Wagner: Parsifal (Barenboim)

Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 - Rubinstein

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
Pianist: Arthur Rubinstein
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam)
Director: Bernard Haitink

Dinos Constantinides: "Threnos of Creon" for English Horn & Strings

Spyros Kontos performs the version for English Horn of the piece Threnos of Creon, by Greek native composer Dinos Constantinides, with the Orchestra of Ionian University (cond. Miltos Logiades) at Corfu, Greece (5 February 2005).

Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor - Arthur Rubinstein

Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16

1 Allegro molto moderato
2 Adagio
3 Allegro moderato molto e marcato

Arthur Rubinstein, piano

London Symphony Orchestra
André Previn, conductor

Ernest Bloch: String Quartet No. 1 (Griller String Quartet)

The impressive chromaticism of this work reveals the deep influence of Wagner's music on Bloch!

Brahms: Symphony No 4 in E minor, Op 98 - Haitink

Johannes Brahms:
Symphony No 4 in E minor, Op 98

1 Allegro non troppo
2 Andante moderato
3 Allegro giocoso
4 Allegro energico e passionato

Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Bernard Haitink, conductor

Live recording. London, Proms 2011

Wagner: Piano Sonata in A flat - Lev Vinocour

Manos Hatzidakis: Gioconda's Smile

Gioconda's Smile (Greek: Το Χαμόγελο της Τζοκόντας) is one of the most famous albums by Greek composer Manos Hatjidakis. It is considered one of the classic albums of 20th-century music in Greece.

The album was recorded in New York in 1965, with Quincy Jones as producer. It was first released in USA in 1965 with twelve orchestral songs, and that same year in Greece, but "The Athletes" and "The Soldier" were not included.

The album was re-released in 2004, as part of the EMI Classics series.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Tales of a City and a Sea...

A compilation of four short films shot in Athens and in Evia, Greece

Lili Boulanger: Du fond de l'abîme (Psalm 130)

Lili Boulanger (1893-1918):
Du fond de l'abîme (1917)

Monteverdichor Würzburg
Matthias Beckert (cond.)

Granville Bantock: Hebridean Symphony & Celtic Symphony

Sir Granville Bantock (1868 – 1946)

Hebridean Symphony
Czecho-Slovak State Philharmonic
Dir. Adrian Leaper




Celtic Symphony
London Promenade Orchestra
Dir. Walter Collins

Tchaikovsky Research: The Bayreuth Music Festival

From Tchaikovsky Research:

The Bayreuth Music Festival (Байрейтское музыкальное торжество) (TH 314 ; ČW 580) was a special article by Tchaikovsky for the Moscow journal Russian Register (Русские ведомости), in which it appeared over five issues between May and August 1876 [O.S.].

It concerns the first performance of Wagner's complete Ring cycle in 1876 at the opening season of the new Festival Theatre in Bayreuth—Das Rheingold on 1/13 August, Die Walküre on 2/14 August, Siegfried on 4/16 August, and Götterdämmerung on 5/17 August 1876—conducted by Hans Richter, and with a first cast which included Amalie Materna as Brünnhilde.

The article is divided into five parts with the following subjects:

Part I: An outline of the genesis of the Ring cycle and how the Bayreuth Festival Theatre came to be built;
Part II: A synopsis of the plot of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre;
Part III: A synopsis of the plot of Siegfried and Götterdämmerung;
Part IV: A tourist's walk through Bayreuth, including interesting descriptions of the Festival Theatre and Wagner's Villa Wahnfried; a description of the reception for Emperor Wilhelm I and the procession of musicians, including a fascinating 'snapshot' of Wagner himself and some admiring remarks on Liszt; a very amusing account of the trials and tribulations faced by hapless tourists in this small Bavarian town; a list of those famous composers who had not come to the Festival, as well as of those Russians who had; a description of the performance practice and audience etiquette at the Festival;
Part V: A fascinating general discussion of Wagner's "symphonic style" in the Ring, with various criticisms and reservations (which Tchaikovsky attributes in part to lack of sufficient familiarity with the cycle as yet—something that he hoped to put right by "further study"); at the same time, though, tremendous admiration for Wagner's "strength of spirit" in accomplishing this "titanic endeavour", and even if Tchaikovsky drops various hints that he does not agree with Wagner's "quixotic" approach to opera as "music drama", he concludes that this first complete performance of the Ring was "an epoch-making event in the history of art"!

Read the full article

Tchaikovsky: Piano Sonata no. 2 in c sharp minor, op. 80 - Eleonora Karpukhova

Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor - Yuja Wang

An impressive performance, by a young pianist, of Franz Liszt's most significant piano work!

Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 ("of Sorrowful Songs") - Lento e Largo

Soprano: Isabel Bayrakdaraian, Sinfonietta Cracovia, conducted by John Axelrod.

Taken from "HOLOCAUST - A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz".

For the first time since its liberation, permission was granted for music to be heard in Auschwitz and a number of leading musicians were brought there to perform music for the film.

The complete symphony by Górecki can be heard here: http://costas-music.blogspot.gr/2014/12/henyrk-gorecki-symphony-no-3-of.html

Bernard Herrmann: Sinfonietta for String Orchestra

Bernard Herrmann: Clarinet Quintet ("Souvenirs de Voyage")

In his film scores (notably, Vertigo), Bernard Herrmann shows influences from Wagner, Debussy and Delius (to name just a few).

In this classical piece, however, his model appears to have been Brahms' wonderful clarinet quintet.

For variety, I have chosen two different interpretations of the work.

Great Conductors of the Third Reich

I just wonder: How can an art coexist with a regime of monsters?

The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past

Respighi: Pini di Roma

Ottorino Respighi: Pini di Roma
Waseda Symphony Orchestra Tokyo
Dir. Ken Takaseki

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Barenboim)

Richard Wagner: "Tristan und Isolde", Opera in 3 acts

Tristan: René Kollo (tenor)
Isolde: Johanna Meier (soprano)
King Marke: Matti Salminen (bass)
Kurwenal: Hermann Becht (baritone)
Melot: Robert Schunk (tenor)
Brangäne: Hanna Schwarz (mezzo)

Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
Dir. Daniel Barenboim

Nino Rota: Concerto for Strings

Young Soloists of Ljubljana
Director: Matej Haas

Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 3 - Martha Argerich

Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 3 in C major, Op 26

Martha Argerich, piano

London Symphony Orchestra
André Previn, conductor

Taking a break from Music with some History and a little of... Physics!

Here are two studies on diverse subjects, which I completed recently:

1. An American scholar reexamines some of our established views regarding the two most evil men of the 20th century:

Hitler – Stalin: Two monsters on the balance of History

2. A Greek physicist tries to explain what on earth these newly detected gravitational waves are:

Electromagnetic waves, gravitational waves and the prophets who predicted them

Hope you find them interesting!

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 - Martha Argerich

Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, op.30
Martha Argerich, Piano
Radio-Symphonie-Orchester, Berlin
Dir. Riccardo Chailly

Sender Freies Berlin, Berlin, December 1982.

Mozart: String Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 428

In the second movement, can you recognize the basic theme from "Tristan und Isolde"?
What a prophet!

Deep Purple @ The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Concert For Group And Orchestra

Original LP edition (1969):

1. First Movement: Moderato-Allegro - 19:23
2. Second Movement: Andante - 19:11
3. Thrid Movement: Vivace-Presto - 13:09

Added in the 1990 CD edition:

1. Wring that Neck - 12:50
2. Child in Time - 12:27