The dazzling Dvořák you’ve yet to hear

So you’re acquainted with Antonin Dvořák’s buoyant, instantly accessible “New World Symphony,” are you? And you loved it? Yay, you are part of an enormous fan club that has a spectacularly broad base of listeners. So, what other compositions of Dvořák’s do you like? {{Silence}} Ah. I get it. I was there too, once. But … Read more

Cinematic Bliss: the Korngold Violin Concerto

I was driving when I heard Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto the first time. It was a library CD I’d just borrowed, back in the days when most cars had a CD or cassette player and you could borrow handfuls of new music from the library. I was trundling down our hill in the Santa … Read more

Easter “Messiah” or Christmas “Messiah” – which one are you?

Confession: it never crossed my mind that people listened to Handel’s 1741 Messiah as an Advent or Christmas seasonal thing until I was an adult attending classical music events on a regular basis. I myself listen to it around Easter, because, well, that’s how I grew up hearing it. It was a family thing in … Read more

Melting into Léo Delibes’ “Flower Duet”

        Initially, I only knew composer Léo Delibes for his ballet scores, the 1870 Coppélia and his 1876 Sylvia. I’m a ballet person, after all. I’ve been aware of the beautiful aria from the British Airways and Ghirardelli chocolate commercials in that I-know-it-but-not-its-name-or-its-composer way, but I didn’t figure out until recently that it’s taken from … Read more

A different Nutcracker must-see (and hear!)

I’m a big fan of the San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker (and just reviewed a 2021 performance for Bachtrack HERE) but this year I’m proposing a different Nutcracker must-see. My classical music readers will be happy to hear I’m favoring an orchestral performance of Tchaikovsky’s score this time, and not the ballet. And yet, fear not, … Read more