Kenneth LaFave

Part 1 of this series on Bach’s “Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello" discusses the 19th-century 'Bach Revival."

Modest Mussorgsky's musical stroll through an art exhibit honored his friend, an artist who had died too young.

A lifelong bond between Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann inspired music, letters, and enduring mystery.

Let tyrants shake their iron rod, And Slav'ry clank her galling chains, We fear them not, we trust in ...

Contrary to scholarly interpretations, the “Heart of Darkness” condemns the primitive and extols the civilized.

A valid history of American music must the composer John Philip Sousa, known as 'The March King.'

Near the end of Mahler's symphony, the ravishing “Adagietto” movement chronicles the joy of falling in love.

Gustav Mahler’s life swung between opposites: composer and conductor, Jew and Catholic, nature-lover and urbanite. One dichotomy characterized ...

If I played the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Opus ...

A close listening to the composer's final work reveals how rhythm, melody, and color converge in a meditation ...

What are the mysterious barricades alluded to in the tune's title?

Mozart's final symphony, "Jupiter," blends technical brilliance with soaring beauty—offering a powerful glimpse into the composer’s genius at ...

Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 Op. 13 opens with a dramatic slow section that repeats and deepens questions to ...

With his composition 'On the Trail,' Ferde Grofé takes listeners down into the Grand Canyon and back up ...

The famed composer's most accessible piece continues to influence 20th-century Western music.

Holst’s “Jupiter” challenges modern assumptions about celebration, revealing jollity as something quieter, deeper and more enduring.

Listeners take a stroll through the streets of Rome via Tchaikovsky's 'Capriccio Italien.'

One melody, written on a tour bus, grew into a symbol embraced by Americans across generations.

Alexander Borodin’s musical avocation produced themes that still echo from concert halls to Broadway.

The rhythmic Polish mazurka was one of Chopin's most famous forms of music.

Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' presents the dichotomy of good and evil through the vocal ranges of its main ...

Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote 'Waltz No. 2' after Stalin's death. It exhibits a lightness not heard from ...

As orchestras welcome in the New Year, one elegant waltz is as inevitable as the countdown.

The "Hallelujah Chorus" was the masterpiece of composer George Frideric Handel and librettist Charles Jennens.

Written to honor his silver anniversary, Edvard Grieg's "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" captures decades of love, loss, and ...

Professional trombonist Roger E. Bissell writes about the oft-stressful transition between higher education and the world of career ...

Music allows composers to interpret and shape poetry in ways that create an entirely new artistic experience.