Victor Herbert was an American composer mainly known for his turn-of-the-century operettas including Babes in Toyland and Naughty Marietta. This on-line collection features cylinder recordings from 1909 to 1913, all in the public domain…even in the copyright greedy U.S.A! The sound leaves something to be desired but considering how tinny these cylinder recordings usually are, these seems to be nicely remastered. Most of the tracks are Victor Herbert originals but there are also some light classical recordings of compositions by Saint-Saens, Bizet, Weber, and Mendelssohn. This is a pleasing blast from the past.

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Spanish composer Jose Travieso has an eclectic style that includes minimalism, neo-classical and jazz elements. He even has a metal project which I will explore in a later post. For now, we can feast on seven of his compositional albums. Here is a list of the albums with the composer’s descriptions.

No More Faith: “a mix of neo-classicism, post-minimalism and avant-garde showed along a collection of pieces for different chamber ensembles, since flute + harp until eight different instruments.”

Tunguska: “String quartet in three movements inspired in the mysterious Tunguska event.”

De Luces y de Sombres: “Romantic and nostalgic suite for solo piano divided in six movements and written with an important improvisational component.”

Tres Pieza para Oidos Dustuinctas: “EP collecting three recordings for piano revising very different styles: jazz-fusion and avant-garde (Jazz en Clave Mínimo-Andalusí), romanticism (Raymond Blue) and minimalist music (Música para 18 Pasos y 2 Pianos Desfasados).”

Musica para una Guitarra sin Voz: ” Complete recordings for piano written for the Hipnotica project, a jazz-fusion duo for guitar and piano that José Travieso founded with the guitarist José Luis Cabeza.”

Huvia de Mayo: “two unreleased pieces, one for piano and with a romantic style (Lluvia de Mayo) and another one (El Juego de las Atracciones) for several instruments and a minimalist and sporadic nature.”

Ensayos Sobre Musica Esporadica: “Avant-garde stuff, mixing crazy jazz with more crazy minimalism and experimentation.”

All of Travieso’s freely released music can be found on his music page. Enjoy!

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No More Faith
Tunguska
De Luces y de Sombras
Tres Pieza para Oidos Distinctas
Musica para una Guitarra sin Voz
Huvia de Mayo
Ensayos Sobre Musica Esporadica

Here are a couple more choice re-enactments of classical music by Dr. Phibes & the Ten Plagues of Egypt. Their forte is the taking-on of well-know classical compositions. On these two albums, we get their versions of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacres du Printemps (The Rite of Spring). Dr. Phibes and company plays these pieces with electronic instruments that reminds me of a metal version of an old wheezy silent movie-style organ. My classical music loving wife hates it but I think it is kind of cool. Download these two recordings and decide for yourself.

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Carmina Burana
Le Sacres du Printemps

The Tudor Consort comes to us from Wellington, New Zealand and is a chamber chorale that specializes in choral music from the late Medieval and Renaissance periods with emphasis on English 16th century music. They were founded by Simon Ravens and has been in existence since 1986. The key word is authenticity, attempting to be as close to the original sound and intent of the composer and period as possible.

They currently offer four albums on the Free Music Archive, all of them being a special treat. The place to start would be Live in Concert as it offers a wide range of pieces by composers like William Byrd, Claudio Monteverdi, Palestrina, Thomas Tallis, and Orlando Gibbons. This medieval and Renaissance music can become quite soothing and ultimately pleasantly addicting.

The other three albums are of specific works. Renaissance Influences offer two complete works: “Messa di Requiem” by Ildebrando Pizzetti and “Missa Sicut Lillium Inter Spinas” by Palestrina. Here, we get to hear the great choral piece by early 20th century Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti compared to a Palestrina Renaissance masterwork. Giovanni Animuccia: Missa Victimae Paschali Laudes is a excellent rendition of Animuccia’s liturgical composition. Finally we have a live performance of Stabat Matter by Domenico Scarlatti. The 1715 composition can almost be called modern by the Tudor Consort’s standards.

All four albums will delight the lover of early classical music and doubtless make a lot of converts.

