Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, composed in 1909 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, has the reputation of being one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the standard classical piano repertoire.
Rachmaninoff composed the concerto in Dresden completing it on September 23, 1909. Contemporary with this work are his First Piano Sonata and his tone poem The Isle of the Dead.
The concerto is respected, even feared, by many pianists. Josef Hofmann, the pianist to whom the work is dedicated, never publicly performed it, saying that it "wasn't for" him. Gary Graffman lamented he had not learned this concerto as a student, when he was "still too young to know fear".
Due to time constraints, Rachmaninoff could not practice the piece while in Russia. Instead, he practiced it on a silent keyboard that he brought with him while en route to the United States.
The concerto was first performed on Sunday afternoon, November 28, 1909, by Rachmaninoff himself, with the New York Symphony Society with Walter Damrosch conducting, at the New Theater (later rechristened the Century Theater). It received a second performance under Gustav Mahler on January 16, 1910, an "experience Rachmaninoff treasured." Rachmaninoff later described the rehearsal to Riesemann:
At that time Mahler was the only conductor whom I considered worthy to be classed with Nikisch. He devoted himself to the concerto until the accompaniment, which is rather complicated, had been practiced to perfection, although he had already gone through another long rehearsal. According to Mahler, every detail of the score was important -- an attitude too rare amongst conductors. ... Though the rehearsal was scheduled to end at 12:30, we played and played, far beyond this hour, and when Mahler announced that the first movement would be rehearsed again, I expected some protest or scene from the musicians, but I did not notice a single sign of annoyance. The orchestra played the first movement with a keen or perhaps even closer appreciation than the previous time.
The score was first published in 1910 by Gutheil. Rachmaninoff called the Third the favorite of his own piano concertos, stating that "I much prefer the Third, because my Second is so uncomfortable to play." Nevertheless, it was not until the 1930s and largely thanks to the advocacy of Vladimir Horowitz that the Third concerto became popular.
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Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7 Op. 60
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60, titled Leningrad, was completed in Samara in December 1941 and premiered in that city on March 5, 1942. At first dedicated to Lenin, it was eventually submitted in honor of the besieged city of Leningrad, where it was first played under dire circumstances on August 9, 1942, with the siege by Axis and Finnish forces ongoing. The Leningrad soon became popular in both the Soviet Union and the West as a symbol of resistance to fascism, thanks in part to the composer’s microfilming of the score in Samara and its clandestine delivery, via Tehran and Cairo, to New York, where Arturo Toscanini led a broadcast performance (July 19, 1942) and Time magazine placed Shostakovich on its cover. That popularity faded somewhat after 1945, but the work is still regarded as a major musical testament to the 27 million Soviet people who lost their lives in World War II, and it is often played at Leningrad Cemetery, where half a million victims of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad are buried.
1. Allegretto
2. Moderato (poco allegretto)
3. Adagio
4. Allegro non troppo
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Samuel Barber - Adagio For Strings
Adagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arguably his best known, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11.
Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year that he wrote the quartet. It was performed for the first time on November 5, 1938, by Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a radio broadcast from NBC Studio 8H. Toscanini also played the piece on his South American tour with the NBC Symphony in 1940.
Its reception was generally positive, with Alexander J. Morin writing that Adagio for Strings is "full of pathos and cathartic passion" and that it "rarely leaves a dry eye". The music is the setting for Barber's 1967 choral arrangement of Agnus Dei. Adagio for Strings has been featured in many TV shows and movies.
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Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 Op. 43
The Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43, by Jean Sibelius was started in winter 1901 in Rapallo, Italy, shortly after the successful premiere of the popular Finlandia, and finished in 1902 in Finland. Sibelius said, "My second symphony is a confession of the soul."
