Five Tudor Portraits (1935), by Ralph Vaughan Williams, is a work scored for contralto (or mezzo-soprano), baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra. It sets several poems, or extracts from poems, by the...

Described by Vaughan Williams as a "symphonic impression", it received its premiere under the conductor Thomas Beecham on 22 February 1909. The piece is meant to evoke feelings of traversing East...

The tone poem/ballet Amazonas, composed originally for orchestra and published in 1917, was transcribed for piano by Villa-Lobos himself and published in a new version in 1932. Like Uirapuru,...

In 1955, Heitor Villa-Lobos was commissioned by John Sebastian to write a harmonica concerto, and the piece was premiered in in Jerusalem on October 27, 1959, a month before Villa's death...

Bruno Maderna's edition and revision of Antonio Vivaldi's Beatus Vir represents a compelling intersection of Baroque sensibilities and 20th-century musicological insight. Vivaldi's original...

 Carmen Fantasie is a virtuoso showpiece for violin and orchestra. The piece is part of Franz Waxman's score to the 1946 movie Humoresque for which he received an Academy Award nomination for...

Waxman's "Katsumi Love Theme," composed for the Academy Award-winning film Sayonara (1957), is a poignant musical embodiment of the film's central romance. The piece exudes a delicate blend of East...

Sunset Boulevard was nominated for eleven Oscars, winning 3 of them, for Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Waxman's score for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. In 2005,...

"Symphonie de Chambre No.1" also known as Chamber Symphony No. 1 “Le Printemps” Op. 43, is the first of a collection of six “Little Symphonies,” by Darius Milhaud. This piece...

The Little (Chamber) Symphony No. 2, Op. 49, by Darius Milhaud (not to be confused with Symphony No. 2) is a three movement piece written for chamber orchestra, consisting of flute, English horn,...