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Live in Concert
Renaissance influences - Pizzetti: Messa di Requiem / Palestrina: Missa Sicut lilium inter spinas
Giovanni Animuccia: Missa Victimae Paschali Laudes
Stabat Mater - Domenico Scarlatti

Frank Harper’s two full-length albums on Jamendo can be called jazz but is probably closer to the ambient neo-classical that you might hear from ECM. Or perhaps intelligent new age.

I was Harper’s first commercial release but it is now available free thanks to the permission of Harper and the album publisher. The eight tracks are calming and perfect for a meditative listening experience. The artist use both acoustic instruments (primarily guitar) and synthesizers on this album. Spheres is an ambient translation of a number of Vivaldi compositions. Harper uses exclusively synthesizers to recreate the works. While Classical purists may be rankled, there is no doubt that Harper meant these exquisite pieces to be a work of love.

You can also buy CDs of the this music. So if you like the music, support the artist by purchasing the CDs in higher quality sound.

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I
Spheres - Vivaldi

Piano transcriptions of classical composers’ orchestral works are not all that uncommon. Often the piano transcription was the working blueprint for the final orchestral composition. Other times, the compose created a piano transcription afterward. Igor Stravinsky did the latter with Petrouchkaat the request of Arthur Rubinstein. That particular transcription was a two hand solo work but Stravinsky later created a four-hand transcription. He also compose a four hand transcription for his ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) .

Two of Igor Stravinsky’s most famous works include the ballets Petrouchka and Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring). These four hand transcriptions makes for a interesting contrast and are quite enjoyable in their own right. Both of these piano duets are performed by Graziella Concas and Dario Strazzeri. The MP3s are available from The Piano Society.

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Petrouchka
Le sacre du Printemps

With the obvious exception of Beethoven, no one composer embodies the symphony of the Romantic Era like Gustav Mahler. Even if you are not a big fan of the composer’s boisterous style, even the most casual listener cannot avoid getting wrapped up in the emotions, or in my humble opinion the excesses, of a Mahler Symphony. He wrote nine complete symphonies and one unfinished symphony, strengthening the myth of the curse of the ninth once again. Here are nine of those symphonies from the Public Domain Archive. Unfortunately the “Tragic” 6th symphony is tragically missing and I cannot find an adequate free online recording of it. So we will have to suffice with these nine.

The First Symphony in D Major is nicknamed The Titan. It is performed by the NBC Symphony Orchestra and is conducted by Bruno Walter. The recording year is 1939.

Symphony No. 2 in C Minor is also conducted by Bruno Walter but this time with the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra in 1948.

Symphony No. 3 in D minor is conducted by Hermann Scherchen with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1950.

We return to Bruno Walter in conducting Symphony No. 4 in G major with the New York Philharmonic in 1945. The featured soprano is Desi Halban.

Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor is conducted by…who else?…Bruno Walter with the New York Philharmonic in 1947.

Symphony No. 7 in E minor (The Song of The Night) was recorded in 1950 by The Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hermann Scherchen.

Symphony No. 8 in E Flat Major may be the composer’s most popular. or perhaps notorious, symphony. Nicknamed “Symphony of a Thousand”, it lives up to its name as one of the largest symphonic / choral compositions in classical music history, consisting of a very large orchestra, two choirs, a children choir and eight soloists. This 1950 performance is by the Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski with the lead soprano being Frances Yeend.

Symphony No. 9 in D major is conducted by Bruno Walter with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and was recorded in 1939.

Finally, the unfinished Symphony no. 10 in F sharp major was, for the most part, finished by Mahler before his death in 1910 but not to the point that it was playable by an orchestra. There were many attempts to complete this symphony. I’m not sure who was responsible for the version here but it is performed by The Wiener Staatsoper Orchestra and conducted by Hermann Scherchen in 1952.

Note: It has been suggested that I remind you that the Public Domain Archive is a Japanese site and the recordings hosted there are in the public domain for that country. My own site does not host any of these recordings. As visitors of my blog come from all over the globe I recommend you check the copyright laws of the country you reside in before downloading.

