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Latest Listeners’ Club Posts

Tchaikovsky’s “Autumn Song” (October) from “The Seasons”: Olga Scheps October 1, 2025

In 1876, while completing the ballet score for Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky composed The Seasons, a series of atmospheric tone paintings for solo piano. Commissioned by the publisher, Nikolay Bernard, the brief pieces were published on the first day of each month in the St. Petersburg music journal, Nuvellist. Set in D minor, Tchaikovsky’s Octob […]

Sibelius’ “Valse triste”: A Fleeting Dream-Vision September 29, 2025

Described in an early review as “evocative of a fleeting dream-vision,” Jean Sibelius’ Valse triste (“Sad Waltz”), Op. 44 was originally conceived as incidental music. It accompanied a haunting scene from the 1903 Symbolist play, Kuolema (“Death”), by the composer’s brother-in-law, Arvid Järnefelt. A program note from the original productio […]

Arvo Pärt’s “Solfeggio”: Adventures with a Diatonic Tone Row September 26, 2025

What happens when you treat the simple C major scale as a diatonic tone row? The answer can be heard in Solfeggio, the first a cappella choral work of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935). Composed in 1963, the same year as Pärt’s Symphony No. 1, Op. 9, “Polyphonic,” Solfeggio anticipates the composer’s later meditative tintinnabuli style. […]

Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 1, “Polyphonic”: An Exuberant Exploration of Counterpoint September 24, 2025

There is an adage that composers, as they age, write music of increasing contrapuntal complexity. The phenomenon can be heard in the music of Mahler and John Adams, but Estonian minimalist Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) followed a decidedly different path. In his youth, Pärt embraced the prevailing modernism, and the 12-tone system of Arnold Schoenber […]

Glazunov’s “The Seasons” (Autumn): A Bacchanale Amid Falling Leaves September 22, 2025

Alexander Glazunov’s allegorical one-act ballet, The Seasons, Op. 67, depicts nature’s cycle of death and rebirth. The deep frigid sleep of winter gives way to the blossoms of youth and sunshine. The ballet concludes with the abundance of autumn. It is a vibrant and celebratory bacchanale amid falling leaves. A student of Balakirev and Rims […]

Brahms’ Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2: Emanuel Ax September 19, 2025

Completed in 1893, the Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 were among Johannes Brahms’ final works. They drift into a world of dreamy introspection and wistful nostalgia. The lengthening shadows of autumn are at hand. Brahms dedicated the collection to Clara Schumann. Op. 118, No. 2, the Intermezzo in A Major, is at once majestic, melancholy, and […]

Bizet’s “Carmen”: Three Celebrated Excerpts September 17, 2025

Filled with infectious melodies and sultry exoticism, Georges Bizet’s 1875 Carmen is one of the most popular and performed operas. Set in Seville, Spain, it tells the tragic story of a free-spirited Romani woman (Carmen) who seduces the soldier, Don José. He leaves his fiancée and deserts the army to be with her, but Carmen soon grows tired […]