Classical Music Playlist, November 19, 2025
The late 19th century “War of the Romantics” pitted “absolute music,” like that of Brahms that was about nothing but itself, against “programmatic music” like that of Wagner that supported a narrative. A Wagnerian critic, Adolphe Jullien, asked composer Édouard Lalo what descriptive ideas guided the composition of his 1887 Symphony in g-minor. Lalo took his stand in the “War” with his reply to Jullien that, “I had no literary thought in the sense that you mean. When I write a composition to words, I become a slave to…a given text. But when I write music without a literary text, I have before and about me only the domain of sounds, melodic and harmonic. For a musician, this immense field possesses in itself, aside from all literature, its poems and its dramas.”
The only symphony, and the final orchestral composition, by Édouard Lalo is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
6:00 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Partita No. 3 (arr. for guitar) in E major BWV 1006
Paul Galbraith, guitar
6:13 a.m.
Anton Reicha
Quintet for clarinet and strings in Bb major Opus 89
L'Archibudelli Charles Neidich, clarinet
6:40 a.m.
Scott Joplin
Treemonisha: Prelude Act III
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra; Gunther Schuller, conductor
6:45 a.m.
Ernst von Dohnanyi
Symphonic Minutes Opus 36
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
7:01 a.m.
Frederic Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 1: III. Rondo in E minor Opus 11
Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Mikhail Pletnev, conductor Daniil Trifonov, piano
7:11 a.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 2 in D major Opus 36
German Chamber Philharmonic; Paavo Jarvi, conductor
7:44 a.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
MAZEPPA: Gopak
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Kurt Masur, conductor
7:48 a.m.
Percy Grainger
The Gum Suckers March
Dallas Wind Symphony; Jerry Junkin, conductor
7:53 a.m.
Hector Berlioz
Damnation of Faust: Hungarian March Opus 24
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor
7:59 a.m.
Gioachino Rossini
SEMIRAMIDE: Overture
National Philharmonic Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor
8:12 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Serenade for Winds in D minor Opus 44
Prague Philharmonia; Jakub Hrusa, conductor
8:38 a.m.
Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dance No. 9 in E minor
London Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
8:40 a.m.
Aram Khachaturian
Gayne: Sabre Dance
Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra; Aleksander Lazarev (Lah-ZARR-reff), conductor
8:43 a.m.
Georg Philipp Telemann
Tafelmusik II: Concerto for 3 violins in F major
Musica Antiqua Koln; Reinhardt Goebel, conductor Members of...
8:59 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major K 503
English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano
9:31 a.m.
Agustin Barrios
Vals Tropical
David Russell, guitar
9:33 a.m.
Gerardo Matos Rodriguez
La Cumparsita (Tango)
Canadian Brass
9:38 a.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
EUGENE ONEGIN: Polonaise
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Andrew Litton, conductor
9:43 a.m.
Franz Liszt
Les Preludes (Symphonic Poem #3) S 97
Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Georg Solti, conductor
10:00 a.m.
Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach
Symphony No. 10 in Eb major HW 1/10
Leipzig Chamber Orchestra; Morten Schuldt-Jensen, conductor
10:12 a.m.
Florence Price
"mini" Quintet for Piano and Strings in E minor
Catalyst Quartet Michelle Cann, piano
10:22 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 96 "Miracle" in D major HOB I:96
Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra; Thomas Fey, conductor
10:48 a.m.
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 9: II. Scherzo in D minor WAB 109
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Manfred Honeck, conductor
11:00 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Symphonic Variations Opus 78
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Vaclav Neumann, conductor
11:24 a.m.
Zenobia Powell Perry
Piano Potpurri: No. 5. A Jazz Trifle
LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, piano
11:26 a.m.
Elena Kats-Chernin
Russian Rag
Sydney Alpha Ensemble; David Stanhope, conductor
11:31 a.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 4 in A minor Opus 6/4 HWV 322
Aradia Ensemble; Kevin Mallon, conductor
11:45 a.m.