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Symphony No. 1 in D major “Titan”
Symphony No. 2 in C minor
Symphony No. 3 in D minor
Symphony No. 4 in G major
Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor
Symphony No. 7 in E minor “The Song of the Night”
Symphony No. 8 in E flat major “Symphony of a Thousand”
Symphony No. 9 in D major
Symphony No. 10 in F sharp major

Haunting, beautiful, and distinctly modern is Garth Knox’s solo viola effort titled Viola D’Amour. It is another excellent release from the unique SHSK’H net label which is always good for top quality post-classical music . Knox explores the outer boundary of his instrument and keeps the listener both in wonder of what he will do next. The album has both structured compositions and improvisations although it is a challenge to identify which is which. However the virtuosity of the artist is unquestioned and this is a good bet for those who enjoy classical, modern compositions or simply interesting music.

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Brazilian classical pianist Felipe Sarro has already entranced us with a collection of Alkan compositions. Now he is offering another free album. This time it is Johann Sebastian Bach in both original compositions and piano transcription by Alexander Ilyich Siloti. I especially like Sarro’s take on the fourth French Suite. Siloti’s transcriptions include some nice translations of cantatas and sonata rewritten for the piano.

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French impressionist composer Claude Debussy wrote two sets of three composition each, titled Images. Book I was published in 1905 while Book II was published in 1907. They remain some of the most revered compositions for the piano, especially the three works that constitute Book II. The performance of the entire Images that is available through the link below is from The Piano Society. The pianist is John Anderson

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George Gershwin ’s orchestral works may not be on par with the canon of 20th century classical music but he remains one of America’s most loved composers. When not writing “tin pan alley” popular hits like “S’wonderful” and “I Got Rhythm”, he composed some elegant and very American orchestral works incorporating the classical idiom with popular American music. Here are three recordings of his more famous works that are in the public domain.

American in Paris was composed in 1924 and was inspired by the composer’s stay in Paris. Most readers may be familiar with the 1961 film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Gene Kelly. This 1944 recording, from the old 78rpms, is by the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

Rhapsody in Blue was also composed in 1924 and is for piano and jazz band . It was an early attempt to blend classical music with jazz and was commissioned by Paul Whiteman for his orchestra. Later, the piece was orchestrated for the symphony orchestra by Ferde Grofe. The original recording with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra featuring Gershwin on piano can be downloaded here but I am not featuring it due to its terrible sound and short duration. Nonetheless, it is an important historical document. Instead, the link below will take you to a later orchestral recording with Arturo Toscanini. The pianist is Earl Wild and Benny Goodman does the famous solo clarinet intro at the beginning. By the way, I have played the clarinet part in local orchestras during my youth and the ascending glissando to high B flat is…excuse my language… a bitch.

The Second Rhapsody from 1931 is the least known of the three works. Never achieving the popularity of Rhapsody in Blue it is still an excellent work. The recording is from 1931 and is conducted by the composer, so it is probably the first recording of this composition. Hope you enjoy this triple treat of Gershwin.

Note: It has been suggested that I remind you that the Public Domain Archive is a Japanese site and the recordings hosted there are in the public domain for that country. My own site does not host any of these recordings. As visitors of my blog come from all over the globe I recommend you check the copyright laws of the country you reside in before downloading.

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An American In Paris
Rhapsody In Blue
Second Rhapsody

Unlike many children, my introduction to the symphony was not Mozart or Beethoven but Johannes Brahms. This was due to a box set of 33rpm vinyls of Bruno Walter conducting all four Brahms symphonies. I bought it at nine years old for 50 cents at a Goodwill thrift shop. I guess the brooding majesty of Brahms was irresistible to the brooding nine year old in me. Yes, I was that weird! Since then I’ve always been fond of Walters as a conductor and still place Brahms as one of my top five classical composers. All four of the symphonies conducted by Bruno Walter are now in the public domain (please check your country’s copyright laws for specifics). Symphony no. 1 is with the Vienna Philharmonic and was recorded in 1937. The second symphony is from 1950 and is with the Berlin Philharmonic as is the third symphony but recorded in 1944. Symphony no. 4 is recorded in 1951 with Mr. Walters conducting the New York Philharmonic. Enjoy!

