Collection of music videos

Classical music (not to be confused with Music of Classicism ) is a type of academic music that is primarily based on music produced or derived from the traditions of liturgical and secular music in the West , with Western Europe as its main focus. It has a transmission referent that is fundamentally of a written type, which is usually linked to the rigorous nature of its reproduction and interpretation. Although in a broad way it covers a period of time that goes approximately from the 11th century to the present.

Classical music has traditionally been divided into several periods, towards which the musicology of the last half century has shown increasing reluctance: 1.- Medieval music , which covers the period comprised by the Late Middle Ages in Europe (1000-1400). 2.- Renaissance music (1400-1600). 3.- Baroque music , which coincides with the development of Baroque art (1600-1750). 4.- Classicism (1750-1820), which in the History of Music and musicology is sometimes called "classical music". 5.- Romanticism (1820-1900). 6.- Contemporary music , which includes the different currents of classical music of the 20th and 21st centuries , which adopts atonal composition and other tendencies opposed to previous currents.

Classical music in general is characterized mainly by the type of language used, which is based on the broad and varied development of musical ideas based on themes, motifs, subjects, countersubjects, phrases, contrapuntal structures, modulating passages, re-exposition sections, thematic variations, etc., which are organized with the aim of creating a particular sound "narrative." With this, the composer creates a descriptive environment of abstract or concrete ideas converted into melody, harmony and rhythm, aimed at giving shape to a sound structure with a specific meaning.

Classical music is distinguished by its adherence to symbolic musical notation, which has been in use since about the 16th century. Such notation allows composers to prescribe in detail the tempo, metre, rhythm, pitch and precise execution of each piece of music. This limits the space for improvisation or ad libitum ornamentation, which are common in non-European art music and popular music. Another characteristic is the development of highly sophisticated and elaborate musical forms and genres, based on complex developments and the use of a very varied and sophisticated instrumentation.

The Best of Classical Music

0´00´´ Tchaikovsky - Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a: No. 3, Valzer dei Fiori.

7´03´´ Bach - Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067: VII. Badinerie

8´32´´ Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37: III. Rondo

18´07´´ Mozart - Eine kleine Nachtmusik in G Major, K. 525: I. Allegro

24´10´´ Mozart - Eine kleine Nachtmusik in G Major, K. 525: II. Romance. Andante 30´49´´ Vivaldi - Concerto for Strings in D Major, RV 121: I. Allegro molto

33´03´´ Rossini - Alleluja

34´58´´ Brahms - Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68: III. A little happy and funny

39´37´´ Chopin - Mazurkas, Op. 7: No. 1 in B-Flat Major

42´10´´ Strauss - An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314

53´34´´ Corelli - Concerto Grosso No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6: I. Largo

56´30´´ Corelli - Concerto Grosso No. 9 in F Major, Op. 6: III. Gavotta. Allegro

57´35´´ Paganini - 24 Caprices for Violin, Op. 1: Nos. 6, 7, 16 & 22

1h 09´52´´ Vivaldi - Sinfonia in E Major, RV 132: I. Allegro

1h 12´27´´ Chopin - Mazurkas, Op. 33: No. 4 in B Minor

1 h17´19´´ Vivaldi - Sinfonia in C Major, RV 112: I. Allegro

1h 19´18´´ Mendelssohn - Lieder ohne Worte, Op. 62

1h 22´07´´ Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 19 in F Major, K. 459: I. Allegro

1h 34´14´´ Telemann - Viola Concerto in G Major, TWV 51:G9: II. Allegro

1h 37´14´´ Bach - Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052: I. Allegro

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was a Russian pianist, conductor and composer. Born into an aristocratic family of musicians, he began playing the piano at the age of four, formalising his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and later at the Moscow Conservatory. After the premiere of his First Symphony and the criticism it received, he suffered a creative crisis for four years. Once he had overcome this, he wrote the Piano Concerto No. 2 , which received worldwide recognition. After the Russian Revolution, he moved with his family to Switzerland and in 1935, to the USA, writing numerous works for solo and concert piano, chamber music, symphonic and lyrical music. He is considered one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century and one of the most representative composers of Russia .

Sergei Rachmaninoff 's Prelude in C-sharp minor , Op. 3, No. 2, is part of a suite of five piano pieces entitled Morceaux de fantaisie . The prelude consists of 62 bars arranged in three episodes (ABA) and a coda: It begins with a three-note fortissimo motif that introduces the sombre key of C-sharp minor . In the third bar, the volume changes to pianissimo for the exposition of the theme. The second episode (4'04'') begins with highly chromatic triplets with interlaced chords that descend towards the recapitulation of the main theme (4'52''), offered this time in four scales. The piece closes with a brief coda (5'42'') that ends quietly.

Today we are invited to listen to Valentina Lisitsa (1973), a Ukrainian pianist who has lived in the USA since 1991.

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) was a German composer. He learned to sing and play the piano from an early age, and at the age of 12 he received free lessons in Salzburg from Michael Haydn , brother of Joseph Haydn . In 1813 he was appointed conductor of the Prague Orchestra and later of the Dresden Orchestra, while working on his most famous opera Der Freischütz ( The Poacher ); he also composed two other operas, Euryanthe and Oberon ; all three operas are considered by many critics to be masterpieces of the stage genre. In addition to other operas, he composed numerous songs, piano works, chamber works, two symphonies, several overtures, concertos and concertante works for different instruments, three masses and eight cantatas.

