Following in the steps of my last post, here’s another nifty little eight bar passage—this one from the finale of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G, featuring the principal and second horns. The movement opens with a modest trumpet fanfare introducing a series of pastoral variations in the strings, but then it’s off to the races at rehearsal letter C when Dvorak calls upon the entire ensemble to repeat the main theme....

I’ve been tired and uninspired lately, so I will just take a moment to rattle off some thoughts about Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F. Feel like I could give the Romantic era business a rest anyway. Our good friend Dmitri wrote a bunch of brooding, controversial symphonies, but in this concerto, there is a nice slice of his more cheerful side, as can be found too in the Festive Overture and ninth symphony....

The piano seems like such an integral part of every classical composer’s output, if not as a vehicle for masterworks, then as a platform for experimentation. And we may take it for granted sometimes, but it is truly the ultimate musical tool. Not only can it sound multiple, simultaneous pitches (something that is difficult or even impossible on other instruments), it also provides a very natural interface for its operator. Forget embouchures or slide or bowing positions; as a pianist, you sit before a neatly arranged array of keys, each corresponding to one of the eighty-eight pitches you care most about....

Rachmaninoff’s fourth piano concerto is one of these works that, together with the third symphony and the Symphonic Dances, represents the last stage of the composer’s musical output. This was his least prolific period of composition, and as well the period that is vastly less popular with concert-goers. The concerto itself has neither the pianistic showmanship of the third nor the thematic inspiration of the second, while its melodic material is woven into some very unfamiliar harmonic language....

On the 18th of November, 1915, a recital was held in Moscow to commemorate the life of Alexander Scriabin, whose premature death in April of that year had rocked the world of Russian music. The program consisted entirely of his own works, and performing them at the piano was fellow Moscow Conservatory graduate, Sergei Rachmaninoff. Also present on that evening, as a member of the audience, was Sergei Prokofiev. He was 24 years old....