Mahler Symphony No. 5, Part 1

We humans seem to love comeback stories, and there is no comeback quite as compelling in the classical music world as Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. It was written three years after the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony, a premiere so catastrophic that it lives on ...  Show more

A piece that I have been asked to cover probably a dozen times is Handel's Messiah. It's a piece I love, but a piece that I've never conducted or played, and so therefore I don't know it incredibly well. There are plenty of pieces like this in the repertoire, and so I've decided ...  Show more

Synopsis At Carnegie Hall on today’s date in 1908, Gustav Mahler conducted the New York Symphony, the 200-voice Oratorio Society chorus and two vocal soloists in the American premiere of his Symphony No. 2, his Resurrection Symphony. These days, Mahler’s Second ranks among his mo ...  Show more

Synopsis On today’s date in 1975, the Oakland, California, Youth Orchestra gave the first performance of a symphony by a Bay area resident, American composer Lou Harrison. He began sketches for this symphonic score back in 1942 and tinkered with it off and off until the day of it ...  Show more

Synopsis What do you see when you hear music? That’s an odd question, perhaps, but sometimes composers confess that particular places, persons and scenes play a role in how music is created. On today’s date in 1994, in San Antonio, Texas, for example, a new symphony for wind ense ...  Show more

This piece is one of Schubert's vocal pieces arranged for piano solo by Franz Liszt. It has become a very popular piece for voice as well as many other instruments. This recording is dedicated to my dear mother-in-law. This is one of her favorite classical works. This recording w ...  Show more