Aaron's Classical Music Blog

Shostakovich's second movement from his popular Concerto for Piano No. 2 is a melancholic and enchanting piece of music that can be found on many classical music compilation CDs including one of my favorites, Romantic Adagios. Composed in 1957, the Concerto for Piano No. 2 was a birthday present to his son, a pianist. Some say that the lack of piano virtuosity was because Shostakovich wrote the piece to fit his son's talents. No matter, this piece of music is lovely. Listen to Shostakovich's Adagio from his Concerto for Piano No. 2 on YouTube.

Lincoln Center and Wordless Music will present a radically different concert on Friday, August 15, 2008, free to the public at the Damrosch Park Bandshell in New York City. The several hour long performance will include music by Pérotin, Manuel Göttsching, and Rhys Chatham. The event will debut Rhys Chatham's Crimson Grail (2008) for 200 Electric Guitars. That alone would be worth seeing. So, if you are or will be in the New York City area come Friday, here is a free event to consider attending! Learn more about Wordless Music: 800 Years of Minimalism - The Spiritual Transcendent.

Here are ten interesting facts and tidbits about one the 20th Century's greatest tenors, Luciano Pavarotti, not covered in this Luciano Pavarotti Profile. Some of these pieces of information may surprise you!

Many of you have read the profile of Vladimir Horowitz I posted about a year ago. Now, posted on YouTube are a series of videos from the documentary entitled "Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic". Here's a clip of the beginning of this endearing portrait into the life of one of the most celebrated and admired pianists of the 20th century.

Visit Amazon.com for more infomation about the "Vladimir Horowitz: The Last Romantic" DVD

Here's a fantastic YouTube clip of Arthur Rubinstein playing Schubert's famous Impromptu Op. 90 No. 4. I've been listening to this impromptu for a couple of days and I can't get enough of it. If you don't know what an impromptu is, here's the definition. What are your thoughts about this piece? About this performance?

Here's another YouTube clip you may enjoy - Horowitz performing Schubert's Impromptu in G flat Major.

Many thanks to all of you who took a guess at last week's question, "The melody from what aria matches the chorus to Elvis Presley's 'It's Now or Never'?" 72% of those who guessed, guessed correctly. It is based on Eduardo di Capua's "O Sole Mio". Many of you know "O Sole Mio", as it is one of Pavarotti's famous aria's.

"'It's a funny feeling when you win an award for a CD," he says. "I mean, this was a CD which I taped several years ago. You know, you record it, and there's all the post-production and the printing of the booklet and the pressing of the disc, and then it gets into stores, and then people listen to it, and then maybe it gets nominated, and then there's a nomination process. I mean, it's a very funny feeling, because this award happened for something [where] I think, 'Well, I've done so much since then.'"

To read the entire article, visit NPR.com. You'll also find two complete tracks of the "Prelude" from Bach: Violin Partita No. 3 and the "Allegro Assai" from Bach: Violin Sonata No. 3 to listen to for free.

While I was waiting for the optometrist during my yearly eye exam on Monday, Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never" was playing over the radio. Now before then, if someone had come up to me and asked me to sing it, I would have told them I couldn't. However, while sitting in my chair, I eerily knew the melody Elvis was singing and I could not figure out why... that is until I made the connection that the melody was based on a famous aria. Do you know which one? Answer the question in the poll below.

Shazam is a music identifying service I recently discovered by scouring through the new applications store on my iPhone. Knowing that classical music can often be impossible to properly name, I thought maybe this service would be able to help. Well, it works fantastically for main stream artists, however, it lacks the ability to name many classical works. Read more...

Here's an art song by Italian composer Giovanni Battista Martini. Martini, born in 1706 in Bologna, Italy, wrote music that straddled the Baroque and Classical periods. I actually came across this piece of music while looking for another of his works ("Domine Ad Adiuvandum Me"). This delightful song, "Plaisir d'Amour" ("Pleasure of Love") is tranquilly melodic. I'm actually surprised I did not hear it sooner, having graduated from a music college. Below, I've posted two videos from YouTube of "Plaisir d'Amour" by two artists. Both versions I find extremely pleasing, however, they are too different to compare. Janet Baker's version is poised and flawlessly controlled, while D.Kai Ma's nonchalant attitude coupled with the guitar accompaniment gives the song an air of easiness.

• Janet Baker - "Plaisir d'Amour"
• D. Kai Ma - "Plaisir d'Amour"