Playlists

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14 Pieces of Classical Music About the Sky
Whenever people are looking for inspiration, they often look up into the sky. Classical composers are no exception. We’ve gathered fourteen pieces of classical music that encourage us to take a breath, go outside, and look up. Franz Liszt: Nuages
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Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
An Anniversary Cello Tribute
On 4 November 2024, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Gabriel Fauré. He might well have been the greatest master of French songs, with his settings achieving a beautiful balance of prosody, melody, harmony, and polyphony. In
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15 Pieces of Classical Music About Trees
No matter how many of us end up moving into towns and cities, human beings are still irresistibly drawn to forests, woodlands, and trees. Classical composers are no exception. In fact, a huge percentage of them were great nature lovers
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The 10 Most Beautiful Piano Quintets in Classical Music
A piano quintet is generally a composition for piano and four other instruments. Composers throughout the ages have combined a variety of instruments to play along with the piano, but the standardised form of instrumentation features the string quartet. Interestingly,
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More Overtures for the Concert Hall
Concert Overtures proved highly popular with 19th-century audiences. They frequently served, and still do, as musical appetisers for an evening of symphonic splendour. Concert Overtures are self-contained and communicate and carry meanings explained in the titles. As with all program
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15 Pieces of Classical Music About Trains
Composers have always been inspired by trains, and it’s easy to understand why: the rhythmic chugging of steam engines, the sweeping landscapes viewed from a train window, and the sense of adventure and nostalgia associated with rail travel… All of
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Franz Liszt, Born 22 October 1811
The “Other” Works for Piano and Orchestra
The two concertos for piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt belong to the standard concerto repertoire. A serious challenge for every pianist, they have been audience favourites for well over one hundred years. As a critic wrote, “these concertos are
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Overtures for the Concert Hall
In a previous blog entitled “Beethoven (Concert) Overtures,” we examined the eleven overtures that Beethoven wrote for a variety of occasions and under different circumstances. We noted that the four overtures for various performances and versions of his opera Leonore/Fidelio
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