105 Years of Film Music: Part One - The Silent Era
For over a century, music and movies have been making magic together. Music composed for films grew out of a rich and varied classical tradition, while taking on special attributes of its own. David...
View Article30 Pieces: Saint-Saëns’s Africa
This month, WQXR is taking 30 pieces from the 2014 Classical Countdown and asking music experts to give us their "next step" compositions. Countdown Piece: Rimsky-Korsakov’s ScheherazadeCountdown...
View ArticleAn Intimate House Concert in Boston
In the contemporary spirit of ensembles like Groupmuse, which have been organizing house concerts where of young performers gather to play chamber music, From the Top presents its first such gathering...
View ArticleFrench III: the 1870's
Composer Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the most prominent musical figures in France during the 19th century. As a teacher at the École de Musique, he instructed Gabriel Fauré, beginning a lifelong...
View ArticleThe Best of the '80s ... All of Them
You may not remember the 1480s, or the 1580s, or the 1680s, or the 1780s or the 1880s that well, so we thought we’d tell you about them. Hopefully we'll do such a bang-up job that you’ll end up feeling...
View ArticleWatch Theremin Pioneer Clara Rockmore in Action
The theremin owes a great deal to Clara Rockmore. Sure, it may have been invented by her good friend Leon Theremin, but in its earliest days the electronic instrument was a curiosity — writing for The...
View ArticleGlide Through Your Week with Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott’s Performance of ‘The...
Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals is among his best-known works, and the penultimate movement, “Le Cygne” (The Swan), may be its most beloved. Included on the 2015 album The Arc of...
View ArticleBeautiful Music in Gorgeous Places: Six Music Videos that Will Stand in For...
Most of us love summer because it gives us the opportunity to get outside and do some quality exploration of the world around us. But sadly, a great many of us are stuck working in artificially-cooled...
View Article‘The Carnival of the Animals’ Features a Glass Harmonica. This Orchestra...
Everyone makes mistakes, and if you’re a record producer, that might include hiring the wrong musician to play a very important part.The recording in question was of Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival...
View ArticleSaint-Saëns’s Suite In D Minor Is a Character Showcase for the Cello
When I think of Saint-Saëns, the piece that comes to mind is his Danse Macabre, a gleefully spooky tone poem that’s immensely hummable, and which also catapulted the xylophone into public awareness. As...
View ArticleThanksgiving Leftovers: A Classical Music Playlist
For some of us, the leftovers are just as an important a part of Thanksgiving as the gravy. That’s why we've made you a playlist of classical music’s great leftovers — because nothing goes better with...
View ArticleThe ‘Fantastic’ Phil
Saturday evening’s episode of “The New York Philharmonic This Week” is a most French affair. The program is anchored by Berlioz’s programmatic Symphonie fantastique, and supported by his Overture to...
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Samson et Dalila: A Beautiful, Blinding Voice
Anita Rachvelishvili takes her turn as Saint-Säens’ titular femme fatale during the Met Opera’s live broadcast of Samson et Dalila, on Saturday at 1 pm. She’s joined on stage by Gregory Kunde’s...
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Go Full Choral and Make Your Christmas Playlist Better
Earlier this year, The Ringer’s Head of Production, Juliet Littman, argued that basketball players shooting less than 60% from the free-throw line should be benched. After all, it’s an important skill...
View ArticleSaint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila: Bringing Down the House
Prepare for a bout of hedonism, because on Saturday at 1 pm, the Metropolitan Opera presents a 2019 production of Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila. Anita Rachvelishvili plays the Philistine seductress,...
View ArticleHilton Head Piano Competition 2020 Winners
We are in the Palmetto state tonight - Hilton Head Island to be exact - for an evening of performances from the top winners of this year's 2020 Hilton Head Piano Competition. Last week we met bronze...
View ArticleA Heavenly Blend: Renée Fleming and Susan Graham
Listen live to this episode of Carnegie Hall Live on Thursday, August 19th, at 9 pm. Our penultimate Carnegie Hall Live show for this season includes a replay of the 2013 recital by two great American...
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