Classical Music: The Stories

In the final episode before the summer, Carl looks at a pivotal moment in musical tonality; Wagner's 'unplayable' Tristan und Isolde.

This weeks episode focuses on Beethoven's intense work scored for 2 violins, viola and cello.

In this extra-terrestrial episode, Carl discusses the piece that British composer Gustav Holst is most famous for: his tribute to the planets!

This week's episode focuses in on an aria from Giuseppe Verdi's groundbreaking opera La Traviata.

What would you do if you were asked to write music for a prestigious awards ceremony? Brahms clearly took it to mean 'Write music for a student party'. Which is exactly what he did. Here is his Academic Festival Overture.

This week's episode focuses on Faure's requiem which has a completely different mood and tone to Mozart's requiem in how it views the topic of death.

It's two for the price of one this week. Or is it? Alessandro Marcello may have written a beautiful oboe concerto, but it's Johann Sebastian Bach we have to thank for it's popularity!

Back from his break, Carl looks at Robert Schumann's Symphony in C major which he wrote at a particularly painful time of his life.

On a completely different note (and tone and genre), Carl looks at American Composer George Gershwin's opera 'Porgy and Bess'.

This week, the longest river of the Czech Republic is the subject, thanks so Bedrich Smetana's gripping tone poem all about his homeland.

This week, Carl talks about Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite based on the Middle Eastern tales 'One Thousand and One Nights'.

This week, Piano concertos are back on the menu, this time written by Beethoven. It's his 5th and last Concerto, entitled 'Emperor'.

Elgar's beloved orchestral work is the subject of this weeks episode in which Carl explores the last segment - the composer's self-portrait.

This week, solo piano is on the repertoire, as Carl looks at the music revolutionary, Franz Liszt.

A relatively unrecognised work when it was performed, Mendelssohn's 5th symphony was written in honour of the Confession of Augsburg, a pivotal moment in the life of Martin Luther.

This week, Carl looks at Czech Composer Antonin Dovrak's infamous work, his 'New World' Symphony.

This week comes the 'Händel Largo' with which Carl talks about the raw beauty of something so simplistic.

This week, Carl talks about the music of Dame Ethel Smyth, regarded as the 'Forgotten Woman of Classical Music'.

Mozarts prime time from the last episode gives way to his darkest hours in this episode where Carl looks at the last piece he ever wrote.

This week, Carl chooses a movement from Mahler's 1st symphony with a very familiar tune.

In the first episode of 2021, Carl talks about classical music's greatest foodie, Rossini. And talks about his energetic opera overtures!

In the final episode of 2020, Carl finds himself back where he started - at J. S. Bach, and has chosen his vibrant opening chorus to the Christmas Oratorio. Insta: @classicalmusic_theinsta, Email: classicalmusicstories@gmail.com

For this week, Carl has chosen an incredibly powerful moment from one of Giacomo Puccinis most well known operas.

This week, Carl brings on his first guest, Conor Galvin, and they discuss Conor's favourite piece of all time - the 2nd piano concerto by Rachmaninov.

This week, Carl chooses a piece that relates to him easily as a piece of music he likes to play himself by German Composer C. Weber.

This week, Carl looks at his favourite work by the music revolutionary, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Moving on from Mozart, Carl talks about his favourite composer Richard Strauss and his work 'Four Last Songs' as well as outlining the life of the late great singer Jessye Norman.

Moving to a revolutionary figure in the world of classical music, Carl discusses an Aria from Mozart's late masterpiece 'Don Giovanni'.

For Halloween week, Carl chooses a well known piece all about the antics of the dead on Halloween night.

This week, Carl moves away from Orchestral Music and focuses on a pinnacle of Romantic era Chamber Music by Johannes Brahms.

This week, to start off his podcast, Carl chooses a lesser known work by the baroque composer J. S. Bach.

Every week, Carl Roewer picks one piece of classical music to examine in further detail, bringing a new side to classical music that is full of fun and enjoyment. New episode every Sunday starting the 11th October 2020.