by Ben Hogwood Image of Ludwig van Beethoven in 1801, courtesy of Wikipedia
On this day in 1800 the premiere of Beethoven‘s game-changing Symphony no.1 took place, in Vienna’s Burgtheater.
You can read all about the work as part of Arcana’s ongoing Beethoven odyssey, and listen to a performance of the symphony given by the London Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink here:
Published post no.2,845 – Thursday 2 April 2026
by Ben Hogwood
Taking time to pay tribute to an old, sadly departed friend. Martyn Granville would have been 62 today, and I realised I had not yet dedicated music to him on these pages, for Martyn sadly left us in May 2014. Here is his favourite classical piece, the wonderful Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams, from a lockdown session revealing its emotive core:
Published post no.2,842 – Monday 30 March 2026
by Ben Hogwood Photo of Rachmaninoff, c1900, courtesy of Wikipedia
March 28 was a significant date in the life of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Sadly it was on this day that he died, in 1943 – but the event I have chosen to highlight is the infamous premiere performance of the Symphony no.1 in 1897.
The concert was an unmitigated disaster, due to under-rehearsal and the supposedly intoxicated state of its conductor, Alexander Glazunov. The negative reaction afforded the work caused Rachmaninoff great psychological harm, severely denting his confidence and casting a shadow over many future compositions. This was a great shame, for it is a powerful piece, with original development of its melodic material and an instinctive and fluid compositional style. The finale is lean, its raw power making a strong impact both in concert and on record.
The symphony was not revived until 1945, when a second performance took place under Alexander Gauk, since when the work has steadily gained in popularity. It has been helped by a number of excellent recordings, of which one is chosen here – the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Rachmaninoff specialist Vladimir Ashkenazy:
Published post no.2,840 – Saturday 28 March 2026
by Ben Hogwood Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
On this day in 1876, 150 years ago, the premiere took place of Dvořák’s String Quartet in G major.
As with many of the Czech composer’s works, it has a complicated history. Dvořák marked it as Op.18, but when it was revised in 1888 his publisher Simrock decided to label it as Op.77. Although the original work was scored in five movements, Dvořák later withdrew the Intermezzo second movement, which was reworked and became the Nocturne for strings in B major, a popular work published as Op.40
This enormously likeable work was made more unique by the scoring, with Dvořák writing for a conventional string quartet bolstered by a double bass. This gives a wonderful depth to the sound, and the ample bass writing supports a plethora of typically wonderful melodic material. You can watch the four-movement revised version below, with a starry ensemble of Baiba Skride and Andrés Gabetta (violins), Veronika Hagen (viola), Sol Gabetta (cello) and double bassist Roberto Di Ronza:
Meanwhile here too is the Intermezzo included from an early recording made by the Boston Symphony Chamber Players:
Published post no.2,830 – Wednesday 18 March 2026
by Ben Hogwood
Today marks the 80th birthday of the composer Michael Finnissy.
I spoke with Michael earlier this month, in an interview to be published on the Presto Music site shortly, but have put together a varied selection from his output as a kind of ‘starter pack’.
Do give it a try – there is a great deal going on in his music, but I can promise you that your efforts will be rewarded, with a style of ‘Englishness’ that is complementary to Vaughan Williams, Holst and Britten but is also completely different. Listen and see what you think!
You can listen to Arcana’s Finnissy playlist on Tidal
Published post no.2,829 – Tuesday 17 March 2026
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