Joseph Haydn: Divertimentos in G and C major, Hob. IV:7–8
Haydn developed a sideline writing for the growing commercial market. There was a lot of money in selling new works, or repackaging parts of old ones, like in these divertimentos.
Category: Composers
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8
Brahms’s Piano Trio No. 1 is a youthful work. But the piece we hear today was revised in 1889, 35 years later, at the pinnacle of his career.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 1, No. 1
The sharp opening of Beethoven’s first piano trio announced to the world that a new, important composer had arrived: it was this piece that he chose to publish as his Op. 1, No. 1.
Maurice Ravel: Violin Sonata No. 1
This is the first and less famous of Ravel’s two violin sonatas, published long after his death, in 1975.
Benjamin Britten: Violin Concerto, Op. 15
Britten was motivated by pacifism in the face of war in Europe. His violin concerto is uneasy, with lyrical lines built on a dangerously unstable foundation.
Thomas Adès: Suites from Powder Her Face
Powder Her Face is a 1995 chamber opera by Thomas Adès based on Margaret Campbell, duchess of Argyll, whose real-life 1963 divorce created a sensational scandal in England.
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10
In the 1920s, Dmitri Shostakovich’s troubles were simply those of a student: not enough money, conflicts with teachers, and shaky confidence in his work.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony starts with a clashing fanfare—an idea the composer connected with the famous opening of Beethoven’s Fifth, widely understood to represent fate.
Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major
The outer movements are quick, zany, jazz-inspired. But they frame a slow movement of profound lyricism and simplicity. The startling contrast is part of what gives this concerto its brilliance and wonder.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Tänzchen im alten Stil
Tänzchen im alten Stil (Little Dance in the Old Style) is a relatively early work from 1918, a transitional point for Korngold between prodigy and maturity. The first section harkens back to classic Viennese waltzes, but with a winsome twist.