Baton Orchestral

Dvorak wrote his Prague Waltzes in December of 1879, at the request of a prestigious Prague musical society, and premiered the following January. They were written just after the first set of Slavonic...

Pietro Mascagni's opera 'Cavalleria Rusticana' is a tempestuous drama of adultery and revenge set on Easter Sunday in a remote Italian village. Its earthy passions, bold confrontational scenes and ric...

Pietro Mascagni's opera 'Cavalleria Rusticana' is a tempestuous drama of adultery and revenge set on Easter Sunday in a remote Italian village. Its earthy passions, bold confrontational scenes and ric...

The Waltz from 'The Sleeping Beauty' (Garland Waltz) is the first dance in Act one of the ballet: It is Princess Aurora's sixteenth birthday. Celebrations are already underway: the atmosphere is festi...

The Waltz from 'The Sleeping Beauty' (Garland Waltz) is the first dance in Act one of the ballet: It is Princess Aurora's sixteenth birthday. Celebrations are already underway: the atmosphere is festi...

La valse, poème chorégraphique pour orchestre, is written by Maurice Ravel from February 1919 until 1920. It was conceived as a ballet but is now more often heard as a concert work. The work has been...

La valse, poème chorégraphique pour orchestre, is written by Maurice Ravel from February 1919 until 1920. It was conceived as a ballet but is now more often heard as a concert work. The work has been...

Johann Strauss composed his 'Spanischer Marsch' (Spanish March) in 1888 for María Cristina, regent of Spain, daughter of Archduke Karl Ferdinand and Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria. This march repres...

Johann Strauss composed his 'Spanischer Marsch' (Spanish March) in 1888 for María Cristina, regent of Spain, daughter of Archduke Karl Ferdinand and Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria. This march repres...

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic operas by German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the...

Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic operas by German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the...

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by German composer Richard Wagner. based on characters from the Norse sagas and the 'Nibelungenlied'. "Das Rheingold" is the first opera in the c...

Der Ring des Nibelungen" (The Ring of the Nibelung) is a cycle of four epic operas by German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the...

The 'Naughty Limericks' (Concerto for Orchestra No. 1) from Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin creates striking impressions. This one-movement piece is not a 'Concerto' in the 'Bartokian' sense. 'Naugh...

The Naughty Limericks (Concerto for Orchestra No. 1) from Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin creates striking impressions. This one-movement piece is not a Concerto in the Bartokian sense. Naughty Lime...

Puccini composed his opera 'Manon Lescaut' in 1893 and it became together with 'Tosca' his first outstanding success. He used some musical elements in Manon Lescaut from earlier works he had written....

Puccini composed his opera 'Manon Lescaut' in 1893 and it became together with 'Tosca' his first outstanding success. He used some musical elements in Manon Lescaut from earlier works he had written....

'Flight of the Bumblebee' is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera 'The Tale of Tsar Saltan'. The piece closes the 3rd act, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes...

Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan". The piece closes the 3rd act, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Pr...

Giacomo Meyerbeer was a German opera composer of Jewish birth who has been described as perhaps the most successful stage composer of the nineteenth century. His public career from 1831 until his deat...

'Gayaneh' is a four-act ballet with music by Aram Khachaturian composed in 1941-1942. The music is typically 'Khachaturian' with use of Armenian Folk music and referring to Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov...

Gayaneh is a four-act ballet with music by Aram Khachaturian composed in 1941-1942. The music is typically "Khachaturian" with use of Armenian Folk music and referring to Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov....

Louis Moreau Gottschalk's compositions were the first to incorporate rhythms and 'native' melodies of the West Indies into the concert music mainstream. His music astutely predated what would become r...