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Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
Symphonu No. 3 in F Majpr, Op. 90
Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98

Italian impressionist composer Ottorino Respighi might be more accurately considered neo-classical due to his use of 17th and 18th century musical forms in his work. Yet I’ve always thought of him as the equal of Debussy in putting emotions to sounds. The Roman Trilogy is his most famous work and consists of three symphonic poems: Fountains of Rome, Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals. The most known of the three is Fountains of Rome and this excellent 1945 recording is by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Clemens Krauss. Pines of Rome is also from 1945 but is conducted by Arturo Toscanini with the New York Philharmonic. Lastly, Roman Festivals is another work conducted by Arturo Toscanini but this time he is with the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the recording year is 1949. Three important symphonic poems that are highly recommended to the classical music lover.

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Fountains of Rome
Pines of Rome
Roman Festivals

Brahms Piano Trio in A Minor is more accurately described as the Trio for clarinet, cello & piano in A minor, Op. 114. In some versions the clarinet can be replaced by a viola but it just doesn’t sound as good and as a clarinetist, I think that is somewhat of a travesty. After all, Brahms specifically wrote it for Richard Muhlfield who was the principal clarinetist of the Meiningen Court Orchestra. While I prefer Brahms’ Clarinet Sonatas the trio in four movements is certainly an exquisite work and deserves to be heard by all classical music lovers. This particular free version is from the Piano Society and features Jiri Javurek on clarinet, Judita Skodova on violoncello and Bohumir Stehlik on piano. It is another nice rendition of many piano works you will find at the Piano Society website.

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The appearance of the first two symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven completes the complete set of free online Beethoven symphonies now available on Free Albums Galore. Compared to his later masterpieces these two symphonies are basically “baby photos” but a Beethoven symphony is a Beethoven symphony. Symphony No. 1 in C Major Op. 21 is performed by The NBC Symphony Orchestra as conducted by Arturo Toscanini. The recording in from 1939. Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36 is also from 1939 and conducted by Arturo Toscanini but the ensemble is The BBC Symphony Orchestra. Both recordings are from the 78rpm acetates so you should expect some hisses and pops but overall they are nice transfers.

The links below is from a site simply called Public Domain Archive and it has many excellent classical works available. The works are stated to be in the public domain but it should be noted that this is a Japanese site and the rights for various compositions and recordings may be different where you live.

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Symphony No. 1 in C Major
Symphony No. 2 in D Major

Electronic music artist Lanark likes to write variations, or perhaps more accurately, deconstructions of classical composers’ compositions. His new free and legal album from the now defunct Comfort Stand is an excellent case in point. He write swhat is usually a charming takeoff of a classical work and changes the title using a composer and an insect. Therefore “Polovstian Dances” by A. Borodin becomes “Borodin Butterfly”. Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No. 3 becomes “Satie Ladybug” and Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” becomes “Grieg Roach”. This bit of cleverness wouldn’t mean anything if the music was not so pretty and listenable. This is a album of delights.

My Russian Bride is available from WM Recordings. This time the mad genius takes on the music of another mad genius, Tchaikovsky. My Russian Bride is a quirky reworking of The Nutcracker Suite. It has a music box quality throughout and it is fun to pick out the themes from this reworking. The purists might not like this but I think it is another charming, if off-centered, effort from Lanark.

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My Russian Bride
The Preserving Machine

A contemporary of Lizst and Chopin, Charles-Valentin Alkan was one of the great pianists of his time. Yet these 25 preludes for solo piano also attest to the fact that he was a gifted composer. This album of his preludes plus a composition titled “Alleluia” is beautifully performed by Felipe Sarro and is available from the Free Music Archive.

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Dot dot dot dash.

With the addition of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, aka The Victory Symphony, Free Albums Galore now links to seven of the great composer’s nine symphonies. Somewhere in cyberspace, there must be lurking Symphonies no. 1 & 2. This version of The Fifth is another fine transfer from 78rpm to digital files by Bob Varney and is placed in the Internet Archives’ 78rpm collection. The year is 1939 and Arturo Toscanini is conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. An interesting side note is that this recording was recorded in Studio 8H at New York City’s Rockefeller Center which is the current home of “Saturday Night Live. The work is available in VBR MP# 3 and Ogg Vorbis formats.

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Symphony no. 9 also known as the Choral Symphony was Beethoven’s last and greatest symphony. An old but memorable version from 79rpm discs can be found over at the Internet Archive. Recorded in 1935, this excellent recording is by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna State Opera Chorus and is conducted by Felix Weingartner. The featured vocal soloists are soprano Luise Helletsgruber, contralto Rosette Anday, tenor Georg Maikl, and bass Richard Mayr. This is a fine classic performance from the Internet Archive’s 78rpm collection and is another good digital transfer by F. Reeder into MP3 and Ogg Vorbis formats.

