1. Mike Williams says:

   April 19, 2006 at 10:21 am

   The Bartok Violin Concerto #2 is a great piece – quite accessible. I could never get into his lauded string quartets, but this is quite lovely.

   Part’s Tabula Rasa is quite inoffensive, and popular enough to exist in a number of different instrumentations.

   Martinu’s orchestral stuff is always a lot of fun. I can never remember which is which though, but his style is pretty unmistakeable. Time for me to drag out the symphonies, concerti and ballets for a review. You generally can’t go wrong with Czech composers, even in the 20th century (modulo some chamber works). If you want to preview some, go to http://www.musicabona.com – lots of samples and free shipping internationally!

   If the Schoenfeld Klezmer Rondo is in the same vein as his Cafe Music then that should be a crowd-pleaser.

   Sibelius’s Swan of Tuonela is gorgeous. It usually gets "bundled" with the Valse Triste. Crowd-pleaser.

   I remember John "Star Wars" Williams’ Bassoon Concerto as being rather dull and overly earnest, like most of his concert-hall works.

   I would have rated Mendelssohn’s Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) overture a bit higher, it’s almost a classic pop.

2. Raymond Chen - MSFT says:

   April 19, 2006 at 12:37 pm

   Mike Williams: Thanks for the tips. (The Hebrides is actually one of my favorites, but I didn’t want to oversell it…)

3. Stephen Jones says:

   April 20, 2006 at 10:23 am

   I’d upgrade all the Bartok to excellent.

   It does appear a very conservative program in general.

4. Alex Hemsath says:

   April 20, 2006 at 1:52 pm

   Copland’s Music For the Theatre should probably be at least a Good; I personally would rate it an Excellent.  Copland in general is pretty accessible to most American audiences after all the "Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner" commercials.

   Is Der Rosenkavalier polarizing due to the music, or the composer?  I really like it, but I know a lot of people dislike Strauss the man and the music.

5. Raymond Chen - MSFT says:

   April 20, 2006 at 4:17 pm

   I put R. Strauss in the "polarizing" category because his stuff is pretty dense and if you don’t "get it" you end up bored to tears.

6. Sven Groot says:

   April 21, 2006 at 10:28 am

   Looks cool. I’m a big fan of Rachmaninov, I’d love to hear one of his concerto’s live (although I like the second better than the third, the third is good too, especially the finale). Beethoven’s Piano Concerts have never done much for me, unlike his symphonies which I do like.

7. alfoms says:

   April 22, 2006 at 2:55 pm

   I’d go for the Stravinskys, the Poulenc.
   
   Also, don’t forget the Kurtag. He’s pretty good, though I don’t think it will be entirely your kind of music. Though even if you presume you don’t like his music, ther are a couple of reasons why you should hear it:
   
   * Barely performed;
   
   * And if you don’t like the music, you were there and can at least talk about it or have a clueful opinion about it! :-);
   
   * Maybe you’re in for a surprise?

8. The Old New Thing says:

   November 13, 2006 at 10:00 am

   The long-awaited dessert lounge opens.

9. The Old New Thing says:

   February 23, 2007 at 10:04 am

   The pocket reference guide for 2007/2008.

10. The Old New Thing says:

    February 29, 2008 at 11:49 am

    The pocket reference guide for 2008/2009.

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