A compendium of musical delights by Alan and Margaret Ashworth
A NUMBER of composers were not averse to re-using tunes in different settings, sometimes many years apart, and a good example is Schubert’s Rosamunde theme. The melody made its first appearance in … Continue readingSchubert’s Rosamunde
LAST week I wrote about the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni with another short opera, Pagliacci (The Clowns) by Ruggero Leoncavallo, the combination being widely known as ‘Cav and Pag’. It was the success … Continue readingPagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo
FOR me, this is one of the great melodies, haunting and beautiful. It will remind others of films with a theme of violence. Whether classical music should be linked with … Continue readingMascagni: Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
TWO and a bit pieces of music today to showcase a pair of wonderfully talented brothers. Renaud and Gautier Capuçon were born in Chambéry, close to the French Alps, in … Continue readingBrotherly brilliance
ON Tuesday I wrote about the sheer joy of taking part in a school production of Gilbert and Sullivan, and this made me think of a couple of Sullivan’s serious compositions. He … Continue readingSullivan songs
THIS extraordinary work was brought to my attention by our commenter SiberianRhod, and I thank him. It was written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) in 1878, when he was 38. This … Continue readingTchaikovsky’s Hymn of the Cherubim, Op 41
I DON’T find all of Sibelius’s work very accessible, but his early Karelia Suite is a delight, particularly, in my opinion, the first and third movements. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is widely recognised … Continue readingSibelius’s Karelia Suite
AT A guess, the best known and most popular Beethoven piano concerto is the majestic No 5, but this one is my favourite. The first time I heard the second … Continue readingBeethoven’s Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor, Op 37
TWO of the most beautiful pieces of music I know are based on the same Roman Catholic prayer, the Ave Maria or Hail Mary. This is it: Hail Mary, full of grace,the Lord … Continue readingAve Maria
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