Classical Music - November 2014

Bach, J.S. - Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält (If God the Lord is not with us)
Beethoven - Piano Trio, op.11 (violin version)
Brahms - Horn Trio
Chopin - Mazurkas, opp. 6 and 7
Chopin - 3 Nocturnes, op.9
Dvorak - String Quintet No.2
Haydn - Symphony No.87
Holmboe - Concerto No.12 (for trombone)
Thomas Linley the Younger - Ye Nymphs of Albion's Beauty-Blooming Isle
Rachmaninov - 12 Songs, op.21
Schumann - Cello Concerto
Sibelius - Night Ride and Sunrise
Vivaldi - Confitebor tibi, Domine

At the time of writing, my attention has been firmly off classical music for a while and so yet again I find it difficult to say anything. The vast majority of these pieces were first listens, and while I'm sure I enjoyed these they seem to have had a limited impact at this distance. I do seem to have snatches of both the Sibelius and Schumann works in my head (new and near-new, respectively).

But instead I'm drawn to the pieces I do know. The Brahms, with its mix of the two archetypal kinds of horn music, part romantic melancholy and part hunting calls. And the Chopin, the music of a young man of 20 or 21, moving out into the world to make a name for himself. These pieces were most likely written around the time that Chopin was in Vienna, moving from his native Poland towards his ultimate home in Paris. They're arguably the start of a new phase in his works, and are among the earliest of the solo piano pieces to have a regular home in the repertoire.

And very good they are, too.