The following listening list has been compiled by my former music history professor, composer, and friend, Andrew Rudin. He kindly included youtube performances of his listening suggestions, and some notes. If you do not see a composer listed at the beginning of the selection, it will still be the previous composer's work (except in the case of the ancient music, where the actual composer is unknown). (Please forgive the underlining, which I tried to edit out, but could not)
AN HISTORICAL LISTENING LIST
ANCIENT GREECE
Hymn to Apollo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bydqNRYgbuc&t=128s
NOTE: Very few examples survive of the music of Classical Greece, and while the fragments we do have make the words very clear, how to interpret their musical notation remains problematic and largely conjecture. This realization is such a conjecture. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ THE MEDIEVAL AGE
Gregorian Chant: Dies Irae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsn9LWh230k
NOTE:The first 8 notes, which recur several times during the course of this piece, became the universal symbol in music of Death, and are quoted in works by Berlioz, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Mahler and many others.
Gregorian Chant: Victimae Paschali Laudes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ8zVV9G310
Perotin: Viderunt Omnes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdhKvj7BLXI
Machaut: Notre Dame Mass: Kyrie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GgkAM8crbU ______________________________________________________________________________
THE RENAISSANCE
Tallis: Spem in Alium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmH1nZSGIyY
NOTE: This motet is one of the most elaborate of its time, written in 40 parts: Eight 5-voice choirs.
Monteverdi: Tocatta (Overture) to. Orfeo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpFi9bn1do
Scene from Orfeo “Tu se morta”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7Wo-3DtI34
NOTE: Orfeo is the first of Monteverdi’s. operas, which he called “Drama per Musica”: Drama through music. At its first performance, it is reported that strong men wept. It is also notable for being the first work in which the composer specified the exact instrumentation for each episode. In this scene, a messenger brings the tragic news that Orfeo’s bride, Eurydice, has been killed by a poisonous snake. Orfeo vows to journey to the underworld and try, through the persuasiveness of his singing, to win her back.
Madrigal: Zefiro Torna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq49rymjvNg
Sancta Maria (from the Vespers of 1610
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH6JM7oLRJE THE BAROQUE ERA
Handel: Zadok the Priest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7gyXNuLQ8Y
NOTE: Though Handel was German, he lived most of his life in England. This Anthem became the traditional coronation anthem for the crowning of England’s monarch.
Bach: Cum Sancto Spirito (from Mass in B Minor)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VisIHV57b40
Cantata no . 78, Jesu Der Du Miene Seele
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2li6c3D01g
Prelude & Fugue No 1 in C major (The Well-Tempered Clavier)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLSz55UXOLU
Concerto for 2 violins, final movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHkciz_yYYI&t=12s ______________________________________________________________________________
THE CLASSICAL PERIOD
Haydn: Symphony no. 104, first movement [NOTE: Yes, he did write more than one hundred symphonies.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VyRTZItqYk
String Quartet no. “The Joke”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZo9FoajL4A
NOTE: Haydn is said to have been the “Father of the Symphony”, and of the string quartet, of which he wrote 68. The “joke” in this particular piece comes at the end, when Haydn tries to fool the audience as to when it is actually over.
Mozart: Scene from the film “Amadeus”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciFTP_KRy4
Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6UAGN_Ir4
Concerto No. 23 for Piano in A major, third movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeTyZPxlwMA
NOTE: Mozart wrote 27 piano concertos, mostly for himself to play when he was on tour.
The Magic Flute [start at 8:14 & continue to 22:00 or 32:00 for complete scene]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciFTP_KRy4
NOTE: Mozart wrote this for the entertainment of the general public, not for the court theatre. It is one of the first such works written in German (though sung here in Swedish), and in the form of a.”Singspiel”, which has spoken dialogue between the numbers, much like our musical comedies. There are no subtitles, but I think you’ll totally get what’s happening even without them.
THE ROMANTIC ERA
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21 “Waldstein”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NiaXfv2yGs
Symphony No . 5, movements 4 & 5 (Scherzo & Finale)
[start at 19:31- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lHOYvIhLxo
NOTE: The Scherzo, instead of ending, goes instead into a wonderfully mysterious transition passage, which crescendos into the triumphant Finale, and the entrance of trombones, for the first time ever in a symphony. Beethoven wrote only 9 symphonies and few composers after him have dared to go beyond that number.
Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (final movement)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j-qf5790T8
String Quartet Op. 59. No. 3, final movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6j3lmyNjNU
NOTE: Beethoven wrote 16 String Quartets and the final 5 are considered to contain his most profound thoughts. .
Schubert: impromptu op. 90 no. 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxhbAGwEYGQ
NOTE: Schubert was most famous for his many songs for voice and piano, but he brings that same sense of singing even to his writing for piano.
