By Barry Lenson You are the founder of Classical Archives, known for its meticulous curation. What is its origin? My techno background is in computer science, which I taught at two universities in New York before I moved to Hong Kong for twelve years to license a radio receiver technology I had developed. But I have always loved classical music (to my loss, I do not listen much to other genres). The combination of classical music and computers was a natural extension of these interests, facilitated by the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). In 1994, when the World Wide Web began to ex ..read more

Pierre R. Schwob, the founder and CEO of Classical Archives, has written books on calculators, history and even chess. He has now published a unique and remarkable novel, entitled AWE. All of us at Classical Archives love it. It is a technothriller, but one with a difference. Its hero Pic de Lucrète is a committed environmentalist/scientist with a mission to save the world from a climate-tipping environmental disaster. Saving the world requires Pic and his team to discover what comes after AI. What will they discover? It is a force called AWE, which stands for Artificial Wisdom Engine. AWE is ..read more

Elīna Garanča. Photo courtesy of the artist and BroadStage. Upcoming Concerts in the U.S. May 10, 2024, 7:30 P.M. BroadStage, Santa Monica, California. Elīna Garanča with Orchestra, Conducted by Karel Mark Cichon. BUY TICKETS AND LEARN MORE June 14, 2024, 8:00 P.M. Carnegie Hall, New York. Yannick Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Soloists Elīna Garanča and Christian Van Horn in a concert performance of Bluebird’s Castle by Bela Bartok. BUY TICKETS AND LEARN MORE Classical Archives Exclusive . . . A Conversation with Elīna Garanča The superstar mezzo-sop ..read more

By Barry Lenson Few composers have gotten such a bad reputation as Antonio Salieri – you know, the composer who, according to popular scuttlebutt, poisoned Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This rumor started, or at least it spread, thanks to Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus and the subsequent film adaptation. It was an exceptionally good play and an excellent movie. But here is the truth . . . Salieri did not murder Mozart. While Salieri and Mozart were indeed contemporaries who were probably in competition for various commissions, the extent of their rivalry has been greatly exaggerated.  Who Was Sa ..read more

Maurizio Pollini The magnificent Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini passed away on March 24 at age 82. Pollini was an aristocratic, refined pianist who excelled in playing Chopin, Brahms and of course, Beethoven. Yet he also explored new music throughout his career and was something of a political radical. And what a pianist he was. According to one famous story about him, after he competed in the final round of the Chopin Competition in 1960, Arthur Rubenstein, who was judging, turned to the other jurors and said, “We might as well go home. That boy can play the piano better than any of us ..read more

I wrote a post on this blog on February 22nd about the music of American composer Jeffrey Kaufman. Today I am writing more about his music. Why? Because since I wrote that last post, I have listened to a lot more of it here on Classical Archives. And the more I listen, the more I admire his work, and the more I want to keep on exploring it. Most recently, I have been spending time with a Phoenix CD of his music, “Brass Quintet on Original Sea Shanties.” Yes, there is his Brass Quintet on Original Sea Shanties, which I would say is the kind of beguiling, skillful music that most people should w ..read more

Click on the album cover to listen now I had never heard music written by the American composer Jeffrey Kaufman until I listened to “Vocal Music of Jeffrey Kaufman,” a Pheonix CD that is available for listening here on Classical Archives. On first listening, I wondered why I had never heard this composer’s music before. The first thing about it is that it is invariably beautiful. After “beautiful,” other adjectives come to mind, like “skillful,” “moving,” “deceptively deep” and “exceptional.” That is why I plan to write several more blog posts about Kaufman’s wonderful music. Once you start ..read more

On November 22nd “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s new film biography of Leonard Bernstein, will be released in theaters in only a few days. It is wonderful that an actor/producer of Cooper’s stature has chosen to create a film about Bernstein. We are excited. Today, we invite you to listen to Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in a performance of his composition of music for a ballet, Facsimile. Io listen, you must be a member of Classical Archives. Membership, which costs only $7.99/month, affords you unlimited listening to tens of thousands of classical tracks. And you can start a fre ..read more

On November 22nd “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s new film biography of Leonard Bernstein, will be released in theaters. Because of Cooper’s star power, we think it could attract a new, younger audience to classical music. It is wonderful that an actor/producer of Cooper’s stature has chosen to create a film about Bernstein. We are excited. Although we cannot see the movie until it is released on November 22, we can start listening to great performances of music conducted by Bernstein that are available to you right now on Classical Archives. Today, we invite you to listen to Bernstein conducting h ..read more

Carey Mulligan and Bradley Cooper in “Maestro”   On November 22nd “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s new film biography of Leonard Bernstein, will be released in theaters. Because of Cooper’s star power, we think it could attract a new, younger audience to classical music. It is wonderful that an actor/producer of Cooper’s stature has chosen to create a film about Bernstein.  We are excited. Although we cannot see the movie until it is released on November 22, we can start listening to great performances of music conducted by Bernstein that are available to you right now on Classical Arch ..read more