Performances – Timothy Judd, Suzuki Violin Lessons

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Latest Listeners’ Club Posts

Fauré’s Dolly Suite: Charming Portraits of Childhood October 4, 2024

The French singer, Emma Bardac (1862-1934), was the love interest, first of Gabriel Fauré, and later Claude Debussy. Between 1893 and 1896, Fauré composed a set of six whimsically titled piano duets to mark birthdays and other events in the life of Bardac’s young daughter, Régina-Hélène, who was know as “Dolly.” In 1906, conductor Henri […]

Remembering Stoyka Milanova October 2, 2024

Stoika Milanova, the renowned Bulgarian violinist and teacher, passed away on September 29 in Madrid following a long illness. She was 79. Milanova began playing the violin at age three, under the guidance of her father. She went on to study with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. After placing second in the 1967 Queen Elisabeth Com […]

Sibelius’ “The Bard”: Aftertones of the Skald September 30, 2024

Jean Sibelius’ 1913 tone poem, The Bard, Op. 64, inhabits a mysterious, desolate, and austere landscape which is reminiscent of the Fourth Symphony, composed two years earlier. In contrast with Sibelius’ other tone poems, which often relate to the Finnish folklore of the Kalevala, the brief, enigmatic work does not outline a narrative or sc […]

Rachmaninov’s Prelude in B Minor, Op. 32, No. 10: Longing for the Return September 27, 2024

The 1887 painting, Die Heimkehr (“The Homecoming” or “The Return”), by Swiss Symbolist Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901), shows a solitary figure seated with his back to a square reflecting pool. His attention is focused on a shadowy house with a single lit window. The late autumnal landscape suggests the falling veil of mortality, greeted with a […]

Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony: The Majesty of Melody September 25, 2024

Sergei Rachmaninov’s First Symphony was nearly his last. During the work’s disastrous premiere in Saint Petersburg on March 28, 1897, the 23-year-old composer hid in a backstage fire escape with his ears plugged as an under-rehearsed orchestra, led by an inebriated and disinterested Alexander Glazunov, desecrated the score. Catcalls erupted […]

Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 449: Magically Peculiar September 23, 2024

In May of 1784, while reflecting on his three most recently completed piano concerti (Nos. 14, 15, and 16), Mozart insisted that he “could not choose between them,” but that “the one in E-flat [No. 14] does not belong at all to the same category. It is one of a quite peculiar kind…” Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 499 is intimate […]

David Oistrakh Plays a Prokofiev Transcription: “Death of Juliet” September 20, 2024

Sergei Prokofiev’s 1935 ballet, Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64, is scored for an immense orchestra. As the tragic story unfolds, youthful innocence, foreboding, darkness, and shimmering light all emerge on a vast canvas set with rich tonal colors. In this violin and piano arrangement, made by the Soviet-Russian violist, Vadim Borisovsky (1900-197 […]