Sergei Rachmaninoff

Ten Spooky Classical Music Favorites for Halloween

It’s Halloween, and you’re looking for that perfect, spooky Halloween music that’s a little more sophisticated than “The Monster Mash” and “Thriller” and “Werewolves of London.” Look no further, friends. I’ve done my own hopping around...

Is Rachmaninoff’s Music Too Schmaltzy?

Many classical music purists today consider Sergei Rachmaninoff’s music to be excessively sentimental, admittedly lush but too similar-sounding once you’ve heard one concerto. But is this a fair assessment?... Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Op 18...

Ten Scary Classical Music Pieces for Halloween

Great music pierces the soul...and can sometimes terrify it. Over the centuries, composers, like nearly all artists of every variety, have been fascinated by the subject of death and by...

Let it Snow! Six Great Classical Musical Pieces about Winter

As polar vortices descend upon the moderate climate zones, allow me to recommend to you, dear reader, six pieces of classical music that will warm your soul, as you curl up by the fire with a good...

The Ten Most Beautiful Classical Symphonies

"Imagination creates reality." —Richard Wagner Though beauty is an absolute reality, we human beings see through a glass darkly, and the space between objective beauty and our own personal taste can be fuzzy. Any list that...