Classical Music Playlist, October 6, 2025
About the time in the late 1700s that the piano was undergoing major evolutions, Mozart's publisher contracted him to compose three Piano Quartets. After writing the first, the publisher released Mozart from the obligation to write the other two because the first, in a minor key, was just too unusual for the time. Minor key, new instrument, new combination of instruments; the publisher felt it was all going to be difficult to promote this new music. However, after about nine months Mozart completed the second quartet, and both have become regarded as the first major piano quartets. Lesser composers had written a few piano quartets, but not of Mozart's quality. And so it was that in the mid 1780s Mozart established a new chamber genre that would inspire such future composers as Mendelssohn and Schumann. Mozart's first of these, the Piano Quartet No. 1 in G-minor (performed on a fortepiano of Mozart's time), is today's Midday Masterpiece.
6:00 a.m.
Alessandro Scarlatti
Concerto Grosso No. 2 in C minor
Europa Galante; Fabio Biondi, conductor
6:09 a.m.
Hamilton Harty
Piano Concerto in B minor
Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa, conductor Peter Donohoe, piano
6:40 a.m.
John Williams
STAR WARS - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: The Asteroid Field
London Symphony Orchestra; John Williams, conductor
6:45 a.m.
Wilhelm Stenhammar
Excelsior! Opus 13
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
6:59 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Oboe Concerto No. 12 in C major RV 449
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor Paul Goodwin, oboe
7:09 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 38 "Prague" in D major K 504
Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra; Hans Graf, conductor
7:43 a.m.
John Field
Rondo for piano & strings in Ab major
London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, conductor Miceal O'Rourke, piano
7:51 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Poetic Tone Pictures: VII. Furiant Opus 85
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
7:54 a.m.
Jean Sibelius
Karelia Suite: III. Alla Marcia Opus 11
Philharmonia Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
8:00 a.m.
Felix Mendelssohn
Fair Melusina Overture Opus 32
London Symphony Orchestra; Claudio Abbado, conductor
8:12 a.m.
Georges Bizet
Symphony No. 1 in C major
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
8:41 a.m.
Francesco Tristano
On John Bull's Galliard In D
Basel Chamber Orchestra; Irene Delgado-Jimenez, conductor Francesco Tristano, piano
8:45 a.m.
Max Bruch
Scottish Fantasy: IV. Finale Opus 46
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Joshua Bell, conductor Joshua Bell, violin
8:55 a.m.
Agustin Barrios
The Bees (Las Abejas)
Jason Vieaux, guitar
8:57 a.m.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
TSAR SALTAN: Flight of the Bumblebee
Olga Kern, piano
9:00 a.m.
Carl Nielsen
Symphony No. 3 "Sinfonia expansiva" Opus 27
San Francisco Symphony; Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
9:36 a.m.
Mel Bonis
Piano Quartet No. 1: III. Andante in Bb major Opus 69
Mozart Piano Quartet
9:43 a.m.
Aleksandra Pakhmutova
Trumpet Concerto
Moscow Chamber Orchestra; Constantine Orbelian, conductor Bibi Black, trumpet
10:00 a.m.
Gabriel Faure
Dolly Suite Opus 56
Boston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor
10:18 a.m.
Frederic Chopin
Barcarolle in F# major Opus 60
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
10:29 a.m.
Luigi Boccherini
Quintet for guitar and strings No. 7 in E minor G 451
Artaria Quartet Richard Savino, guitar
10:51 a.m.
Camille Saint-Saens
SAMSON ET DELILA: Bacchanale Opus 47
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Lorin Maazel, conductor
11:00 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 97 in C major HOB I:97
Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra; Thomas Fey, conductor
11:26 a.m.
Earl Wild
Grand Fantasie on Porgy and Bess: Summertime (After G. Gershwin)
San Francisco Symphony; Herbert Blomstedt, conductor Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
11:29 a.m.
William Grant Still
Romance
Marcus Eley, clarinet; Lucerne DeSa, piano
11:35 a.m.
