Completed in 1944, Samuel Barber’s Capricorn Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Trumpet, and Strings is a twentieth century homage to the Baroque concerto grosso. This is the form in which solo instrumental voices engage in contrapuntal conversation with one another, and with a full ensemble. It is a thrilling dialogue which plays on the contrast between large (grosso) and intimate forces. Barber’s scoring mirrors the instrumentation of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. The Capricorn Concerto begins with an exuberant introduction in the strings in which the first movement’s motifs are tossed out ..read more

María Dueñas, the exceptional 20-year-old Spanish violinist, was our guest soloist at the Richmond Symphony last weekend. She performed Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole. Dueñas was the first prize winner in the 2021 Menuhin Violin Competition, which was hosted in Richmond. In 2022, she signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. She performs on the 1736 “Muntz” Guarneri del Gesú violin. Paganini: Caprice No. 4 The fourth of Niccolò Paganini’s Twenty Four Caprices is an exercise in double stops and thirds. Dueñas’ expansive and singing approach honors Paganini’s int ..read more

In a January 1841 essay, Richard Wagner set forth his conception of the opera overture. He described this orchestral curtain-raiser as creating “a musical artwork entire in itself and providing a sense of the opera’s argument through the interweaving of thematic materials drawn from the opera to follow.” Wagner’s Overture to the opera, Tannhäuser, completed four years later, follows this model. In the story, based on German medieval legend, the knight, Tannhäuser, is pulled between the pleasures of earthly love and lust (represented by the goddess Venus) and the redemptive love of s ..read more

Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata, Op. 1 begins with a yearning, upward-reaching line which dreamily recalls the opening of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Soon, we hear restless autumnal strains which seem to have drifted out of late Mahler. Composed in 1908, this is music which basks in the brilliantly hued twilight of Romanticism. Harmonically, the key of B minor maintains a tenuous hold in a chromatic and whole-tone sea, awash in shifting key centers and moments of near atonality. Glenn Gould, who recorded the piece no less than eight times, described it as “expansive, pessimistic, and unq ..read more

In the second act of Wagner’s 1876 opera, Siegfried, we are drawn into the mystery and magic of the forest. Gradually, in the opening moments of the Waldweben (“Forest Murmurs”) sequence, our ears become attuned to the hum of nature. A rustling breeze through the vibrant green canopy forms a backdrop for cheerful birdsongs. Time is suspended, and the inner world of the deep forest becomes a serene and wondrous sanctuary. Jeff Counts includes quotations from Wagner’s description of the scene in the opera’s libretto: Siegfried has come to the forest and the cave of the drag ..read more

In its original form, Then I’ll Be Tired of You is the quintessential catchy popular song from America’s jazz age. The composer Arthur Schwartz (1900-1984) wrote the song in 1934 with lyricist Yip Harburg. It was first recorded on August 9, 1934 by Freddy Martin and His Orchestra. The same year, the legendary jazz musician “Fats” Waller, exponent of the Harlem stride style of piano playing, made his own recording. Recordings by singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole followed; and Then I’ll Be Tired of You became a popular jazz standard. Let’s listen to ..read more

During the final year of his life, Mozart was extraordinarily productive. In the months leading up  to his illness, and eventual death on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35, Mozart completed a series of works including the Clarinet Concerto, K. 622, a final String Quartet, K. 614, the motet Ave verum corpus, K. 618, and the operas Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute. The monumental Requiem in D minor remained unfinished until other composers pieced together Mozart’s blueprint, posthumously. Often overlooked is the opera, La clemenza di Tito (“The Clemency of Titus ..read more

Beethoven was a newcomer to Vienna when, in 1795, he completed the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major. It is bold music which was designed to showcase the young composer’s skills as one of the preeminent virtuoso pianists of the time. Although the C major Concerto was the first to be published (in 1801), its composition was preceded by the piece we now know as Piano Concerto No. 2. While the Second Concerto is charming and intimate chamber music, the First rises to the decidedly grander scale of the concert hall, with the addition of horns, trumpets, and timpani. The influence of Mozar ..read more

In 1800, around the time of the premiere of his First Symphony, the 29-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven received a commission to write music for a ballet based on the Prometheus myth. Beethoven’s collaborator and librettist was the the Italian choreographer and dancer, Salvatore Viganò. Although Viganò usually composed the music for his ballets himself, this occasion was far too important. The Creatures of Prometheus, a “heroic and allegorical ballet” in two acts, would be presented to the Archduchess Maria Theresa at the Vienna Court Theatre (Burgtheater). To Beethoven’s disappointmen ..read more

Although its origins are murky, the chaconne appears to have originated in South America as a swirling dance which was “wild, fast, cheerful and often sung.” (Leila Schayegh) It was characterized by suggestive movements and mocking texts. (Alexander Silbiger) In the sixteenth century, conquistadors brought the chaconne to Spain. Evolving into a stately Baroque dance in triple meter, it spread quickly throughout Europe, and gained popularity with both aristocrats and the general public. Typically, the chaconne features a series of variations over a short, repeating bass line which descend ..read more