Our second offering for the "fifth wheel" guest occasional series from Joni. The Poiesis Quartet were the eventual winners of the ...

Completing the little foray into the works of Leoš Janáček, we have a short but very sweet piece, again with violin and piano. 

Continuing our mini-season of the works of Janáček, today's item is a duet that shows his inclination to experimentation with pre-exis...

This week's offering is a little more challenging to the ear, but still very lyrical. Listen for the instruments talking to each other, ...

Okay, I've decided that I will still use birthday months as a prompt, but pick one composer, then provide several different pieces to en...

The last of our birthday composers (for now, at least) is Alois Haba, born on the 21st of June, 1893, in Vizovice, Czech Republic. His is of...

Next off the line of June composers is Joseph Martin Kraus, born on the 20th of June, 1756, in Miltenberg, Germany. His style falls, then, i...

Another name that had previously escaped my notice (though I wonder how, because I've loved everything I've listened to in searching...

June! Crikey... this year has rocket boosters on. Anyway, this is the last of the birthday boys of lesser-known names in the world of music ...

The final birthday for this month belongs to Gyorgy Ligeti, born on the 28th of May, 1923, in Transylvania, Romania. This composer covered e...

Next off the musical ramp, we have Joachim Raff, born on the 27th of May, 1822, in Lachen, Switzerland. Very much of the Romantic style of c...

Now I bring you a composer who started out as a violinist, then went on to operatic singing, and is in that sphere that he is most known for...

May birthday boys... and yes, it's all male again. Sigh. We begin with one William Lawes, born on the 1st of May, 1602, in Salisbury, En...

The first of our "fifth wheel" choices, as provided by penfriend Joni. A quirky piece combining three unusual partner instruments:...

To complete the birthday set for the month, a composer whose works are certainly way off piste!  Luigi Russolo was born on the 30th of April...

Week three of the month brings us to Giacomo Carissimi, born on the 18th of April, 1605, in Marino, Italy. Composing in the early Baroque mo...

Our second birthday boy for this month is one Johann Friedrich Fasch, born on the 15th of April, 1688, in Buttelstedt, Germany. The musical ...

Well, I never, another birthday month. Mine as well as each of the composers chosen for the first four Wednesdays... remember that the month...

As stated at the start of the month, there were only three composers who fitted the 'lesser-known' intention of this series. Of the ...

Birthday boy no. 3 for the month is one Friedrich Julius Reubke , 23rd March, 1834, in Hausneindorf, Germany. Here is one of those composers...