"Niccolo" is a short 2025 animated film from Gobelins Paris about Paganini's musical journey. Though some may find it a little dark here and there for the little ones...

For my old folks out there, a bit of nostalgia with André Rieu performing Vangelis' "Conquest of Paradise". And with this, I wish you all a good evening and a fine weekend!

If you want a baroque moment, you're in the right place. Béatrice Martin is playing Bach's English Suite No. 2 on the harpsichord, the 5th and 6th movements (Bourrée I & II and Gigue). This harpsichord was made in 1646 in Antwerp by Andreas Ruckers, and in 1780 was remodelled and expanded in Paris by Pascal Taskin.

If this morning you have a quick espresso, then Bruce Liu performing Chopin’s "Minute Waltz" is the missing piece of the puzzle. (Ruhr Piano Festival 2024) Have a great day!

Probably my last post for today. I found someone testing the organ at the Votive Church of Vienna (Votivkirche) and managed to take a short video, plus a few pictures. Have a nice evening!

For today's afternoon coffee, I propose a fragment from "Summer 3" by the British composer Max Richter, from his 2022 work "The New Four Seasons - Vivaldi Recomposed". Some purists dislike it because a Moog synth from the 70s might feel like blasphemy, among other reasons, though I can't help but ask myself, "What would Vivaldi do differently today?".

It's a rainy day in Austria again, and during a short train ride, Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 1 felt like the perfect soundtrack, played by Ilona Skowronska. Just beautiful. Have a great day!

Today I say goodnight with one of my favourite pianists, Yuja Wang, playing Variations on the Turkish March during a concert in Odeonsplatz, Munich. Münchner Philharmoniker, conducted by Valery Gergiev, July 16, 2017

This is a clip coming from a private collection, filmed on VHS, so it's old-timey quality, so to speak. You can watch a young Renée Fleming singing “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta” from Puccini’s "La rondine" at Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. (May, 1999)

The reason I was looking for it is that two weeks ago, Itzhak Perlman released a new video of "Summertime", this time with Jon Batiste. View quoted note →

I was convinced that I posted this before, or maybe I just can't find it. Yitzhak Perlman, during the Michael Parkinson Show in 1980, had a duet with Larry Adler singing Gershwin's "Summertime". Have a great day!

Tonight I say goodbye with a history page from January 26, 1972. The 80-year-old tenor Giacomo Lauri Volpi singing "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot, with the Orchestra and Chorus of the "Gran Teatre del Liceu", Barcelona, under the baton of Luis Antonio García. (The audio was remastered.) I recommend a glass of wine before pressing play. 🍷

This post is mostly self-serving, because I'm a big Jonas Kaufmann fan. I found a video from 1997, when he was (obviously) very young, singing "Credo" from Schubert's Mass No. 6 in E-flat major, D 950. (He appears from 1:08.) It was recorded in Münster in Zwiefalten (a must-see Baroque church) during the Festival "Herbstliche Musiktage" in Bad Urach (a very well-preserved medieval city in southern Germany, which I highly recommend). NDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, with Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Juliane Banse (soprano), Hermine May (altus), Deon van der Walt (tenor), and Hermann Prey (bass).

For a quick afternoon espresso, a short but beautiful moment with Khatia and Gvantsa Buniatishvili improvising on Astor Piazzolla's "Libertango".

For a quick espresso, I have a history page from 1971 with Alexis Weissenberg, Berliner Philharmoniker and Herbert von Karajan performing the ending of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto 2.

Since I went the Anna Lapwood route, I have to finish the day with Hans Zimmer's "Interstellar", performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and conducted by Anthony Gabriele. For all the fathers of daughters out there who were hit hard by the movie, and for all the good daughters! (GG, das ist auch für dich.)

Because yesterday I found out that I'm not the only one who enjoys classical music and techno at the same time, among many other genres, here's Anna Lapwood once more (see the previous post) at the Ministry of Sound Classical, going from Bach's "Toccata" to Faithless' "Insomnia".

I never listened to the organ version of Ludovico Einaudi's "Experience", but Anna Lapwood just rocked it with her own arrangement. (Recorded at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg)

It's a rainy morning in Austria, I'm at the third coffee, and I started the week with Beethoven's Sonata in C Major, Op. 2, No. 3, 3rd Mvt., played by Joel Hastings. Have a great week ahead!

Sometimes you just remember one song that was long forgotten, like a sudden moment of clarity. I just had one such moment with Jeff Wayne's "The Eve of War". For the younger ones, this is a piece of Symphonic Rock from 1978, part of the musical version of H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds", narrated by Richard Burton.