Our Theme Music
Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4, “Italian” was recognized by the composer himself as one of the “jolliest” scores he’d ever written. The first movement of this symphony, which serves as…
Form
Two Timbres Over Easy
Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra is thought by many to be one of his most accessible scores for listeners. Commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation, the composition received its premiere in…
Game of Tones Parties
14.7 million US citizens watched the first episode of the last season of Game of Thrones. . .according to Reuters news. That’s about 5.25% of our total population. According to…
Beethoven’s 9th – the Last 10 Minutes Part 1
The last ten minutes of the final movement of Beethoven’s final symphony are so full of emotionally moving detail that host George Marriner Maull devotes two episodes of Inside Music…
A Belated Valentine
The creation of emotional tension and the release of it is a common aesthetic goal among all composers of wordless, abstract music. The moment of greatest emotional intensity in a…
The Joke’s On Us
Have you ever attended a symphony orchestra or chamber music recital, when suddenly the person next to you or near you began to chuckle or laugh under their breath? You…
I was delighted to hear George Marriner Maull’s “Inside Music” when he discussed how to listen to and enjoy Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the 4th movement. To have the words of the choral Ode to Joy translated and explained (word for word) was enlightening and inspiring as well. And to learn all the intricacies of the music itself was fascinating.