Clef Notes: Your weekly anti-Recession musical medication - The Baltimore Sun’s classical music critic Tim Smith blogs about the sonic art, local and beyond

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March 9, 2009

Your weekly anti-Recession musical medication

As we settle into another week of the long, deep recession, here's some more great music and music-making to help ease the pain and anxiety. This particular case simultaneously honors the 2009 bicentennial of Mendelssohn's birth. I think the Adagio from his Symphony No. 3 (the Scottish) is one of his most deeply poetic inspirations. I also think anything conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos is deeply poetic, too. So here's an ideal combination, Mendelssohn and Mitropoulos, with the Minneapolis Symphony (very old recording, very out-of-date sound -- get over it):

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 In A Minor, Op. 56, "Scottish" - III. Adagio - Dimitri MITROPOULOS; Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

Posted by Tim Smith at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

Thank you so much... I've never heard this performance, and agree that it's lovely. I cut my teeth on the Mitropoulos/NY Phil Tchaikovsky 6th, and have always been a fan of his.

Glad you liked it. I'll probably return to the great, underrated Mitropoulos before too long.TIM

Posted by: Charles Ellis | March 9, 2009 5:44 PM

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About Tim Smith

I was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up there. Initial thoughts of becoming a cocktail pianist faded when I realized I hated taking requests. I decided to study music history instead, and got a B. A. in that field from Eisenhower College in Seneca Falls, New York, and an M.A. from Occidental College in Los Angeles. After free-lance gigs for the Washington Star and the Washington Post, I worked as classical music critic for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel during the 1980s and '90s, a period when I also ventured into radio, contributing to NPR and hosting a weekly show on a West Palm Beach station. Since April 2000, I've been classical music critic at the Baltimore Sun. Over the years, I've written occasional articles for the New York Times, BBC Music Magazine and other publications, and I'm a longtime, regular contributor to Opera News and the U.K. magazine Opera. You may still be able to find on the remainder racks my one and only book, The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music (Perigee, 2002).

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