A beautiful painting by the Italian painter Giovanni Antonio Canal (17 or 18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), better known as Canaletto: “The Grand Canal and the Church of the Salute” (completed in 1730, Italian: Il Canal Grande e…
Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor Sir András Schiff plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s English Suites, BWV 806–811, a set of six keyboard suites that the German composer wrote for the clavier (harpsichord or clavichord). They are generally thought to be…
Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor András Schiff plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s French Suites, BWV 812–817, a set of six keyboard suites that the German composer wrote for the clavier (harpsichord or clavichord) between the years of 1722 and 1725.
Moldovan-Austrian violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Turkish pianist Fazıl Say perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9 Opus 47, commonly known as the “Kreutzer Sonata”.
Accompanied by the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra), Kirill Gerstein performs “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43”, a concertante (a mixture of the symphony and the concerto genres) work written for solo piano and symphony orchestra by Sergei…
British harpist Amy Turk plays Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, arguably one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most popular works, originally a piece of organ music, on harp. Transcribed for the harp and performed by Amy Turk herself.
Conducted by Edward Gardner, the hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) plays Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, a symphonic poem inspired by Arnold Böcklin’s painting, Isle of the Dead, which the composer saw in a black-and-white reproduction in Paris in…
Italian classical guitarist Marco Salcito plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, on classical guitar, in the original tone. It is originally a work written for harpsichord and published in 1781, consisting of an aria and a set of 30…
Accompanied by the period-instrument ensemble Accordone, Italian tenor Marco Beasley performs 17th and 18th-century Italian arias, primarily late-Renaissance works from various composers. They were popular songs of the time that often competed with opera in terms of popularity and success. From…
Accompanied by the Austrian chamber orchestra Camerata Salzburg, Japanese-British classical pianist Mitsuko Uchida performs Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 with Ludwig van Beethoven’s cadenza. Uchida also conducts the orchestra. Recorded in March 2001 in…
Accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the French classical pianist Hélène Grimaud plays Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, a piano concerto in three movements and is heavily influenced by jazz, which the French composer had encountered on…
Misa Criolla is the most famous work of the Argentine composer, pianist, and music director Ariel Ramírez (4 September 1921 – 18 February 2010). The Misa, a mass for tenor, chorus, and orchestra, is based on folk genres such as…