10 Great Violin Concertos You Must Hear

By |2024-03-12T18:26:48-05:00March 12th, 2024|Categories: Antonin Dvorak, Audio/Video, Camille Saint-Saëns, Felix Mendelssohn, Jean Sibelius, Johannes Brahms, Music, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Robert Schumann, Timeless Essays|

The fun thing about really getting to know the violin concerto repertoire is that there are always more treasures to discover. The violin concerto repertoire is so rich and satisfying, I’m embarrassed to admit that, prior to becoming an adult beginner on the violin in 2005, I was only familiar with a few of them. This, [...]

The Top Ten Greatest Violin Concertos

By |2023-03-12T20:34:42-05:00March 12th, 2023|Categories: Audio/Video, Camille Saint-Saëns, Felix Mendelssohn, Jean Sibelius, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Music, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Stephen M. Klugewicz, Timeless Essays, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|

The violin concerto as a form of music has endured for some 300 years and remains, alongside the piano concerto, the most popular type of concerto played in modern concert halls and committed to recording. The genre was first developed during the Baroque era, when the concerto was conceived as a tripartite structure, running about fifteen [...]

“A Conceited Mediocrity”: The Story of Tchaikovsky and Brahms

By |2021-12-30T11:27:35-06:00May 6th, 2017|Categories: Johannes Brahms, Music, New Year's Day, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|

Both Pyotr Tchaikovsky (in 1840) and Johannes Brahms (in 1833) were born on May 7. That little coincidence didn’t help endear Brahms or his music to Tchaikovsky, however, as the Russian called the German “a conceited mediocrity” and “a giftless bastard.” But then one day, the two men met at a dinner and had drinks [...]

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