Welcome to Week 60 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores where available. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 60.

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 11 - score
     recommended recordings: Guarneri Quartet; Quartetto Italiano

Georges Bizet
Symphony in C - score
      recommended recordings: French National Radio Symphony/Beecham; Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Maurice Ravel
Gaspard de la nuit - score
Le tombeau de Couperin (piano version) - score
     recommended recordings: Pogorelich; Lortie; Gieseking; Casadesus

The Beatles
Revolver (1966 UK album)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967 UK/US album)
Magical Mystery Tour (1967 US album)
Selected non-album songs from 1966: Paperback Writer; Rain

Welcome to Week 58 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores and other helpful information. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 58.

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 10 “Harp” - score
     recommended recordings: Juilliard Quartet; Guarneri Quartet

Antonin Dvorak
Serenade for Strings Op. 22 - score
     recommended recordings: Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields/Marriner; Vienna Philharmonic/Chung

Ralph Shapey
String Quartet No. 6 - score - program notes
      recommended recording: Lexington Quartet, from the Radical Traditionalism compilation

Wolfgang Rihm
String Quartet No. 3, Im Innersten - program notes and score preview

Louis Armstrong
Selected singles from 1930-1956, primarily from the complete RCA Victor

Welcome to Week 56 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores, opera libretto and synopsis, and other helpful information. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 56.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Fidelio - score - libretto and synopsis
     recommended recording: conducted by Klemperer
     video recommendation: conducted by Haitink

Domenico Scarlatti
Keyboard Sonatas: K. 24, 426, 427, 158, 159, 46, 30, 120, 213, 140, 224, 87, 219 - scores
     recommended recordings: Kipnis; Parmentier

Franz Peter Schubert
Fantasie in C Major, “Wanderer” (D760) - score
     recommended recording: Pollini

Gerald Finzi
Clarinet Concerto - score (this work is NOT public domain in most countries)
      recommended recording: Plane/Northern Sinfonia

Malcolm Arnold
English Dances, Set 1 (1950) and Set 2 (1951)

The Beatles
Please Please Me (1963 UK album)
With the Beatles (1963 UK album)
A Hard Day's Night (1964 UK album)
Selected non-album songs from 1963: From Me to You; Thank You Girl; She Loves You; I'll Get You; I Want to Hold Your Hand; This Boy

Welcome to Week 55 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

Bonus playlists mentioned in the podcast: Hip-hop 1979-1992; Hip-hop 1993-2000

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores, song texts and translations. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 55.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 18 - score
     recommended recordings: Goode with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; Andsnes with Norwegian  Chamber Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven
Leonore Overture No. 1 - score
Leonore Overture No. 2 - score
Leonore Overture No. 3 - score
Fidelio Overture - score (this is the page for the whole opera)
     recommended recordings: Berlin Philharmonic/Karajan; Cleveland Orchestra/Szell; Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Masur

Franz Peter Schubert
Selected Lieder:
     Der Wanderer, D. 489 - score - text and translation
     Ganymed, D. 544 - score - text and translation
     An die Musik, D. 547 - score - text and translation
     Auf der Donau, D. 553 - score - text and translation
     Liebhaber in allen Gestalten, D. 558 - score - text and translation
     Der Strom, D. 565 - score - text and translation
     Gruppe aus dem Tartarus, D. 583 - score - text and translation
     Blondel zu Marien, D. 626 - score - text and translation
     Der Wanderer, D. 649 - score - text and translation
     Abendbilder, D. 650 - score - text and translation
     Nachtstuck, D. 672 - score - text and translation
     Fruhlingsglaube, D. 686 - score - text and translation
     Die Vogel, D. 691 - score - text and translation
     Des Frauleins Liebeslauschen, D. 698 - score - text and translation
     Im Walde, D. 708 - score - text and translation
     Lob der Tranen, D. 711 - score - text and translation
     Versunken, D. 715 - score - text and translation
     Geheimes, D. 719 - score - text and translation
(various recordings are recommended)

Hans Werner Henze
Symphony No. 7
     recommended recordings: City of Birmingham Symphony/Rattle

Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five (or Hot Seven)
Selected 78 rpm singles from 1926-27

Welcome to Week 45 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores and texts/translations where available. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 45.

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 9 (Op. 59 No. 3) - score
     recommended recordings: Tokyo Quartet; Guarneri Quartet; The Lindsays

Franz Peter Schubert
Selected Lieder:
     Suleika, D. 720 - score - text and translation
     An die Leier, D. 737 - score - text and translation
     Im Haine, D. 738 - score - text and translation
     Am See, D. 746 - score - text and translation
     Die Liebe hat gelogen, D. 751 - score - text and translation
     Nachtviolen, D. 752 - score - text and translation
     Heliopolis II, D. 754 - score - text and translation
     Der Musensohn, D. 764 - score - text and translation
     Wandrers Nachtlied II, D. 768 - score - text and translation
     Der Zwerg, D. 771 - score - text and translation
     Wehmut, D. 772 - score - text and translation
     Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D. 774 - score - text and translation
     Dass sie hier gewesen, D. 775 - score - text and translation
     Du bist die Ruh, D. 776 - score - text and translation
     Lachen und Weinen, D. 777 - score - text and translation
     Viola, D. 786 - score - text and translation
(various recordings are recommended)

Muzio Clementi
Piano Sonata, Op. 24 No. 2 (sometimes called Op. 41 No. 2 or Op. 47 No. 2) - score
Piano Sonata, Op. 25 No. 5 (sometimes called Op. 26 No. 2) - score
Piano Sonata, Op. 33 No. 3 - score
     recommended recordings: Demidenko; Horowitz

