Category: Classics on Sunday

THIS delightful work is a combined musical thank you letter and a joke about academic stuffiness. The career of Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was something of a slow burn, and he … Continue readingBrahms’s Academic Festival Overture, Op 80

WOLFGANG Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) wrote 23 piano concertos, only two of which were in minor keys (which tend to sound less cheerful). This is the first, K466, written in 1785. The … Continue readingMozart’s Piano Concerto No 20 in D minor

I HAVE the feeling that Haydn is a bit under-rated these days. Maybe it is because he did not die tragically young like Mozart or Schubert, or have the misfortunes … Continue readingHaydn’s String Quartet Op 76, No 3, ‘Emperor’

THE French horn player Barry Tuckwell died this month at the age of 88. He was rated a genius on the notoriously difficult instrument, involving as it does blowing air … Continue readingBarry Tuckwell

EDWARD Elgar (1857-1934) had a long climb to the summit of his career, struggling for recognition until he was in his forties. This work was written when he was 35 … Continue readingElgar’s Serenade for Strings, Op 20

IT seems to me that this week we ought to think of the Queen, who has served the country so steadfastly since her father, George VI, died in 1952 when … Continue readingI Was Glad

THE six Brandenburg Concertos were essentially written as a job application, but astonishingly they did not do the trick and were left to gather dust for well over 100 years. … Continue readingJ S Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No 3, BWV 1048

IN the run-up to Christmas I had to mention Handel’s Messiah. I suppose the Hallelujah Chorus is the best-known movement, but although often performed at Christmas, with Part I of the work, it … Continue readingHandel – For Unto Us a Child is Born (Messiah)

I COULDN’T decide which of these piano sonatas was my favourite, so I thought I would write about both. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in Bonn, the son of … Continue readingTwo Beethoven piano sonatas

THE German composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) completed his only piano concerto in 1845. It was premiered in Dresden with his wife Clara as the soloist. I wonder if this work … Continue readingSchumann Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op 54