hank Archive

In 1934, having already completed four piano concerti, Sergei Rachmaninov began a new piece consisting of 24 variations on Paganini’s well-known violin theme. The task was an ambitious one, given that the theme had already …

This serenade by Mozart is in five movements, all of which begin and end in e-flat. It begins with a rather impulsive allegro that regularly shifts moods and character and is anchored by the e-flat …

Mozart, who had been profoundly moved by Haydn’s String Quartets op. 33, composed the six quartets of which this is one, between 1782 and 1785 and he dedicated them to his friend Joseph Haydn with the words: …

The most celebrated component of the six Op. 64 quartets is the Fifth, in D, the so-called “Lark” of which Richard Wigmore writes: “The first movement’s unforgettable, winged melody sounds high on the first violin’s …

Johannes Brahms’ Intermezzo in A, op. 118 no. 2 is surely one of the most beloved short piano pieces from the Romantic period. The second from the set of six Klavierstücke (Piano Pieces), op. 118, the …