Every year, I listen to Arvo Pärt’s Fratres on Good Friday. Pärt, an Orthodox Christian, conveys in this piece a sense of horror and beauty that seems to me so fitting for this holy day.
This is the first time I’ve heard it on piano. The more familiar, frantic violin & strings arrangement leads me to reflect on Christ’s suffering in taking on our sin, while the purity of notes in the piano version makes me think of His triumph over death and evil.
For today’s classical (music) cousin, here is a favorite scene from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, or what I have previously called “Romeo and Juliet in Scotland.” The hapless Edgardo shows up just as his beloved Lucia (under her brother’s manipulation) has signed an arranged marriage contract. Fun fact: this opera holds a direct link to classic literature via Sir Walter Scott—his 1819 novel The Bride of Lammermoor serves as the basis for the plot.
Every so often a melody from my past will just pop into my head, unannounced and unprompted. Today it was the opening of Tchaikovsky’s piano trio, a piece I fell in love with as a teenager. There is something about this piece and its constant battle between major and minor keys that especially appeals to me. The motif beginning at 13:16 is one of the most sublime lines I’ve ever heard.
The piano trio was written in the winter of 1881–1882. For context, Ibsen’s Ghosts premiered around the same time, and Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov was serialized about two years earlier.
Leave a commentWarning: Contains Sherlock Holmes series spoilers and extreme geekery
I am feeling nostalgic this evening, so I thought I would write a post about something dear to me, and exceedingly trivial, that I don’t think I’ve told anyone before. 😆 Simply this—the connection between the Korngold violin concerto and the Sherlock Holmes series. Yes, these are the deep, dark secrets of Classics Considered.
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Classics Considered 