A Year in Classical Music

We’ll begin this episode with a Viennese composer and end it with a Viennese composer. Robert Fuchs was eighty-nine years old in 1926 — the last full calendar year of his life. […] Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.

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Fuchs, Piano Trio op. 115

Sæverud, Symphony no. 3

Turina, Piano Trio no. 1

Turina, Fandanguillo

Korngold, Das Wunder der Heliane

Korngold, Das Wunder der Heliane: “Ich Ging zu Ihm”

Korngold, Das Wunder der Heliane: Interlude

Korngold, Songs op. 18

Korngold, Vier Kleine Karikaturen für Kinder

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 10

Click the link above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on a Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlist. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)

Like his teacher Jean Sibelius, the Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja was amongst those artists who had continued to uphold the Romantic style after the Modernist revolution. In 1924, Madetoja had premiered his opera Pohjalaisia at Helsinki. […] Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.

 

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Madetoja, Symphony no. 3

Ruth Crawford Seeger, Violin Sonata

Ruth Crawford Seeger, Music for Small Orchestra

Casella, Scarlattiana

Casella, Concerto Romano

Casella, Cello Sonata no. 2

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 9

Click the link above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on a Classical Archives™ (www.classicalarchives.com) playlist. A subscription to the Classical Archives™ streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives™ subscribers in the U.S.)

In 1926 Alexander Glazunov, who turned 61 years old that year, composed the last two works he would write for the piano: the Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, and the Idyll in F-Sharp Minor. The Idyll in particular shows us a glimpse of the mastery of Glazunov’s younger days, but by 1926 he was decades past the time of his greatest creative abilities. […] Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.

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Glazunov, Idyll in F-Sharp Minor

Glazunov, Prelude and Fugue in E Minor

Villa-Lobos, Choros nos. 4, 6, and 10

Villa-Lobos, Rudepoêma and Cirandas

Villa-Lobos, Três Poemas Indígenas

Janáček, Řikadla

Janáček, Capriccio for Piano, Flute, and Brass Sextet

Janáček, Sinfonietta

Janáček, Sinfonietta

Janáček, Violin Concerto

Janáček, Violin Concerto

Janáček, Glagolitic Mass

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 8 — I. Glazunov, Villa-Lobos

AYICM: 1926, vol. 8 — II. Janáček

Click the links above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlists. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)

What did Spanish composer Manuel de Falla have in common with the Finnish Jean Sibelius and the American Charles Ives in 1926? The answer: that it was effectively the last year of all three composers’ careers. […] Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.

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de Falla, Harpsichord Concerto

Berg, Lyric Suite

Kodály, Háry János

Kodály, Háry János

Kodaly, Gergëly-járás

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 7

Click the link above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on a Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlist. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)

Of all the music composed in 1926, I’d name Leos Janáček’s Sinfonietta as the best piece. (We’ll get to Janáček in vol. 8 of the 1926 shows.) […] Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.

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Schoeck, Lebendig Begraben

Jongen, Symphonie Concertante

Cassadó, Cello Concerto in D Minor

Cassadó, Dance of the Green Devil

Cassadó, Piano Trio

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 6

Click the link above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on a Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlist. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)

The First World War had weighed heavily on the mind and heart of English composer Frank Bridge, as with so many others.  In the course of the war the United Kingdom had lost more than a million young men. […] (Click here to continue reading a transcript of this episode.)

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Bridge, String Quartet no. 3

Bridge, Canzonetta

Bridge, Two Entr’actes

Sibelius, The Tempest

Sibelius, Tapiola

Sibelius, Väinön Virsi

Bartók, Piano Sonata, Szabadbad (Out of Doors),

Nine Little Piano Pieces

Bartók, Piano Concerto no. 1

Bartók, Falun: Three Village Scenes

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 5 — I. Bridge, Sibelius

AYICM: 1926, vol. 5 — II. Sibelius, Bartók

Click the links above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlists. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)

One of the many, many important artists working in Paris during the ’20s was the great Romanian musician George Enescu.  Enescu was a great master. […] (Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.)

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Enescu, Violin Sonata no. 3

Enescu, Violin Sonata no. 3

Szymanowski, Stabat Mater

Szymanowski, Four Polish Dances

Chopin, Mazurkas

Szymanowski, Seven Joyce Songs

 

Hindemith, Konzertmusik für Blasorchester

Hindemith, Konzertmusik für Blasorchester

 

Hindemith, Cardillac

 

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 4 — I. Enescu, Szymanowski

AYICM: 1926, vol. 4 — II. Hindemith

Click the links above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlists. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)

Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, like so many other great artists at the time, called Paris home in 1926.  The previous year had seen the premiere of his Second Symphony there under the baton of Koussevitzky, to an indifferent response from Parisian artistic circles. […] (Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.)

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Prokofiev, Le Pas d’Acier

Prokofiev, Le Pas d’Acier: Suite

Prokofiev, American Overture in B-flat op. 42

Mosolov, String Quartet no. 1

Mosolov, Two Nocturnes op. 15

Schoenberg, Drei Satiren für Gemischten Chor

Schoenberg, Septet Suite op. 29

Toch, Piano Concerto

Toch, Spiel for Wind Band

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 3 — I. Prokofiev, Mosolov

AYICM: 1926, vol. 3 — II. Schoenberg, Toch

Click the links above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlists. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)

In 1926, Hanson completed an Organ Concerto, a solo piano piece called Vermeland, and a tone poem for orchestra entitled Pan and the Priest.  The Organ Concerto isn’t heard today in its 1926 version; Hanson revised it in 1941 as his Concerto for Organ, Harp, and Orchestra, and it’s this version you can find on record. […] (Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.)

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Ravel, Chansons Madécasses

Hanson, Pan and the Priest

Copland, Piano Concerto

Armstrong, Cornet Chop Suey

Copland, Sentimental Melody

Copland, Two Pieces for Violin and Piano

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 2

Click the link above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on a Classical Archives™ (www.classicalarchives.com) playlist. A subscription to the Classical Archives™ streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives™ subscribers in the U.S.)

In the United States in 1926, Calvin Coolidge was president.  In the midst of the great economic boom he advanced policies of deregulation and decentralization at the federal level, and lowered taxes to the point that by the following year, only the top 2% of American incomes were taxed. […] (Click here to continue reading a transcript of this podcast.)

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Piston, Piano Sonata

Shostakovich, Piano Sonata no. 1

Shostakovich, Piano Sonata no. 1

Vaughan Williams, Six Studies on English Folksong

Vaughan Williams, On Christmas Night

Bloch, Four Episodes for Chamber Orchestra

Bloch, America: An Epic Rhapsody

Bloch, America: An Epic Rhapsody

Listen Online to Music Featured on This Episode:

AYICM: 1926, vol. 1

Click the link above to listen to the music discussed on this episode on a Classical Archives (www.classicalarchives.com) playlist. A subscription to the Classical Archives streaming service ($7.99 per month) allows unlimited online listening to these AYICM playlists, and to recordings of more than 620,000 other classical works. They offer a free two-week trial period to this service, so you can try before you buy. (The recordings we recommend on the AYICM shows are not always available for online listening; in these cases we include the best available alternate recording whenever possible. Please note that some of the recordings on these playlists are available only to Classical Archives subscribers in the U.S.)