The easiest way for amateur music lovers to get to know orchestral pieces used to be through piano transcriptions and chamber arrangements. Liszt’s versions of Beethoven symphonies are the genre’s ...

Haydn's keyboard music needs this sort of persuasive advocacy. Four sonatas and a set of variations is a lot to pack in to a single disc, but the composer’s inability to waffle on is his greatest ...

Joseph Haydn died 200 years ago Sunday. He was, by any measure, a prolific composer. In addition to the five dozen or so string quartets, he wrote hundreds of trios, piano sonatas, oratorios, masses, ...

The American Classical Orchestra has unveiled its 41st season in 2025-26, with performances spanning four orchestral concerts led by Founder and Artistic Director Thomas Crawford at Alice Tully Hall, ...

Amazon mp3: NA | Amazon CD: $15 | ArkivMusic: $17 | Qobuz download: £11.5 - 15.5 (Hi-Res) | iTunes mp3: $12 The idea of combining the music of Joseph Haydn with that of György Ligeti is an inspired ...

Ekaterina Derzhavina's name was new to me, but this 9-CD set of Haydn's complete piano sonatas should broaden her recognition considerably. Her playing is elegant, stylish, and above all imaginative, ...

A small step in the evolution of the trumpet. “Ear Trumpet 1”. Photo by Eknath Gomphotherium, used with permission. We’re back with a new episode! Whooo! How did the trumpet morph from a simple horn ...

My latest efforts to go completely power foods has me drowning in a sea of kale and lean meats. If I can't guarantee by own dietary heath, at least I can get a free rush from Franz Joseph Haydn. Haydn ...

Stephen Moss by the Welcome to Eisenstadt (Haydnstadt) sign, Austria. Photograph: David Levene/Guardian Joseph Haydn's problem is that he didn't die young or go deaf. He survived until he was 77 and ...

This past week marked a musical anniversary that is worth recalling, not only on account of the performance, but also in view of what happened in the theatre on the night. February 2 was a Monday in ...

Joyous, rambunctious, and infectious; pert and alert here, swaggering and swinging there: Thomas Fey and his trusty Heidelberg band deliver Haydn like none other. The unknown L’incontro improvviso ...

Check back here each week for the latest feature from Behind the Baton. Or you can play the audio below. A good music conductor strives to get inside the mind of the composer, then conveys the ...