Edvard Grieg
String Quartet No. 2 (unfinished): II. Allegro scherzando in F major
Oslo Camerata; Stephan Barratt-Due, conductor
11:43 a.m.
Charles Stanford
Irish Rhapsody No. 5
Ulster Orchestra; Vernon Handley, conductor
11:59 a.m.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Capriccio Espagnol Opus 34
London Symphony Orchestra; Charles Mackerras, conductor
12:15 p.m.
Karen LeFrak
Miami Concerto: I. Bailamos
Orchestra of St. Luke's; Enrico Lopez-Ya�ez, conductor Sharon Isbin, guitar
12:21 p.m.
Dorothy Howell
Piano Concerto in D minor in D minor
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Rebecca Miller, conductor Danny Driver, piano
12:42 p.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Capriccio Italien Opus 45
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor
12:58 p.m.
Gustav Holst
St. Paul's Suite Opus 29/2
English String Orchestra; William Boughton, conductor
1:12 p.m.
Giovanni Paisiello
Concerto for Mandolin in Eb major
Il Giardino Armonico; Giovanni Antonini, conductor Avi Avital, mandolin
1:29 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Serenade for Winds in D minor Opus 44
Oslo Wind Soloists
1:54 p.m.
Dmitri Kabalevsky
Colas Breugnon: Overture
Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductor
2:00 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor K 478
Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano; Elizabeth Wilcock, violin; Jan Schlapp, viola; Timothy Mason, cello
2:27 p.m.
Johannes Hanssen
Valdres March
Boston Pops Orchestra; Arthur Fiedler, conductor
2:31 p.m.
Richard Wagner
LOHENGRIN: Prelude to Act III
Philharmonia Orchestra; Geoffrey Simon, conductor
2:35 p.m.
Ottorino Respighi
Fountains of Rome
Philadelphia Orchestra; Riccardo Muti, conductor
2:52 p.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Sinfonia in G major RV 149
Tafelmusik; Jeanne Lamon, conductor
2:59 p.m.
George Friederich Handel
Music for the Royal Fireworks HWV 351
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor
3:18 p.m.
Frederick Delius
KOANGA: La Calinda
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Christopher Seaman, conductor
3:24 p.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 102 in Bb major
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor
3:49 p.m.
Florence Price
Dances in the Canebrakes
Chicago Sinfonietta; Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
3:59 p.m.
William Grant Still
Symphony No. 2 in G minor
Philadelphia Orchestra; Yannick Nezet-Seguin, conductor
4:31 p.m.
Josef Suk
Piano Trio: II. Andante in C minor Opus 2
Neave Trio
4:35 p.m.
Mel Bonis
Soir et Matin: I. Soir (Evening) Opus 76
Neave Trio
4:41 p.m.
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso No. 1 in D major Opus 6
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor
4:53 p.m.
Hector Berlioz
Damnation of Faust: Hungarian March Opus 24
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor
4:59 p.m.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Piano Concerto in C# minor Opus 30
Bergen Philharmonic; Dmitri Kitayenko, conductor Geoffrey Tozer, piano
5:14 p.m.
Jean Sibelius
Cassazione Opus 6
Tapiola Sinfonietta; Tuomas Ollila, conductor
5:25 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
String Quartet No. 12 "American" in F major Opus 96
Cypress String Quartet
5:51 p.m.
Enrique Soro
Danza Fantastica
Chile Symphony Orchestra; Jose Luis Dominguez, conductor
5:55 p.m.
Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dance No. 6 in D major
Staatskapelle Berlin; Otmar Suitner, conductor
6:00 p.m.
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 3: I. Kraftig in D minor "powerful"
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
6:35 p.m.
Teresa Carreno
Vals Gayo Opus 38
Clara Rodriguez, piano
6:41 p.m.
Sergei Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No. 1: III. Moderato in D major Opus 19
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra; Klaus Makela, conductor Janine Jansen, violin
6:50 p.m.
Marcel Grandjany
Fantasy on a theme of Haydn Opus 31
Yolanda Kondonassis, harp
