Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24

May 26, 2022

Imagine writing a concerto that prompted Beethoven to remark to a friend: “we’ll never be able to write anything like that. Or a piece that prompted Brahms to call it: “a masterpiece of art, full of inspiration and ideas.” Or had scholars and musicologists raving, saying things like: "not only the most sublime...

The Life and Music of Florence Price

May 19, 2022

Today I’ve got a pretty special show for you. It’s set up in two parts, with the first part featuring an interview, and the second part will be a more typical Sticky Notes analysis of a specific piece. Why did I set up the show this way this week? Well, I had the opportunity a few months ago to work with...

Mahler Symphony No. 9, Part 4

May 12, 2022

Mahler once said this to Bruno Walter, his protege and great advocate of Mahler’s works: "What one makes music from is still the whole—that is the feeling, thinking, breathing, suffering, human being”

You could almost just stop there with the last movement of Mahler 9. This is music so full of feeling,...

Mahler Symphony No. 9, Part 3

May 5, 2022

It's easy to forget that Mahler, for all of his ubiquitous success nowadays, was much better known as a conductor during his life than as a composer. He had basically one major success in his compositional career: a performance of his 8th symphony in Munich in 1910 that finally seemed to give him the approval he craved...