Friday, May 13, 2011

Piano Concerto in E Flat Major, Op.36

Felix Draeseke, born in 1835, is a German composer, who, to my view, sounds unusually modern for his time. It is easy to explain why: he was playing the same game as Franz Liszt, Joachim Raff, Peter Cornelius, and others, who called themselves no other than musicians of the future. Draeseke’s innovative music was praised by contemporaries: aforementioned Liszt even considered his Sonata Quasi Fantasia the greatest work in the genre since Beethoven. Draeseke’s filigreed piano works deserve a close look; I especially like his Piano Concerto, which is available for download here: Piano Concerto in E Flat Major, Op.36

Haydn's Miracle Symphony No.102

They call Joseph Haydn the father in music. He is considered to be, indirectly, the father of both the symphony and the string quartet, hav...