Baron Axel Carpelan, who gave Sibelius' well-known tone poem Finlandia its name, wrote to the composer shortly after its successful premiere: "You have been sitting at home for quite a while, Mr. Sibelius, it is high time for you to travel. You will spend the late autumn and the winter in Italy, a country where one learns cantabile, balance and harmony, plasticity and symmetry of lines, a country where everything is beautiful – even the ugly. You remember what Italy meant for Tchaikovsky’s development and for Richard Strauss." Although Baron Carpelan was penniless, he raised sufficient funds for Sibelius to stay in a mountain villa near Rapallo, Italy. Here, Sibelius jotted down the first notes to his second symphony.
More than a year after the first motifs were penned, the second symphony was premiered by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society on 8 March 1902, with the composer conducting. After three sold-out performances, Sibelius made some revisions; the revised version was given its first performance by Armas Järnefelt on 10 November 1903 in Stockholm. Oskar Merikanto exclaimed that the premiere "exceeded even the highest expectations."
1. Allegretto
2. Andante, ma rubato
3. Vivacissimo
4. Finale. Allegro moderato
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Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Elijah (German: Elias), Op. 70, MWV A 25, is an oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn depicting events in the life of the Prophet Elijah as told in the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings of the Old Testament. It premiered in 1846 at the Birmingham Festival.
This piece was composed in the spirit of Mendelssohn's Baroque predecessors Bach and Handel, whose music he loved. In 1829 Mendelssohn had organized the first performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion since the composer's death and was instrumental in bringing this and other Bach works to widespread popularity. By contrast, Handel's oratorios never went out of fashion in England. Mendelssohn prepared a scholarly edition of some of Handel's oratorios for publication in London. Elijah is modelled on the oratorios of these two Baroque masters; however, in its lyricism and use of orchestral and choral colour the style clearly reflects Mendelssohn's own genius as an early Romantic composer.
The work is scored for eight vocal soloists (two each of bass, tenor, alto, soprano), full symphony orchestra including trombones, ophicleide, organ, and a large chorus usually singing in four, but occasionally eight parts. The title role was sung at the premiere by the Austrian bass Joseph Staudigl.
Mendelssohn had discussed an oratorio based on Elijah in the late 1830s with his friend Karl Klingemann, who had provided him with the libretto for his comic operetta Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde, which resulted in a partial text that Klingemann was unable to finish. Mendelssohn then turned to Julius Schubring [de], the librettist for his earlier oratorio St. Paul, who quickly abandoned Klingemann's work and produced his own text that combined the story of Elijah as told in the Book of Kings with psalms. In 1845, the Birmingham Festival commissioned an oratorio from Mendelssohn, who worked with Schubring to put the text in final form and in 1845 and 1846 composed his oratorio to the German and English texts in parallel, taking care to change musical phrases to suit the rhythms and stresses of the translation by William Bartholomew, a chemist who was also an experienced amateur poet and composer.
The oratorio was first performed on 26 August 1846 at Birmingham Town Hall in its English version, conducted by the composer, and it was immediately acclaimed a classic of the genre. As The Times critic wrote: 'Never was there a more complete triumph - never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art'. Notwithstanding the work's triumph, Mendelssohn revised his oratorio wholesale before another group of performances in London in April 1847 - one (23 April) in the presence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The German version was first performed on the composer's birthday, 3 February 1848, in Leipzig, a few months after Mendelssohn's death, under the baton of the composer Niels Wilhelm Gade.
Elijah Op. 70
1. Elias: So wahr der Herr
2. 1- Abertura
2- NR Coro
3. Herr, hore unser Gebet!
4. 1- Obadjah: Zerreisset eure Herzen.
2- Obadjah: So ihr mich von ganzem Herzen suchet
5. Aber der Herr sieht es nicht
6. Elias1 gehe weg von hinnen
7. Denn er hat Engeln befohlen
8. Was hast du an mir getan
9. Wohl dem, der den Herrn furchtet
10. So wahr der Herr Zebaoth lebet
11. Baal, erhore uns!
12. Rufet lauter!
13. Rufet lauter! Er hort euch nicht!
14. Herr Gott Abrahams
15. Wirf dein Anliegen auf den Herrn
16. Der du deine Diener machst
17. Ist nich des Herrn Wort
18. Weh ihnen, dass sie von mir weichen!
19. Hilf deinem Volk
20. Dank sei dir, Gott
21. Hore, Israel, hore des Herrn Stimme!
22. Furchte dich nicht
23. Der Herr hat dich erhoben
24. Wehe ihm, er muss sterben!
25. Du Mann Gottes, lass meine Rede
26. 1- Es ist genug!
