Archive | January, 2010
Musical Comfort Food – Or, Everyone Loves Haydn
It’s rare that I don’t begin the morning with some music by Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, usually a piano trio, string quartet or symphony, which I enjoy while reading the newspaper and drinking my morning coffee. With so many works to choose from (he wrote roughly 45, 68 and 104 of each genre respectively!), you [...]
Continue reading...Winter Reveries, Icy Terrors
10. January 2010
One of my favorite musical rituals involves the Winter Solstice, the first day of the winter season and the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. At the heart of this ritual is listening to Tchaikovsky’s First Symphony, which bears the nickname “Winter Dreams.” I discovered the piece in college when I was [...]
Continue reading...Tropical Tracks
10. January 2010
For as long as I can remember my family has been spending the Christmas/New Year’s holiday together on a Caribbean vacation. For years I was the odd man out, believing somehow that Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas unless I was in a cold and snowy place, which meant that I never traveled with my family for [...]
Continue reading...Rameau and Martinis
7. January 2010
It started out almost as a joke when Albert and I were planning to unwind after a day of work with a martini and some music. Albert suggested we listen to an advance recording of the new naïve classique release of conductor and in this case harpsichordist Christophe Rousset playing transcriptions of Rameau’s second opera, [...]
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16. January 2010
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