The clarinet is a musical instrument from the family of single-reed woodwind instruments (the oboe and bassoon use double reeds). Within the orchestra, it is found in the woodwind section, together with the flute, the oboe, the saxophone and the bassoon. The clarinet's timbre is rich in nuances and expressive possibilities. Together with the flute and the violin, it is the most agile instrument in the orchestra; it can emit any extreme nuance in any of its registers, which makes this instrument an extremely versatile voice.

Parts of the clarinet . Mouthpiece : is the piece where the reed is placed and where the player places his mouth to make the embouchure. The reed is a thin strip of material (usually wood) that, thanks to the wind produced when the player blows, the reed vibrates, producing a sound in the instrument. Barrel : is the element that connects the mouthpiece with the upper body of the instrument. Upper body : is where the left hand is placed when playing and has part of the instrument's mechanism. Lower body : is where the right hand is placed when playing and has part of the instrument's mechanism. Bell : Located at the bottom and has an acoustic function that allows the projection of sound during performance.

Sabine Meyer (born 1959), today's soloist, is a German classical clarinettist, who began playing the clarinet at a very young age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinettist. She studied with Otto Hermann in Stuttgart , and then with Hans Deinzer at the Hanover University of Music and Drama. She began her career as a member of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra , and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , where she was one of the first female members. In addition to her work as a soloist, Sabine Meyer is a committed performer of chamber music, and has performed all styles of classical music. Since 1993 she has been a professor at the Lübeck University of Music .

Carmelo Alonso Bernaola (1929-2002) was a Basque composer, music teacher and clarinetist, considered one of the greatest exponents of Spanish music in the second half of the 20th century . Throughout his career he composed more than 300 works including classical music, popular songs such as the Anthem of Athletic Club , and numerous soundtracks for film and television. He was a clarinetist in the Municipal Band of Madrid , a harmony teacher at the Conservatory of Madrid and director of the Jesús Guridi Conservatory of Music in Vitoria from 1981 to 1991. His honours include two National Music Awards, the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts and his entry into the Music Section of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

Symphony No. 2 was commissioned by Radio Nacional de España to celebrate Carmelo Bernaola 's fiftieth birthday. It was meant to be a page of maturity and it has turned out to be the work of a master. The three performances, to enthusiastic applause, by the composer from Otxandiano (Bizkaia) clearly show that the proposed goal has been achieved: to connect with the general public without giving up current thinking in its radical substantiality. Four movements (linked by the intervention of a sextet of strings located in the distance) give us a succession of images and sound events that are extraordinarily beautiful through a prodigious orchestral imagination and within proportions so precisely calibrated that we receive the sensation that not a single note is missing or superfluous. (Extracted from an article by Enrique Franco in El País)

Today's version is offered to us by the RTVE Symphony under the baton of the Levantine maestro Jordi Bernàcer Valdés .

Tini (Martina Stoessel, 1997) is an Argentine actress, singer and songwriter, who began her acting career at the age of 10 with a minor role in the children's series Patito feo . In her adolescence, she rose to international fame in the Disney Channel Latin America original musical youth series Violetta (2012-2015). In 2016, she took a turn in her musical career by signing a contract with Hollywood Records and released her self-titled debut studio album, Tini (2016). From then on, her albums achieved great success in both Argentina and the USA and in several American and European countries. In 2021, she was named to ¡Hola! 's list of the Top 100 Powerful Latinas; and from 2019 to 2022, she was also named one of the 10 Most Influential Women in Argentina .

Jaya (Maria Luisa Ramsey, Manila 1969) is a Filipino singer, daughter of singer and comedian Elizabeth Ramsey , of Afro-Jamaican and Spanish descent. Her artistic career began in 1989 where she has broken a great record in the American market and where she became the first Filipino artist to enter the Billboard Hot 100 with the song "If You Leave Me Now" managing to reach number 44. She has also resided in Florida and has been assimilated with her compatriot, the singer Pilita Corrales , especially for the style of her voice. In her country she is considered the fifth best-selling female artist of all time.

Don Quixote is a ballet with a prologue and four acts by Ludwig Minkus and choreography and libretto by Marius Petipa , which would premiere in 1869 at the Bolshoi Theatre , with enormous success both with critics and the public; ballet whose plot is based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes and in particular on the "marriage of Camacho" ( Gamache in the ballet), an episode narrated in chapter XIX of the second part, which recounts the romance between the barber Basilio and the young Quiteria (Kitri in the ballet).

Alicia Alonso (1920-2019) was a choreographer and teacher, founder and director of the National Ballet of Cuba . A relevant personality in the history of stage dance, a leading figure in classical ballet on an international level and a distinguished personality of Cuban national culture. The art of this legendary dancer has been acclaimed for decades by diverse audiences and specialized critics from around the world. She reached the rank of Prima ballerina assoluta , for the unlimited spectrum of her art, a category that historically few dance artists hold, and which in the tradition of classical dance defines the highest stylistic, expressive and technical qualities in the exercise of this art. In 1948 she founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet in Havana , today the National Ballet of Cuba . (Extracted from the National Ballet of Cuba website)

Riccardo Muti (1941) is an Italian conductor who has been musical director of the La Scala opera house in Milan for 19 years; he is therefore well versed in the lyrical and operatic repertoire. Together with Claudio Abbado, he is the benchmark for Italian conductors of his generation and has worked with the best orchestras in the world. In September 2010, Riccardo Muti became musical director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and in the same year he was named Musician of the Year by Musical America .

Throughout his extraordinary career, Riccardo Muti has conducted the world's leading orchestras: from the Berlin Philharmonic to the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra , from the New York Philharmonic to the Orchestre National de France, via the Vienna Philharmonic, an orchestra to which he is linked by particularly close and important ties, and with which he has performed in Vienna, Salzburg and throughout the world since 1971.