I continue this series with a third favorite piece—The Planets by Gustav Holst. I had so many favorite moments, that I need to do this in two separate blogs! Here’s the first one…

Continuing my odyssey of music I adored as a teenager, Sheherazade was one of the first pieces that really hooked. me. it opened my imagination to the sonic possibilities of the orchestra and the potential of a journey through music, more powerful than words or images.

I recently have started sharing with my youth orchestra the music that set me on fire when I was their age. Perhaps it might open new worlds for others as well…

Watch a short video and see pictures from the Russell Steinberg Catalog Release Party and Concert June 14, 2025

Welcome to the public release of my new website—a comprehensive music catalog of nearly 100 original works.

My list of fine classical music films is short. This recent short documentary on NY Philharmonic bassist Oren O’Brien definitely earns a place on it.

Contrasting two very different musical depictions of nature–Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Why we need more of Beethoven’s!

In our classical music world, the movie Tár has generated powerful conversations. I watched it and was struck by similarities with Whiplash, another controversial film about musical genius run amok. I welcome your comments to this blog. I realize the topics I discuss are sensitive. Whether you agree or disagree with my ideas, I’m very interested to get your take on these two films!

Three fun facts and a piano sonata comparison of virtuoso Johann Nepomuk Hummel, who was a famous contemporary of Beethoven’s.

The tragic prelude to Act III instantly plunges us into the dark realm towards obvlivion. The Tristan Progression is now funereal, an F minor plagal progression sounding impossibly deep in the strings. T This is what Richard Strauss imitated in Death and Transfiguration. This opening of deep gloom is the place Tchaikovsky went to for his Symphony Pathetique. Mahler as well hearkened to this Act III Tristan opening in his own sublime masterpiece, The Farewell, from Das Lied von der Erde. It is also music Wagner himself composed earlier in his song Im Treibhaus (In the Greenhouse) from his Wesendock Lieder, a song that imagines the drooping tall plants in sorrow of mortality.

The music of Act II in Tristan und Isolde is an achievement without parallel. The continuous love duets themselves comprise nearly 200 pages of score! In a single night, we witness an entire life-love relationship unfold as it works out deep emotional conflicts, contemplates the quest for transcendence beyond the contradictions of our existence, and arrives at a supreme state of bliss.

A discussion of how the Tristan progression and its variants in the opening Prelude relate to specific dramatic elements in Act 1 of Tristan und Isolde.

Deeper into the Tristan chord progression that serves as the emotional fuel for the entire opera…

The heart of Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde is a progression of four chords that both continually vary and continually avoid resolution.

I’ve been mulling over ideas about a culture locked in its nostalgia of the past expounded in Evil Geniuses by Kurt Anderson. I invite your responses and comments.

Looking at Mozart’s piano concertos for the first session of The Piano Concerto series was such a delight. I want to share one tidbit I talked about in his sublime Piano Concerto in A Major K.488: how you can hear all Mozart’s genius in just one theme!

How my Classical Consortium Can Change Your Life. I explain the experiences you get with the four tiers offered for Russell’s Classical Consortium on Patreon.

Part 7—the conclusion of my journey towards building a Classical Consortium of music lovers to deepen their listening skills and build meaning friendships together.

Part 6 detailing events on a path that integrated my creative and educational to create an amazing community of classical music listeners and musicians.

Pre-Concert Talks and Creating Community—I discover that teaching audiences to hear music has remarkable unintended consequences! Part 5 in a series that explains events that led to the creation of my Classical Consortium.