Prokofiev's Sixth and Seventh

Synopsis American composer and singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane claims someone once described one of his songs as having been from the wastepaper basket of Schubert — but, Kahane hastened to add, “I think he meant that as a compliment.” Certainly Kahane is a successful songwriter ...  Show more

Synopsis In 1987, Telarc Records asked conductor Lorin Maazel if he would make a purely orchestral distillation of the four operas that make up Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung. Telarc wanted it all to fit on just one CD. Now, with these four Wagner operas clocking in at ...  Show more

When the urge to compose finally struck again, Rachmaninoff took a little theme by Nicolo Paganini and turned it into a tour de force for the piano and orchestra, called Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. In this final episode of the Great Composers series on Rachmaninoff, we also ...  Show more

In 1956, Dmitri Shostakovich wrote: "I am now writing my 11th symphony, dedicated to the First Russian Revolution...I would like in this work to reflect the soul of the people who first paved the way to socialism." Soviet loyalists were thrilled with the piece, but his friends ...

Beethoven's last major piano work, the Six Bagatelles Op 126 in a 1937 performance by Artur Schnabel. 

Music from suites, including Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker, Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite, Grieg's Peer Gynt, Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances and Prokofiev's Love For Three Oranges.