2- Siehe, er schlaft unter dem Wacholder
27. Hebe deine Augen auf zu den Bergen
28. Siehe, der Huter Israels
29. Stehe du auf, Elias
30. Sei stille dem Herrn
31. Wer bis an das Ende Beharrt
32. Herr, es wird Nacht um mich
33. Der Herr ging voruber
34. Seraphim standen uber ihm
35. Gehe wiederum hinab!
36. Ja, es sollen wohl Berge
37. Und der Prophet Elias brach hervor
38. Dann werden die Gerechten leuchten
39. Darum ward gesendet der Prophet Elias
40. Aber einer erwacht von Mitternacht
41. Wohlan, alle die ihr durstig seid
42. Alsdann wird euer Licht
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Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21, was dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an early patron of the composer. The piece was published in 1801 by Hoffmeister & Kühnel of Leipzig. It is not known exactly when Beethoven finished writing this work, but sketches of the finale were found to be from 1795.
The symphony is clearly indebted to Beethoven's predecessors, particularly his teacher Joseph Haydn as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but nonetheless has characteristics that mark it uniquely as Beethoven's work, notably the frequent use of sforzandi, as well as sudden shifts in tonal centers that were uncommon for traditional symphonic form (particularly in the 3rd movement), and the prominent, more independent use of wind instruments. Sketches for the finale are found among the exercises Beethoven wrote while studying counterpoint under Johann Georg Albrechtsberger in the spring of 1797.
The premiere took place on 2 April 1800 at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna. Most sources agree that the concert program also included Beethoven's Septet as well as a symphony by Mozart, but there is some disagreement as to whether the remainder of the program included excerpts from Haydn's oratorio The Creation or from The Seasons and whether Beethoven's own Piano Concerto No. 1 or No. 2 was performed.[2][3][4] This concert effectively served to announce Beethoven's talents to Vienna.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 1 Op. 21
1. Adagio molto -- Allegro con brio
2. Andante cantabile con moto
3. Menuetto. Allegro molto e vivace
4. Adagio -- Allegro molto e vivace
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Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 Op. 67
The Symphony No. 5 in C minor of Ludwig van Beethoven, Op. 67, was written between 1804 and 1808. It is one of the best-known compositions in classical music and one of the most frequently played symphonies, and it is widely considered one of the cornerstones of western music. First performed in Vienna's Theater an der Wien in 1808, the work achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterward. E. T. A. Hoffmann described the symphony as "one of the most important works of the time". As is typical of symphonies in the classical period, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is in four movements.
1. Allegro con brio
2. Andante con moto
3. Allegro
4. Allegro
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Antonio Vivaldi - Gloria
Antonio Vivaldi wrote at least three settings of the hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo, whose words date probably from the 4th Century and which is an integral part of the Ordinary of the Mass. Two survive: RV 588 and RV 589. A third, RV 590, is mentioned only in the Kreuzherren catalogue and presumed lost. The RV 589 Gloria is a familiar and popular piece among sacred works by Vivaldi. It was probably written at about the same time as the RV 588, possibly in 1715.
1. Allegro: Gloria in excelsis Deo 2:12
2. Andante: Et in terra pax 5:06
3. Allegro: Laudamus te 2:26
4. Adagio - Allegro: Gratias agimus tibi 1:34
5. Largo: Domine Deus, rex coelestis 4:16
6. Allegro: Domine Fili 2:08
7. Adagio: Domine Deus, Agnus Dei 4:56
8. Adagio - Allegro: Qui tollis 1:02
9. Allegro: Qui sedes 2:27
10. Allegro: Quoniam 0:46
11. Allegro: Cum Sancto Spiritu 2:58
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