Johannes Brahms
String Quintet No. 2: I. Allegro non troppo ma con brio in G major Opus 111
Takacs Quartet Lawrence Power, viola
11:59 a.m.
Franz Liszt
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 1 in F minor
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Kurt Masur, conductor
12:11 p.m.
Huang Tzu
Plum blossoms in the snow
Xuefei Yang, guitar
12:13 p.m.
Zhen Chen
Springfield
Zhen Chen, piano; Jiaju Shen, pipa; Feifei Yang, erhu
12:17 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major K 467 (FROM THE RUSSELL KLETZING COLLECTION)
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor Alfred Brendel, piano
12:45 p.m.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Petite Suite de Concert Opus 77
Chicago Sinfonietta; Paul Freeman, conductor
1:00 p.m.
Gabriel Faure
Dolly Suite Opus 56
Boston Symphony Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor
1:19 p.m.
Ottorino Respighi
The Birds (Gli Uccelli)
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, conductor
1:39 p.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 8 "Pathetique": II. Adagio cantabile in C minor Opus 13
John O'Conor, piano
1:43 p.m.
Richard Strauss
Andante for Horn Op. Posth. in C major AV 86a
Hermann Baumann, horn; Leonard Hokanson, piano
1:49 p.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Oboe Concerto No. 12 in C major RV 449
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor Paul Goodwin, oboe
2:00 p.m.
Edouard Lalo
Symphony in G minor
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Yondani Butt, conductor
2:29 p.m.
Enrique Granados
Danzas espanolas No. 10 "Triste"
Raphael Feuillatre, guitar
2:35 p.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 4 in F major Opus 3/4a HWV 315
Handel & Haydn Society; Christopher Hogwood, conductor
2:49 p.m.
Mikhail Glinka
Valse Fantasie
Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
3:00 p.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 101 "Clock" in D major
Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Claudio Abbado, conductor
3:27 p.m.
Ernesto Nazareth
Perigoso
Estela Olevsky, piano
3:31 p.m.
Camargo Mozart Guarnieri
Brazilian Dance (Dansa Brasiliera)
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
3:34 p.m.
Cecile Chaminade
Concertpiece (Concertstuck) in C# minor Opus 40
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Rebecca Miller, conductor Danny Driver, piano
3:50 p.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for 2 oboes, 2 violins, bassoon in C major RV 557
Ensemble Zefiro; Alfredo Bernardini, conductor Members of...
3:59 p.m.
Jacques Offenbach
LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE: Ballet of the Snowflakes
Philharmonia Orchestra; Antonio de Almeida, conductor
4:12 p.m.
Louis Spohr
Clarinet Concerto No. 4 in E minor WOO 20
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Kenneth Sillito, conductor Sabine Meyer, clarinet
4:37 p.m.
Connor Chee
Navajo Vocable No. 12
Connor Chee, piano
4:41 p.m.
Hania Rani; Dobrawa Czocher
There Will Be Hope
Hania Rani, piano; Dobrawa Czocher, cello
4:47 p.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 1 in G major Opus 6/1 HWV 319
Academy of Ancient Music; Andrew Manze, conductor
4:59 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 16 in D major K 451
English Chamber Orchestra; Jeffrey Tate, conductor Mitsuko Uchida, piano
5:22 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in Eb major BWV 998
David Russell, guitar
5:36 p.m.
Howard Hanson
MERRY MOUNT suite
Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor
5:53 p.m.
Sergei Prokofiev
Romeo & Juliet: Dance of the Knights Opus 64
Cleveland Orchestra; Lorin Maazel, conductor
6:00 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
String Quartet No. 14 in Ab major Opus 105
Takacs Quartet
6:32 p.m.
Arnold Bax
Mediterranean
Northern Sinfonia of England; Richard Hickox, conductor
6:37 p.m.
Frederick Delius
Over the Hills and Far Away
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Christopher Seaman, conductor
6:52 p.m.
Kevin Puts
Home
Conspirare; Craig Hella Johnson, conductor Mir� Quartet
