by Ben Hogwood. Picture by Henry B. Goodwin – The last masterpieces 1920–1927 (Public Domain, used from Wikipedia)
On this day in 1957, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius died at the age of 91.
Even now the extent of Sibelius’s genius and influence has not fully been established, for his is a unique and powerful voice, particularly in the field of orchestral music. Here is his relatively unsung Symphony no.3, a propulsive work that is a remarkable combination of economy and expression:
Published post no.2,663 – Saturday 20 September 2025
In the last week we learned of the sad news of the death of conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, at the age of 95.
You can read an obituary for him on the Guardian website, and tributes from each of the orchestras with which he had a special relationship – the Cleveland Orchestra, where he was chief conductor from 1984 until 2002, the Philharmonia Orchestra, where he was principal guest conductor, then principal conductor from 1997 to 2008, then honorary conductor for life – and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he worked from 1966 to 2019.
Dohnányi’s prodigious discography, mostly recorded on the Decca Classics, Telarc and Signum Classics labels, is rich in opera and symphonic repertoire, but he also had a reputation for fine recordings of modern music, including colourful examinations of the worlds of Webern, Carl Ruggles and Lutosławski. These recordings, together with a special Cleveland account of Dvořák’s Symphony no.6, make up the playlist below:
by Ben Hogwood Picture by Kauppo Kikkas, used from the ECM Records website
Today marks the birthday of one of our most important and best-loved composers, the Estonian Arvo Pärt.
Pärt is best known as a composer with the ability to write music with a deep, spiritual connection, that often has a haunting and meditative quality. Yet a listen to a range of his works confirms that he is – and has been – so much more than that, with an early body of work that is uncompromising and challenging, to be heard alongside the deceptively simple, child-like pieces that make such an easy transition to relaxing playlists.
Pärt is most definitely a ‘playlist composer’, as short pieces such as Fur alina, Fratres and Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten confirm…but the playlist below brings these together with some of the earlier pieces, where a rebellious, pre-punk approach brought startling and compelling results. Try listening without skipping, so that you include the fascinating Symphony no.2 and the Credo. In context, the remarkable qualities of the shorter pieces take on new meaning.
by Ben Hogwood Picture by Sl-Ziga, used from Wikipedia
Last week we learned of the sad news that Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin had died at the age of 92. You can read a brief obituary of him at the Guardian website.
Shchedrin was a colourful orchestrator, and my occasional encounters with his music were rarely less than entertaining. One that particularly stands out was his Piano Concerto no.4, a broad canvas of dazzling virtuosity and exotic harmonies.
Meanwhile on record the orchestral colour is always evident in his Carmen Suite ballet, an arrangement and enhancement of Bizet’s music with percussion to the fore. His Concertos for Orchestra are also full of original thoughts, while the ballet Anna Karenina – an illuminating score – is a standout work, written for his ballerina wife Maya Plisetskaya (above, with Shchedrin).
The playlist below brings the first Concerto for Orchestra, Naughty Limericks, as an overture to the Piano Concerto no.4 and the Carmen Suite. Added to that is the Anna Karenina ballet in full.
Yesterday marked 200 years since the death of the influential composer and teacher, Antonio Salieri, at the age of 74.
Salieri gets a very one-dimensional press these days, known primarily for his rivalry with Mozart, but as with so many of these things there is a whole lot more to the story as far as we can tell it.
As a teacher, Salieri was responsible for helping shape the careers of Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt, along with Hummel and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus’s son. His keen dramatic instincts were honed by his own teacher Gluck, who became a good friend and was a clear influence on an operatic career whose gems are only just being revealed.
Of course the rivalry with Mozart makes very good press – but without the full knowledge, I’m going to sidestep that and simply present a short playlist of Salieri’s own, highly accomplished music – some from the concert hall and some from the stage:
Complementing the playlist is a new recording of the 1788 opera Cublai, gran kan de’ Tartari, conducted by Christoph Rousset – his fourth venture into the stage works of Salieri for the Aparté label.
Arcana.fm 