Classical Archive

Lara St. John - Video Bach: BWV 1041, Allegro assai Is there a more frequently recorded piece of classical music than Vivaldi's Four Seasons? And talk about over-played --- I don't know if

Mozart - January 27, 2006: Mozart's 250th birthday. He's looking good for someone his age. But then, he should look good --- he's immortal. Mozart's immortality is different for us

Mozart: Complete Violin Concertos - You may think of Mozart only as a pianist. (That’s the power of movies.) But then you probably believe his corpse was dumped in a pauper’s grave. (Guess what? In

Mozart: Flute Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Concerto for Flute and Harp - Ever since word got out that our almost-10-year-old daughter will be going to Yale in the fall, people have been asking how she got in. She’s not the most dedicated

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante - In 1778, when he was poor and unloved in Paris, the 22-year-old Mozart watched his mother die. He grieved mightily, and left Paris as soon as he could. The

Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky - The greatest score in all of film --- so good that it inspired John Williams' shark theme in “Jaws” and James Horner's music for “Star Trek II:

Richard Goode: Beethoven - If Beethoven's your composer for piano, Richard Goode's your pianist. There are others who have climbed this mountain, but of the living practitioners, Goode stands alone. He's given the

Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Inspiration - Sheku Kanneh-Mason was scheduled to perform with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in the last concert of its 50th anniversary season. Then he got a call from Meghan Markle. His

Simone Dinnerstein & Tift Merritt: Night - When I first met Tift Merritt, I thought she was the girl next door. I said as much: “You seem like such a... oh... little sister... a nice kid. Can you

Tallis Scholars: Miserere - Pope Francis is one surprise after another. This one is about hearing confessionals at the Vatican, surely a thrill for the faithful who get him to forgive them their sins. But a

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 - The New York Philharmonic was giving a concert in Central Park, and because the child and I have taken to strolling in the park in the evening, I thought we’d

The Opera Album - A man I know --- rich, powerful, you know his name --- fell in love with a woman of almost equal accomplishment. His passion was opera. One great thing about

The Origin of Fire: Music and Visions of Hildegard von Bingen - In the Middle Ages, the world was tiny. Walk ten miles from your town, you might never find your way back. Look at "The Harvesters," a great painting by Bruegel

The Tallis Scholars Sing Thomas Tallis - Thomas Tallis (1505 – 1585) wrote glorious music under the watchful eye of four English monarchs, some Catholic, some not. His hand never wavered. He composed choral music in English, Latin,

Tous les Matins du Monde - It is 1660, and we are at the home of Sainte-Colombe, probably the greatest French musician and composer for strings of the 17th century. But no

Trumpet Concertos -     Trumpet Concertos Maurice Andre A great trumpet

Vigilate! English polyphony in dangerous times - To “vigilate” is to monitor, watch over, or control. And that’s exactly what Catholic composers had to do in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. As you recall, she succeeded

Víkingur Ólafsson - Glenn Gould, move over. There’s a new kid on the block. Víkingur Ólafsson has been described as "Iceland's Glenn Gould,” which is both accurate and critical shorthand. But it’s not

Víkingur Ólafsson: Mozart & Contemporaries - When I wrote about Víkingur Ólafsson in 2021, it was to praise his recording of Philip Glass piano pieces. For Head Butler readers, who mostly had never heard of him,

Vittorio - Vittorio     Forget the killer good looks,