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Week 68: An Opera I Can't Watch? 

Welcome to Week 68 of The Works! Start with this week's podcast episode.

The pieces for this week are listed below, along with links to scores, opera synopsis, song texts, and other helpful information. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 68.

Dmitri Shostakovich
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District - score [not public domain in some countries] - synopsis
     recommended audio recording: conducted by Rostropovich
     video recommendation: unknown - maybe on YouTube

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Missa “Ut re mi fa so la” [Hexachord Mass] - score
     recommended recording: Montreal Studio of Ancient Music

Thomas Weelkes
selected madrigals:
     As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending - score - text
     Like two proud armies - score - text
     Death hath deprived me - score - text
     Cease sorrows now - score - text
     Hark all ye lovely saints - score - text
     What have the gods - score
     To shorten winter's sadness - score - text
     O care, thou wilt despatch me - score - text
     Thule, the period of cosmography - score - text
recommended recordings: I Fagiolini; Consort of Musicke; Deller Consort

Gabriel Faure
Piano Quartet No. 1 - score
      recommended recordings: Collard et al; Domus; Eymar et al

Michael Tippett
Piano Sonata No. 3
     recommended recording: Crossley

Lennon/McCartney
Selected songs recorded by others:
     The Applejacks: Like Dreamers Do
     Cilla Black: Love of the Loved
     Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas: I'll Be On My Way
     The Remo Four: Tip of My Tongue
     Peter and Gordon: A World Without Love
See also this compilation

Various Artists
Selected early British rock & roll and British Invasion songs:
     Cliff Richards & the Drifters: Move It
     Johnny Kidd & the Pirates: Shakin' All Over
     Freddie & The Dreamers: I'm Telling You Now
     Manfred Mann: Do Wah Diddy Diddy
     Herman's Hermits: I'm Into Something Good; Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter
     Petula Clark: Downtown
     Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders: The Game of Love

The Dave Clark Five
Selected songs

Week 64: Will You Still Need Me? 

Welcome to Week 64 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 64.

William Byrd
selections* from My Ladye Nevells Booke - score
     recommended recordings: Hogwood; Leonhardt

*My Ladye Nevells Grownde; Qui Passe; Ut re mi fa sol la; Will Yow Walke the Woods Soe Wylde; Have with Yow to Walsingame; My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home; The Carman's Whistle

Jean-Philippe Rameau
Nouvelles suites de pieces de clavecin (comprises 2 suites, in A minor and G major) - score 
     recommended recordings: Fuller; Rousset

Felix Mendelssohn
Overture and incidental music from A Midsummer Night's Dream - score (overture) - score (incid. music)
      recommended recordings: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Mackerras; Leipzi Gewandhaus Orchestra/Masur; many others

Roger Sessions
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd - text - review

The Beatles
Non-album songs from 1969: Don't Let Me Down; The Ballad of John and Yoko; Little Brown Shoe; You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
Abbey Road (1969 album)
Let It Be (1970 album; mostly recorded in 1969 before Abbey Road)

Week 63: Related Pieces 

Welcome to Week 63 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. Here is the Spotify playlist for Week 63.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Cosi fan tutte - score - libretto & synopsis
     recommended audio recording: conducted by Solti
     video recommendation: I will be watching one conducted by Harnoncourt.
Piano Concerto No. 22 - score
     recommended recordings: Schiff with Camerata Salzburg; Zacharias with Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Symphony No. 2 “Antar” - score
      recommended recordings: Rotterdam Philharmonic/Zinman; Pittsburgh Symphony/Maazel [neither of these seems to be available on Spotify]

Witold Lutoslawski
String Quartet - program notes
      recommended recording: Arditti Quartet [this does not seem to be available on Spotify]

The Beatles
Selected non-album songs from 1968: Lady Madonna; The Inner Light; Hey Jude; Revolution
The Beatles (aka The White Album, 1968)
Selected songs from the Yellow Submarine album 1969): Only a Northern Song; All Together Now; Hey Bulldog; It's All Too Much

Week 60: What's Wrong with Symphonies? 

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

Week 59: Lots of Strings 

Welcome to Week 59 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 59.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 20 - score
     recommended recordings: Curzon with English Chamber Orchestra/Britten; Uchida with English Chamber Orchestra/Tate

Edvard Grieg
Lyric Pieces:
     Book 5 (Op.  54) - score
     Book 6 (Op.  57) - score
     Book 7 (Op.  62) - score
      recommended recordings: Gieseking; Austbo; Katsaris; Gilels; Andsnes

Wolfgang Rihm
Kein Firmament - score preview
Gesungene Zeit - program notes and score preview

The Beatles
Beatles For Sale (1964 UK album)
Help! (1965 UK album)
Rubber Soul (1965 UK album)
Selected non-album songs from 1964-65: I Feel Fine; She's A Woman; Yes It Is; I'm Down; Day Tripper; We Can Work It Out

Week 56: How Many Overtures Does It Take...? 

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