... but it wasn't his style anyway....
Continuing this week with Part 2 of The Nutcracker, Tchaikovski's classic ballet and a perennial favorite for the Christmas season. After that, we celebrate the birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven.
Composer's name is listed where notable (i.e. Classical Performance, Jazz Performance).
For more information on any of the rock, pop and Jazz music featured on this program, I frequently utilize AllMusic , an excellent free database holding a huge plethora of information about music and the artists that make it.
| Composer | Performer | Title | Genre | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, cond. |
The Nutcracker |
Classical, Romantic era, ballet music |
London, 1974 |
Composed in 1892, and based on a tale by E.T.A. Hoffman (actually, Tchaikovsky used a French translation by Alexandre Dumas). The initial staging was closed after 14 performances, and did not begin to gain popularity until after it was first staged in the West, in London in 1934, and especially after 1945. The popular Nutcracker Suite was prepared by Tchaikovsky nine months prior to the premiere of the ballet and was an immediate sensation, the only time that he made such a distilled version of one of his works. |
Ludwig van Beethoven |
Alfred Brendel, piano, Stuttgart Lehrergesangverein, Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilfried Boettcher, cond. |
Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra in C minor, Op. 80 ("Choral Fantasy") |
Classical, Romantic era, symphonic music, concerto music |
Vox, 1995 |
recorded in 1961; Beethoven based the principal theme of the piece on a song, Seufzer eines Ungeliebten, that he wrote in 1796-1797, and composed the piece in 1808, premiering it on 12/17/1808 (wow... almost exactly 201 years ago this week) and playing the solo piano part himself. |
Itzhak Perlman, violin, Martha Argerich, piano |
Sonata for piano and violin No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 ("Kreutzer") |
Classical, Romantic era, chamber music |
EMI, 1999 |
Recorded at the Saratoga Music Festival, Saratoga, NY, 7/30/1998; written in 1804 and dedicated to a notable violin virtuoso of the day. It had been written for a different violinist, however, so Kreutzer never actually played the work in public, described it as "outrageously unintelligible", and displayed hostility towards Beethoven and his work from that point forward. | |
Rudolf Serkin, piano, Yuzuko Horigome, violin, Peter Wiley, cello |
Variations for Piano, Violin and Cello on Wenzel Muller's Lied, "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu", Op. 121a |
Sony Classical, 1983, 1991 |
Mentioned by Beethoven in an 1816 letter as being "one of my earlier compositions", but believed to have possibly been from his "second" period.. Based on a song premiered in 1794 as part of a comic opera. |
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Last Update: December 14, 2009
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