Monthly Playlist: February 2024

Celebrating different kinds of connections we form with others - romantic, platonic, family, friends, and more.

1.Brahms // Intermezzo, Op. 117, No. 1

Dedicated to Clara Schumann, a lifelong friend and confidante, who noted that “In these pieces I at last feel musical life stir once again in my soul.”

2.Janáček // Moderato from "Intimate Letters"

Captures Janáček's unrequited love for Kamila Stösslová, to whom he wrote over 700 letters. He wrote to Kamila about the Quartet: "It will be very cheerful, and then dissolve into a vision of your image, transparent, as if in the mist."

3. Korngold // from "Die tote Stadt"

A collaboration between son and father, who co-wrote the text for this opera under the collective pseudonym Julius Korngold. 

4.Mendelssohn // Adagio from String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80

Dedicated to his beloved sister Fanny, whose sudden death shook Felix so much that it became his last piece of work - he followed her death a few months later.

5. Britten // Nocturne from Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31

Written for tenor singer Peter Pears, to celebrate their new commitment to one another as lovers and professional partners. 

6. Chopin // Ballade No. 2, Op.38

Dedicated to his friend Robert Schumann, but the work reflects Chopin’s turbulent relationship with his lover George Sand.