Garrett

Rossini - L'italiana in Algeri - Ouverture

Conducter - Neville Marriner
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L'italiana in Algeri

L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers) is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. The music is characteristic of Rossini's style, remarkable for its fusion of sustained, manic energy with elegant, pristine melodies.

Rossini wrote L'italiana in Algeri when he was 21. The opera was composed in either 18 or 27 days, depending on which source one believes (Rossini, not surprisingly, pegged it at 18). Rossini entrusted the composition of the recitatives as well as the aria "Le femmine d'Italia" to an unknown collaborator. The opera is notable for Rossini's mixing of opera seria style in opera buffa. The overture is widely recorded and performed today, known for its distinct opening of slow, quiet pizzicato basses, leading to a sudden loud burst of sound from the full orchestra. This "surprise" reflects Rossini's early admiration for Joseph Haydn, whose Symphony No. 94 in G major, "The Surprise Symphony", is so named for the same shocking, semi-comic effect.

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Rossini - La Gazza Ladra Overture (The Thieving Magpie)

Rene Leibowitz conducts the Paris Pasdeloup Orchestra (1958, Urania)
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• Rossini - Overture 'William Tell'   
• Rossini - L'italiana in Algeri - Ouverture

La gazza ladra

La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez.

The opera is best known for its overture, which is notable for its use of snare drums.

Rossini was famous for his writing speed, and La gazza ladra was no exception. It was reported that the producer had to lock Rossini in a room the day before the first performance in order to write the overture. Rossini then threw each sheet out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.

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Bach - Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Glenn Could

The 1982 recording of Glenn Gould playing Johann Sebastian Bach's famous Goldberg Variations.

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Goldberg Variations

The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a workfor harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of themost important examples of variation form. The Variations are named afterJohann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may have been the first performer.

Composition

The tale of how the variations came to becomposed comes from an early biography of Bach by Johann Nikolaus Forkel:

Forthis work we have to thank the instigation of the former Russian ambassador tothe electoral court of Saxony, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought therewith him the aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musicalinstruction by Bach. The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At suchtimes, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in anantechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia. ... Once the Countmentioned in Bach's presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces forGoldberg, which should be of such a smooth and somewhat lively character thathe might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights. Bach thoughthimself best able to fulfill this wish by means of Variations, the writing ofwhich he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of therepeatedly similar harmonic foundation. But since at this time all his workswere already models of art, such also these variations became under his hand.Yet he produced only a single work of this kind. Thereafter the Count alwayscalled them his variations. He never tired of them, and for a long timesleepless nights meant: 'Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.' Bachwas perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works as for this. The Countpresented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d'or. Nevertheless,even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would notyet have been paid for.

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Tchaikovsky - String Quartet No.1

Performed by Borodin Quartet
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String Quartet No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)

The String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Opus 11, was the first of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's three string quartets. It was premiered in Moscow on 16/28 March 1871, with an ensemble consisting of Ferdinand Laub and Ludvig Minkus, violins; Pryanishnikov, viola; and Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, cello.

The melancholic Andante cantabile movement, which has become famous in its own right, was based on a folk song the composer heard whistled by a house painter. When the quartet was performed at a tribute concert for Leo Tolstoy, the author was said to have been brought to tears by this movement. It is frequently performed in arrangements for string orchestra.

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article String Quartet No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)