Classical Shorts
Evening Music | May 6, 2010
It might sound like fashion wear for Lincoln Center in mid-summer, but we’re talking about music of course. Tonight we’ll keep your ears (and our host) busy as we highlight some interesting and seldom-heard shorter compositions.
Great works of classical music aren’t necessarily known for their brevity. The average symphony can last anywhere from 40 to 60 minutes or more, depending on the composer (and the conductor). When we think of short pieces of classical music, we probably think more of songs, or smaller excerpts that are part of a larger whole. Tonight we’ll hear shorter works of music that stand on their own. From the dances of the fourteenth century to the synthesized works of Gyorgy Ligeti, there’s a lot of fascinating stuff in store for us tonight, so you’ll want to keep your ears peeled!
Of course, we’ll also hear some favorites that aren’t quite so brief. We’ll begin our evening with Mozart’s Serenade no. 6 in D (also known as the “Nocturnal Serenade”), which clocks in at a relatively moderate fourteen minutes. Later on, we’ll hear an all-time Chopin favorite, the Piano Concerto no. 2 in f minor with Emanuel Ax and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (and roughly twice as long as the Mozart). And finally, we’ll take in one of Wagner’s shortest pieces, even though it’s one of the longer ones on tonight’s program. Herbert von Karajan conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll.”
Great works of classical music aren’t necessarily known for their brevity. The average symphony can last anywhere from 40 to 60 minutes or more, depending on the composer (and the conductor). When we think of short pieces of classical music, we probably think more of songs, or smaller excerpts that are part of a larger whole. Tonight we’ll hear shorter works of music that stand on their own. From the dances of the fourteenth century to the synthesized works of Gyorgy Ligeti, there’s a lot of fascinating stuff in store for us tonight, so you’ll want to keep your ears peeled!
Of course, we’ll also hear some favorites that aren’t quite so brief. We’ll begin our evening with Mozart’s Serenade no. 6 in D (also known as the “Nocturnal Serenade”), which clocks in at a relatively moderate fourteen minutes. Later on, we’ll hear an all-time Chopin favorite, the Piano Concerto no. 2 in f minor with Emanuel Ax and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (and roughly twice as long as the Mozart). And finally, we’ll take in one of Wagner’s shortest pieces, even though it’s one of the longer ones on tonight’s program. Herbert von Karajan conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll.”
