Aug 22 & 23 - Classical Training (Borrowing /w Style)

Recently saw the Planets performed at the Proms and it was the best performance I've seen of this piece.

Also recently saw Kyung Wha Chung play the Bartok Concerto and loved every second of it. She plays with such a fine touch and feel that you soak up every note. A CD of her playing is well worth hunting down.

The "New World" is such a familiar piece but that doesn't matter a jot when you hear the AMAZING number of melodies that Dvorak puts into this Symphony. If you get the chance try and track down a performance of his "American" String Quartet. I have always thought that the String Quartet is the medium that best expresses a Composers compositional powers. It shows off the art of counterpoint like no other medium. Another composer who's String Quartets move me hugely is Alban Berg. To my mind the finest thing (along with maybe his Violin Concerto) that Berg ever wrote.

Sublime!