Category: M’s Classical Choice

I LOVE Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert – but there is something about Brahms that gets right into my heart and somehow causes me anguish. I can’t explain it, but I … Continue readingBrahms: Clarinet Quintet Op 115

I FIRST heard this decades ago as the signature tune to a BBC serial reading of Henry James’s The Aspern Papers, and I was captivated. I don’t know why it is not … Continue readingSchubert: Notturno D897

Antonio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was born in Venice. He is thought to have written two settings of Gloria in Excelsis Deo, a set of 12 movements, the words … Continue readingVivaldi’s Gloria

This was composed on Christmas Day 1896 by John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), known as the American March King. Following an Act of Congress in 1987, it was officially adopted as … Continue readingThe Stars and Stripes Forever

THERE are many recordings of J S Bach’s Double Violin Concerto but I have chosen this one because it brings together two of the greatest violinists of all time, Yehudi … Continue readingBach’s Double Violin Concerto