violin

While Horatio Parker's influence on the development of an American musical culture is certainly undeniable, few of his works are performed regularly today. An organist and composer, it was his later years as a teacher, then Dean, at Yale University where he influenced a young Charles Ives and Roger Sessions. His Suite for Piano Trio, in A Major, Op. 35, is a rarely performed gem with a lush, romantic sound. Continue reading →

Many talented Russian composers have slid from the memories of the rest of the world over the past century, which leaves us with a lot of gems to discover in their works. Today we look at one of those works that has faded from the repertoire - Sergey Taneyev’s String Quartet No. 5, Op. 13. Taneyev was a composition student of Tchaikovsky’s at the Moscow Conservatory, as well as a piano student of Edward Langer, who created virtuosic arrangements of many of Tchaikovsky’s works for multiple piano players. While Taneyev came from an era of Russian nationalism in music, he rejected this emotional and, at times, bombastic style for a more technical language more in line with European composers of the time. His music shows the influence he had on future generations of Russians, including students Rachamaninoff and Scriabin. Continue reading →