Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

My Top 25 Favorite Moments in Classical Music (Part 1)

Apr 27, 2023

What MAKES a moment in a piece of classical music? Sometimes it’s the result of careful pacing from a composer, the slow build to a powerful release. Sometimes it’s about surprise, a sudden explosion, or even a sudden extinguishing of sound. Sometimes it’s about a harmonic transition, where the music lifts off the...

Mendelssohn Octet in E Flat Major, Op. 20

Apr 20, 2023

From 1825-1827, Mendelssohn wrote 3 of his most beloved and most played works: his Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, his String Quartet, Op. 13, and the piece were going to talk about today, his Octet. What is truly astonishing about these three pieces is that they were all written before Mendelssohn turned 18 years...

Mahler Symphony No. 5, Part 2

Apr 13, 2023

I left you last week after Part 1 of Mahler’s 5th symphony, dazed and defeated. There seems to be no hope, and no way out. But as many of you know by now, Mahler reaches for the entire emotional spectrum in his music, and what Mahler builds out of the ashes of the first two movements is a complicated, difficult, and...

Mahler Symphony No. 5, Part 1

Apr 6, 2023

There is a thread of musical theory called Schenkerian analysis, based on the work of Heinrich Schenker. Schenker believed that musical works could be boiled down to their fundamental structures and harmonies. Entire works could be described with single chords. If Schenker had applied his analysis to Mahler’s 5th...