Berlioz: Romeo & Juliet, Ballroom Scene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx26KXmagp4
Bizet: Carmen (final scene)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puQ85aLEc5w&list=RDpuQ85aLEc5w&start_radio=1&t=34
NOTE: realistic depiction of sex and violence did not begin in the late 20th century, as this famous work demonstrates.
Brahms: Piano Quartet in C minor (3rd movement)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idJHl9rB7Cc
Wagner: Das Rhinegold, Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_rzjp6sBr
Siegfried’s Funeral March
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkOiKy6sXfM
Mahler: Symphony No. 10 Finale (begin at 54: 30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMN_DWY9RX8&t=1615s
THE IMPRESSIONISTS
Ravel: Tzigane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dn3_ReGPyM
Daybreak. (from Daphnis et Chloe)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M0boaBa6QM
Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_LrFJsgmJc
Footsteps in the snow (Piano prelude)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFKfuanIfdU ______________________________________________________________________________
THE 20TH CENTURY
Ives: The Unanswered Question
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBiL0VEttZw
An explanation by Leonard Bernstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pNHpoXg2VY
Copland: Appalachian Spring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmgaKGSxQVw
Stravinsky: A Soldier’s Tale, Royal March
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SO7TjTYwU0
Prokofiev: Cadenza from Piano Concerto No. 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn1rNaQ2YYk
Varese: Ionisation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wClwaBuFOJA
Bartok: String Quartet No. 4, movt. 4 (Scherzo pizzicato)
Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz6A1Ni0ESM
Schonberg: Pierrot Lunaire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ala_vGjv-YI
Walton: Façade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlLHC7mtgLI
NOTE: Rap, Hip-Hop, and such are not really all that new an idea.
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (Variations on a Theme by Henry Purcell)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vbvhU22uAM
INTO THE FUTURE
Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVrwm67LIas
Kamala Sankaram: Ololyga (the composer is performing)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K58CjQo6Sgk
Rudin: Il Giuoco (The Game)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ6sg3sj3Ng&t=143s
Rudin: A Birthday Bagatelle
https://www.reverbnation.com/andrewrudin/song/12864956-a-birthday-bagatelle
NOTE: The familiar tune is played 5 times: first, heard backwards (retrograde); second, heard upside down (or inverted); third, heard as usual, but each phrase answered by its inversion; then fourth, regular version combined with backwards version; and finally heard in a pointillisitic version with the notes scattered in different octaves.
And here is my original listening list for a few more goodies!!
Mrs. Everill's Listening List
Baroque Era (1600-1750)
Bach – Brandenburg Concerto #3
Bach - Solo Cello Suite #1 in G
Vivaldi - Four Seasons - Spring
Handel - Messiah - Any three movements - list:
Classical Era (1730-1820)
Mozart – Symphonies No. 40
Beethoven - Sonata #3 for Cello and Piano
Beethoven – Symphony Nos. 5
Any Beethoven Opus 18 String Quartet
Romantic (1820-1900)
Dvorak Cello Concerto
Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 4 “Italian” (Buy CD or DRM free MP3 or Berliner Philharmoniker & Herbert von Karajan - Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3, "Scottish" & No. 4, "Italian")
Schubert Unfinished Symphony
Schumann Symphony #4
Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet
Brahms – Symphony No. 4
Dvorak – Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
Liszt - Les Preludes
Debussy - La Mer
Debussy - Cello Sonata
Ravel - String Quartet
Mussorsky - Pictures At an Exhibition
Mahler - Symphony #1 First Movement
Modern
Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphoses
Shostakovitch - String Quartet #1 - one movement of your choice
Stravinsky - Firebird OR Rite of Spring
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet
Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
Varese - Ionisation
The Delaware Symphony Orchestra (Mrs. Everill's orchestra :) ) was nominated for a Latin Grammy for the recording with the LA Guitar Quartet we did in spring of '09 -
DSO released its latest recording on Naxos (2018): https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.573603
Some reviews of Cheryl Everill and Kathleen Hastings for their Brahms Double Concerto performance with the Newark Symphony Orchestra:
"Soloists Kathleen Hastings, violin and Cheryl Everill, cello, must have rehearsed a lot to play so perfectly together in some of the many passages where they had to play the same fast patterns of runs and arpeggios. They also ended the first movement’s furious finale on a dime. ...... The third movement was my favorite, with the cello’s brilliant attack on the motive which it then passed to the orchestra."
and from deartsinfo.blogspot.com
"Kathleen Hastings, violin and Cheryl Everill, cello were soloists in the Double Concerto for violin and cello by Johannes Brahms. Their smooth ensemble and the chiaroscuro contrast between soloists and orchestra was a pleasure to hear."