by Barry Lenson | Mar 29, 2018 | Claude Achille Debussy, Emmanuel Chabrier, Maurice Ravel
The Emerson Quartet, the Juilliard Quartet, the Brodsky Quartet and other top string quartets have already recorded CDs that pair the quartets of Debussy and Ravel. There is a reason for that. While dramatically different in structure and mood, these two quartets are...
by Barry Lenson | Mar 29, 2018 | Opera, Philip Glass, Uncategorized
Didn’t Philip Glass compose the operas Akhnaten and Einstein on the Beach? Yes, he did. But now that he is 80, he is not resting on his considerable accomplishments. He is enjoying a year of nearly frenetic activity that would knock the tar our of most people half his...
by Barry Lenson | Mar 23, 2018 | German Romantic Music, Piano Music, Robert Schumann
Many works of classical music have easy-to-pronounce names. There are Papillons (Schumann), Aida (Verdi) and other pieces that have mellifluous names that roll right off the tongue. Then we come to Faschingsschwank aus Wien (roughly translated, “Carnival Pieces from...
by Barry Lenson | Mar 23, 2018 | Baroque Music, Heinrich Schuetz
The German composer Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) spent all his long life composing magnificent religious works – oratorios for Christmas and Easter, the transcendent Musikalische Exequien funeral requiem, and much more. At the end of his long life, Schütz...
by Barry Lenson | Oct 13, 2017 | Carlo Gesualdo, Madrigals, Renaissance Music, Vocal Music
Lots of famous musicians have not had “warm and fuzzy” personalities. Brahms was reportedly a grump who insulted people at parties. Toscanini, adored for his politics and humanism, screamed at orchestral musicians. And Wagner . . . well, let’s not talk about Wagner....
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