Today's Classics: Recommended classical music and great performances to listen to today
If you’re reading this article, you probably love classical music.
You likely know a fair number of composers and performers already—and to be honest, you might be a bit tired of some of them—so perhaps you’re also on the lookout for pieces and composers you don’t yet know.
In this article, for everyone enjoying a wonderful classical-music life, we introduce daily reviews of recommended composers and performers, as well as timeless masterpieces and great performances from across the ages.
Alongside symphonies, you’ll sometimes find concertos, sometimes solo piano or violin, and perhaps even contemporary works or pieces for wind band!
You’re sure to discover classical music that will brighten your day.
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[Today's Classics] Recommended classical music to listen to today and a collection of great performances (1–10)
Suite bergamasque, No. 3: Clair de LuneClaude Debussy
The third piece from Claude Debussy’s Suite bergamasque, Clair de Lune, is considered his most famous work.
It is frequently featured in concerts and used as background music in visual media.
This exquisitely beautiful piano piece evokes a dreamlike scene where the moon’s gentle light emerges in the night sky.
In terms of tempo and note density, it isn’t particularly difficult, but conveying the piece’s unique atmosphere is a formidable challenge.
You could even say that real practice begins only after you’ve finished reading the score.
Be sure to focus on the beauty of the sound and the calm, flowing lines as you practice.
GymnopédieEric Satie
Gymnopédie, a piano piece by the modern music master Erik Satie.
Many people have heard it, and many have even played it.
That’s how familiar this piece has become.
Its unhurried tempo has a deeply soothing, healing quality, making it a relaxing piece to enjoy in any season.
Hungarian Dance No. 5Johannes Brahms
This is a collection of dances that Johannes Brahms arranged based on Gypsy music he came to admire while touring Germany.
Wanting to honor the folk music of the Gypsies, Brahms transcribed and compiled these pieces rather than composing them himself, so many listeners may feel they have a slightly different character from his usual works.
Among them, No.
5 is especially famous.
It has appeared many times in commercials, so even those who aren’t classical music fans have likely heard it.
[Today’s Classics] Recommended classical music and masterful performances to listen to today (11–20)
Piano Concerto No. 21Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
In Japan, it was used in Kourakuen’s commercial “Yabai Chuka Soba Classic.” It’s perfect as background music for cooking.
Boiling the noodles, taking them out of the pot and rinsing them with water… then into the soup and plated in a bowl… It beautifully portrays the process of a dish coming together.
Even the act of picking up the noodles with chopsticks and slurping them looks artistic thanks to the power of this piece.
Concerto for Percussion and OrchestraAndré Jolivet
A piece by Jolivet—dubbed the “Jekyll and Hyde of music” for his work spanning avant-garde to commercial music—in which his Varèse-like obsession with percussion explodes.
Incidentally, when he visited Japan, he reportedly got so hooked on pachinko and slot machines that he even composed a “Pachinko for Two Pianos” (a straightforward work of contemporary music).
HumoresqueAntonín Dvořák
Humoresque was composed while he was staying at his villa in Vysoká.
It is performed more often as a violin piece than as a piano work.
In this piece, the violin has a very lustrous tone.
Depending on the listener, it leaves different impressions: it can feel as fleeting as the night sky, or warm and nostalgic like midday.
Even after a single listen, it lingers clearly in the ear.
A romantic piece I highly recommend.
Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” Second MovementAntonín Dvořák
Known as “Ieji” or “The Day Sets Beyond the Distant Hills,” it has Japanese lyrics.
In some municipalities it is often played as music to signal evening, and in some stores it is used as the tune to announce closing time.