Welcome to Week 54 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 54.

Modest Mussorgsky
Boris Godunov - score - synopsis
     recommended audio recording: Vaneev/Kirov Opera/Gergiev
     video recommendation: Lloyd/Kirov Opera/Gergiev

Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 44 - score
Symphony No. 45 - score
     recommended recordings: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Bruggen; English Concert/Pinnock; Radio Zagreb Symphony/Janigro

Johannes Brahms
Piano Sonata No. 3 - score
      recommended recordings: Hough; Grimaud

Ralph Vaughan Williams
On Wenlock Edge - score (not public domain in EU countries) - text
      recommended recordings: Partridge/Music Group of London; Ainsley/Nash Ensemble
Serenade to Music - score (not public domain in most countries) - text
      recommended recordings: conducted by Boult; Best

Queen Latifah
All Hail the Queen

De La Soul
3 Feet High and Rising

Welcome to Week 52 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 52.

Giuseppe Verdi
Aida - score - libretto & synopsis
     recommended audio recording: conducted by Solti
     video recommendation: Metropolitan Opera/Levine

Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 30 - score
     recommended recordings: Philharmonia Hungarica/Dorati; Camerata Rhenania/Gmur
Symphony No. 31 - score
     recommended recordings: Orchestra of St. Luke's/Mackerras; Concentus Musicus Wien/Harnoncourt
Symphony No. 43 - score
     recommended recordings: Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra/Weil; English Concert/Pinnock

Johannes Brahms
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 1 - score
      recommended recordings: Biret; Richter

Hans Werner Henze
Symphony No. 4
      recommended recording: Berlin Philharmonic/Henze

Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill

Arrested Development
3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of…

Welcome to Week 28 of The Works! This post is a little late again (the week goes from Jan. 5-11, 2026), and there may or may not be a podcast episode this week [update: there wasn't].

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores, text and translation. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 28.

Franz Josef Haydn
Symphony No. 16 - score
Symphony No. 22 - score
Symphony No. 26 - score

Felix Mendelssohn
St. Paul (Paulus) - score - text and translation

Erik Satie
Pieces froides ("cold pieces") - score
Trois morceaux en forme de poire ("three pear-shaped pieces") - score
Preludes flasques (pour un chien) ("flabby preludes (for a dog)") - score 
     — [these are the tracks with Japanese text on the playlist]
3 veritables preludes flasques, pour un chien ("3 true flabby preludes, for a dog") - score
Embryons desseches ("desiccated embryos") - score
Sports et divertissements ("sports and pastimes") - score

Thelonious Monk
Brilliant Corners (1957, recorded 1956)
Monk's Music (1957)
Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (1961, recorded 1957)

Welcome to Week 23 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 23.

Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 13 - score
Symphony No. 14 - score
Symphony No. 15 - score

Frederyk Chopin
Ballade No. 3 - score
Ballade No. 4 - score
     recommended recordings: Rubinstein; Horowitz; Cortot; Zimerman

Michael Tippett
Triple Concerto (Concerto for Violin, Viola, Cello, and Orchestra)

Frank Zappa
The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life

John Barry
Dances with Wolves (film score)

Welcome to Week 19 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode in which we briefly review last week's works, talk about the opera list for the project, and look ahead to this week's playlist.

Here is the Spotify playlist for week 19.

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

Franz Joseph Haydn
Andante with Variations in F minor - score

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 7 - score

Pierre Boulez
Pli selon pli - information

Duke Ellington
The Carnegie Hall Concerts 1943
Selected studio recordings from 1943-46

It's Week 7 of The Works! Start with episode 7 of the Listening to the Works podcast, including a review of the pieces from Week 6 and a discussion of musicality.

Here's the Spotify playlist for the coming week.

Here are the works on the list for Week 7, along with links to scores where available and texts for vocal works:

Jelly Roll Morton
Selected recordings from 1923-1927 with Morton on solo piano and leading a trio and the Red Hot Peppers
A few piano scores of Morton's compositions are available here. Don't forget to check in the “collections” tab.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 10 (for two pianos)
(recommended recordings: Argerich/Rabinovitch; Labèque Sisters; Emil and Elena Gilels)

Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 3
This symphony includes vocal parts. Here is the text and translation.
(recommended recordings: Berlin Philharmonic/Abbado; New York Philharmonic/Bernstein)

Maurice Ravel
Works for solo piano (note: You have to click on the “arrangements and transcriptions” tab to find the scores of the orchestrated versions, even though they are Ravel's own orchestrations.)
 - Menuet antique (also an orchestral version)
 - Pavane pour une infante défunte (also an orchestral version)
 - Jeux d'eau
 - Sonatine
 - Alborada del gracioso (No. 4 from Miroirs; also an orchestral version)
(recommended piano recordings: Robert Casadesus; Alexandre Tharaud; orchestral recordings: Cleveland Orchestra/Boulez; Montréal Symphony/Dutoit)

It's Week 6 of The Works! Start with episode 6 of the Listening to the Works podcast, including a review of the pieces from Week 5 and a discussion of musical texture.

Here's the Spotify playlist for the coming week.

Here are the works on the list for Week 6:

Giacomo Puccini
Tosca - score; synopsis and libretto with translation
recommended recording: Maria Callas as Tosca at La Scala, conducted by de Sabata
recommended video: Hildegard Behrens as Tosca at the Met, conducted by Sinopoli

Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphonies 6 (Le Matin), 7 (Le Midi), and 8 (Le Soir)
(recommended recording: Northern Chamber Orchestra/Ward; Hanover Band/Goodman)

Mily Balakirev
Islamey for solo piano (and version orchestrated by Casella)
(recommended recordings: Boris Berezovsky; Simon Barere; Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy)

Dmitry Shostakovich
Sonata for Violin and Piano
(recommended recordings: Oleg Kagan; Rostislav Dubinsky)

Fats Domino
Selected early recordings

Little Richard
Selected early recordings

Bonus listening selection: Tamara by Balakirev