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Ludwig Von Beethoven’s last and most famous piano concerto (Piano Concerto #5 in E flat) is nicknamed the “Emperor” concerto. Befitting the name, it is a majestic piece of music. This is another excellent transfer from a 78rpm disc to MP3 format. The 1941 recording, now in the public domain, is by The New York Philharmonic and is conducted by Bruno Walter. The pianist is Rudolf Serkin.

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Mezzo-Soprano Marilyn Schmiege gives us four marvelous classical song cycles for instant download and enjoyment. All four of these works are excellent examples of classical song in the 20th century. Alban Berg is represented with two collections of songs: Sieben Fruhe Lieber (7 Early Songs 1905-1908) and 4 Lieber op. 2 (1908-09). Arnold Schoenberg is represented by his eerie but lovely Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten (op.15, 1908-09). The second version of Das Marienleben op.27 (1936-48) by Paul Hindemith has already been featured on Free Albums Galore but this rendition by Schmiege deserves a listen too. The pianist on all works is Donald Sulzen.

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Frederic Chopin’s four ballades for piano are very emotional and technically difficult pieces. The exemplary rendition featured here were recorded in 1933 on 78rpm discs. The pianist is Alfred Cortot. He was a notable performer of classical pieces from the Romantic Era, especially those of Schumann and Chopin. For the record, the full titles of these piano works are…

Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23.
Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38.
Ballade No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 47.
Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52.

The 1933 recordings are quite good considering the age. They have been transferred to monaural MP33 files by F. Reeder.

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American composer Kyle Gann is no stranger to the use of the internet and Creative commons licensing. His MP3 page has a large variety of original compositions that well showcases this eclectic and eccentric composer of contemporary music. I am featuring five of his more extended works, all of them worth a listen and more.

Custer and Sitting Bull is the most interesting work to me. It is a solo work and makes ample use of both Native American music and microtones. The narrative is by the composer.

Sunken City is a concerto for piano and winds and was written in memory of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. There is some nice use of New Orleans jazz coupled with an atmospheric dissonance in the later parts. It is performed by the Orkest de Volharding at De Doelen with Jussi Jaatinen conducting. Geoffrey Douglas Madge is the pianist.

Transcendental Sonnets is written for chorus, two soloists and orchestra. The 35 minute piece is based on the poetry of Jones Very (1813-1880), a protege of Ralph Waldo Emerson. This recording is of the October 19, 2002, premiere by the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Orchestra conducted by Eric Stark. The soloists are Kathleen Hacker and Christopher Paul Aspaas. It is a monumental work of beauty.

Last Chance Sonatan is a sonata for clarinet and piano. It is Gann’s farewell to the 20th century. It feels very much like Hindemith to me , perhaps even Barber?.

I’itoi Variations is a work for two pianos and , if the author’s description is to believed, has influences from Beethoven, Brahms, Busoni and The Papago Indians. Did I mention that the author is eclectic?

There are a lot of other works on his page but this will give you more than a good start. The files are in 160kbps MP3.

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Paul Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler (Mathis The Painter) is his most famous symphonic composition. Composed in 1934, it was written before his equally famous opera of the same name and used themes that would later show up in the opera’s completion. It is a beautifully moving piece of music . This premiere 1934 performance is another fine F. Reeder transfer from 78rpm acetate to MP3 format. The orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic with Paul Hindemith conducting.

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The compositions of Arnold Schoenberg has to be some of the more challenging listens in 20th century classical music. Yet there is something instantly likable bout his seminal work titled Pierrot Lunaire. Written for voice and six instruments, the singer/narrator approaches the lyrics in a narrative style that is part talking and part singing. The vocal part is usually sung by a classically trained soprano but has attracted such diverse voices as Bjork and Cleo Laine. The music is typical of the atonal style of Schoenberg yet resonates a surreal cabaret atmosphere. This 1940 78rpm recording is conducted by the composer and features soprano Erika Stiedry-Wagner doing the recitation. Another great digital transfer to MP3 format by F. Reeder.

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