by Ben Hogwood
The third in our occasional series on Arcana…sharing vinyl purchases from charity shops in a particularly productive week!
Costing just 50p, this most recent example is the 1975 recording of Holst’s The Planets, one of the best-travelled British compositions of the 20th century. In the final planet, Neptune, Ormandy is assisted by the Women’s Voices Of The Mendelssohn Club Of Philadelphia:
Published post no.2,931 – Sunday 28 June 2026
by Ben Hogwood
In something of a rarity for the Arcana pages, I’m very pleased to say I have made a guest appearance on Naomi Belshaw‘s very excellent Whisky High Notes podcast. The idea is to pick four meaningful pieces of classical music and present them to Naomi, who thoughtfully and creatively pairs each with a whisky.
My appearance is on episode four, which you can watch below:
I would strongly encourage you to watch the rest of the series, whose contributors so far include artistic director of King’s Place Sam McShane, viola player Dan Shalliday and composer Dobrinka Tabakova. Click here to access the Whisky High Notes homepage
Published post no.2,930 – Saturday 27 June 2026
by Ben Hogwood. Picture of Janáček used courtesy of Wikipedia, unknown author
On this day, 100 years ago, the first performance of Janáček’s Sinfonietta took place in Prague, under the direction of Václav Talich.
Arcana has examined this piece before, but in a very different context – as approached by Emerson, Lake & Palmer! Here are the details of Knife-Edge:
What tune does it use?
The first movement of the Sinfonietta, by Leoš Janáček (born on this day in 1854):
The Sinfonietta is a thrilling orchestral work, begun with a powerful brass fanfare but containing five incident-packed movements.
How does it work?
The main melody of the first movement Fanfare is the basis for Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s song, but in his keyboard part Keith Emerson refers to other parts of the work.
Then, on his solo from 2’40”, Emerson departs from Janáček’s blueprint with a characteristically incisive solo, backed by a virtuosic drum track. From 3’25” the style broadens to include explicit references to J.S. Bach, the Allemande of his French Suite no.1 in D minor:
What else is new?
You can hear the whole of the Sinfonietta below, in a thrilling performance from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras, in a recording made in 1980:
Published post no.2,929 – Friday 26 June 2026
by Ben Hogwood
The second of an occasional series on Arcana…sharing vinyl purchases from charity shops!
This recent acquisition is a highly regarded Decca pairing of the two published Mendelssohn piano concertos, with soloist Peter Katin and the London Symphony Orchestra under Anthony Collins:
by Ben Hogwood. By Vincenzo Roscioni, from Gallica Digital Library courtesy of Wikipedia
On this day in 1680, the composer Benedetto Marcello was born. While not the best known composer of the Marcello family – Alessandro is in wide circulation for his Oboe Concerto in particular – Benedetto is more than notable for some of the earliest published cello sonatas. You can enjoy these below, in a recording made for Brilliant Classics by cellist Renato Criscuolo and harpsicordist Aldo Criscuolo:
Published post no.2,927 – Wednesday 24 June 2026
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