Symphony no.

40 by Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756. His
father Leopold was a violinist, composer and insatiable intellectual. The was also
musical ancestry from his mothers side, her father was a singer (bass) and
taught at singing school. Leopold a very ambitions man, was force to reduce
them once he recognized the phenomenal gifts of Mozart. As proud father,
Leopold took his son on tours all throughout Europe with the intention of
showcasing Mozarts talents (violin and keyboard), as was as Mozarts older
sister Nannerl (on keyboard and singing).
His European tours provided Mozart with the opportunity of an
international education, being able to hear works by Johann Christian Bach and
other established contemporaries. These European tours provided Mozart with
some fundamental elements, which helped his own composition style. Vienna
was the place of his initial success, as he performed his own piano compositions.
The Marriage of Figaro also opened the door for Mozart as a composer of vocal
works. Symphony No. 40 is probably Mozarts most popular symphony. It was
probably quite popular during his lifetime as well, hence the appearance of a
rescored version later. No. 40 has probably one of the catchiest opening
movements of any symphony, especially since Beethoven himself is thought to
have been inspired by the last movement for his own Symphony No.5.

Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen

The Quartet for the End of Time was directly inspired by text from
Revelations, the last book of the Bible. The musical has a transcendental
language, one that suggests the ethereal and spiritual. Modes are used
throughout piece, both melodically and harmonically, which as a result, gives the
listener a sense of the eternity of space and time. Interestingly, this quartet has
eight movements, which is somewhat rare. Why not seven moments? Seven is
the perfect number, the creation of six days made days made holy by the divine
Sabbath; the seventh in its restfulness prolongs itself into eternity and becomes
the eighth, of unfailing light, of immutable peace.
The piece inspired by the 10th chapter of Revelations, sets out to portrait
the text through word painting. The first movement depicts the birds awakening in
the early morning, which sets the mood for the second as the angel announces
the end of time. Movement five is slow and majestic and is little aware of time as
it praises the eternity of Jesus. Movement six is a polar opposite of five as its
rhythms depicts the chaos the Angels trumpet blowing brings. The piece
continues to spell out the actions of Revelations 10:1-6 throughout its entirety.
Piano Quartet No.1 by Brahms

Brahms composed the Piano Quartet No. 1 between 1857 and 1859. At
that time he was employed as the director of court concerts and choral society for
the prince of Lippe-Detmold in Germany. The quartet had an emotional
attachment for Brahms due to his close friendship to Clara Schumann who
became a close friend of the composer after Robert Schumanns death. Clara
premiered the quartet in Hamburg in November of 1861 together with renowned
violinist John Boie.
The Allegro movement opens with dominant and fervent thematic material
as it expands the limits of the sonata form. The following scherzo Intermezzo:
Allegro ma non troppo - Trio: Animato is specifically titled to reflect Brahms'
gentle, introverted nature, and brings a sharp change of sound as the muted
strings and swing rhythms in duple and triple meter give the movement a
mysterious texture. The Andante con moto begins as a slow full-hearted song
and develops into a semi-military 3/4 meter march in C major. In the concluding
Rondo alla Zingarese, Brahms alludes to his love and interest in Hungarian
music as he saturates the vibrant finale with quick episodes and sudden tempo
shifts, extending a musical tradition of 'gypsy' finales that goes back to the days
of Haydn.
Morpheus by Rebecca Clarke
Morpheus is one of the finest pieces written for viola by of the instruments
greatest exponents, Rebecca Clark. Clarke played by violin until her composition
teacher, urged her to shift over to the viola because then she would be right in
the middle of the sound, and can tell how its done. The viola became the basis
of Clarkes worldwide career as a soloist and as a partner in chamber music with
many of the greatest artists of the early twentieth century.
Clarkes compositional output was brilliant out of all proportion to its bulk
(about 90 works, including juvenilia). Her Viola Sonata and Piano Trio are often
played and recorded, and are now generally regarded as masterpieces. Her
matures songs; perhaps her finest body of work, running the gamut from
simplicity to brutal tragedy to outright farce, are also widely performed and
recorded. Her choral and vocal-ensemble music were virtually unknown until
publication of her Ave Maria and Chorus from Shellys Hellas. Rebecca Clark is
regarded today as one of the greatest women composers.
Viola Concerto (Revised Edition) by Bla Bartk
Bla Bartok worked on his Viola Concerto during the summer of 1945
while preparing also the final score of his Piano Concerto No. 3. He had almost
completed the latter, expect for the orchestration of the last seventeen bars,
when his doctor ordered him to hospital where, a few days later, he died. The
Viola Concerto thus remained in the form of preliminary sketches.

The Viola Concerto was first conceived as a four-movement work. Each of

the movements, except the first, would be preceded by a recurring introduction,
a kind of ritornello. The surviving sketches indicate that the Scherzo
subsequently became shifted in place to follow the slow movement, apparently
destined to lead into the Finale. After Bartoks death, his friend Tibor Serly was
asked to decipher the sketches and transform them into an orchestra score. The
resulting work became known as the Bartok Viola Concerto. Recent reexamination of the sketches and the score, for the purpose of correcting errors,
has resulted in the present revised score.

The 24 Preludes by Debussy

Debussy was an important figure in the evolution of music. He developed
a very personal musical language that had everything to do with impressionism.
Debussy was a masterful in his use of resonance, parallel only to a few
composers. He once remarked, Ive invented nothing, at most Ive presented old
things in a new way. Debussy decided to follow the steps of one of his most
admired composer, Frederic Chopin, who also wrote twenty-four preludes. The
first book of Preludes was composed from December 1909 to February 1910.
The second book of Preludes was composed between 1911 and 1912. While
more details is known the about the first book, the very last prelude he composed
was Clair de Lune.
Debussy had many themes embedded in his music, and the preludes are
not different. Landscapes, water, fog, the sky are present themes in this
compilation of twenty-four preludes. Debussy had little to no desire to use human
characters as a model for impressionism, only one of the preludes references to
a specific piano technique, Les Tierces alternes. The music is bound by
extravagant harmonic and rhythmic elegance.