John Cage
Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Williams Mix
Fontana Mix
Rozart Mix

Miles Davis
Selected tracks from The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 (starting with the 6 tracks released as Highlights from the Plugged Nickel)

Welcome to Week 44 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores, opera libretto and synopsis, and other helpful information. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 44.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Le Nozze di Figaro - score - libretto and synopsis
     recommended audio recording: conducted by Giulini
     video recommendations: conducted by Haitink; conducted by Gardiner (with authentic instruments)

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 8 (Op. 59 No. 2) - score
     recommended recordings: The Lindsays; Guarneri Quartet

Edouard Lalo
Symphonie espagnole - score
      recommended recordings: Mutter; Heifetz

Heitor Villa-Lobos
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 - score
     note: Villa-Lobos' works are not in the public domain in all countries, so please follow your own country's laws when deciding whether to download the scores.

Public Enemy
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Fear of a Black Planet

Welcome to Week 43 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores and other helpful information. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 43.

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 7 (Op. 59 No. 1) - score
     recommended recordings: Lindsay Quartet; Guarneri Quartet

Hector Berlioz
Requiem (Grande messe des morts) - score
     recommended recordings: conducted by Ozawa; Davis; Shaw; Munch

Erik Satie
Cinema - score
      This piece is the score to a silent film (available here with no score) entitled Entr'Acte because it was to be shown between the acts of Satie's ballet Relache.

Steve Reich
Piano Phase
Pendulum Music - score

Miles Davis
Two live sets recorded in Stockholm on March 22, 1960, later released on several compilations.

It's Week 20 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode in which we briefly review last week's works and look ahead to this week's playlist.

Here is the Spotify playlist for week 20.

Here are this week's pieces, along with links to the scores where available and texts with translations:

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 5 - score
String Quartet No. 6 - score

Franz Peter Schubert
Schwanengesang - score - text

Arnold Schoenberg
Erwartung - score - synopsis
A Survivor from Warsaw - text - score (not public domain in US)

Erik Satie
Parade - score - information

Tim Buckley
Goodbye and Hello
Happy Sad
     bonus: Dream Letter (Live in London 1968)
 

Welcome to Week 10 of The Works: we've made it to double digits! Start with this week's episode of the Listening to the Works podcast, then find the pieces for this week on the Spotify playlist.

Here are the pieces for this week, including links to the scores and texts where available.

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet No. 3
String Quartet No. 4
Recommended recordings: Takacs Quartet; Quartetto Italiano; Guarneri Quartet

Franz Peter Schubert
Winterreise (text and translation here)
Recommended recordings: Peter Schreier/Andras Schiff; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Gerald Moore (Fischer-Dieskau recorded this song cycle several times with different accompanists; all are recommended)

Pierre Boulez
Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna
Notations I-IV for orchestra (originally for piano from 12 Notations)
Recommended recordings: Orchestre de Paris/Barenboim for both pieces; BBC Symphony/Boulez for Rituel

Freddie Keppard
Complete recordings

King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
Complete 1923 recordings

Week 2 of The Works begins with the new podcast episode, in which I review last week's pieces, discuss Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and preview the works coming up this week.

Here is the Spotify playlist containing the recordings for Week 2.

Here are pieces on this week's list, including some links to the scores where available:

György Ligeti
Cello Concerto

Franz Schubert
Die Schöne Müllerin (find the song texts and translations here)

Agustín Barrios
Guitar Works (see Spotify playlist for specific pieces)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 9

Big Joe Turner
This link shows the compilation album Big, Bad, and Blue as a 3-CD set with 61 tracks, but on Spotify it only has 28 tracks, so I have included all of those plus 6 more of his most important singles.

Eubie Blake
This link shows an LP of piano rolls made from Blake's playing between 1917-1921, recorded in 1973 under Blake's supervision. My Spotify list includes all of these songs, but I can't be sure they're the same recordings. A few other Blake pieces, played by himself, are also on the list. Most of his scores are not yet public domain, but this one is (in the US only).

Other Ragtime Composers
James Scott: Grace and Beauty and Ragtime Oriole
Tom Turpin: Saint Louis Rag
Joseph Lamb: American Beauty and Nightingale Rag

I have embarked upon a new 10-year project: to listen to all the Great Music of the Western World (aka The Works)! Listen to my first podcast episode here to get some background on the project.

Here is the Spotify playlist containing most of the recordings for Week 1.

Here are links to the scores (and sometimes recordings) for this week's pieces:

Scott Joplin
Rags (list below)
Piano roll recordings

Erik Satie
3 Gymnopédies
3 Gnossiennes (just nos. 1-3)
Arrangements by John Hackett and Steve Hackett:

• Gymnopédie No. 1
• Gymnopédie No. 2
• Gymnopédie No. 3
• Gnossienne No. 1
• Gnossienne No. 2
• Gnossienne No. 3

Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet, Op. 18 No. 1
String Quartet, Op. 18 No. 2

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 1

*Joplin rags: Maple Leaf Rag; Original Rags; The Favorite; The Easy Winners; The Entertainer; Elite Syncopations; A Breeze from Alabama; Palm Leaf Rag; Weeping Willow; The Cascades; The Chrysanthemum; The Ragtime Dance (2nd version); Reflection Rag; Gladiolus Rag; Searchlight Rag; Pine Apple Rag; Fig Leaf Rag; Paragon Rag; Wall Street Rag; Euphonic Sounds; Solace; Pleasant Moments; Scott Joplin's New Rag; Magnetic Rag