Best Posts of the Year, part 2

This is a transparent attempt to trick you into reading some old posts, of course. But there were some good ones this year that I wouldn't want you to miss! So here they are, from the second half of the year.

July:

• Here is a piece on the traditional ways of generating musical direction: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/07/dissonance-and-sequence.html
• And one on the economics of a career in classical music: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/07/classical-careers-and-economic-pressures.html
• One on the currents of modernism in the 20th century: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/07/two-faces-of-non-modernism.html
• Finally a review of some recordings of the Goldberg Variations: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/07/retro-record-review-5-bach-goldberg.html

August:

• A post that describes and critiques the current strategies to make classical music "relevant" that are instead likely to make it vanish entirely: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/08/idola-theatri.html
• This is the first of a series of posts on the French composer Olivier Messiaen: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-music-of-olivier-messiaen-part-1.html
• Here is a post with a piece I wrote for violin and guitar titled "Cloudscape": http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/08/cloudscape.html

September:

• A post on the astonishing finale to Act II of the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/09/mozart-marriage-of-figaro-act-ii-finale.html
• A  brief social history of music: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-brief-social-history-of-music.html
• Showing how there is lots of music by Beethoven that just sheer cheerful joy: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/09/beethovens-cheeriest-piano-sonata.html

October:

• A post on some of the nuts and bolts of recording music: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/10/on-recording.html
• On the concept of program music as it might apply to Messiaen: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/10/messiaen-and-program-music.html
• I began a series of posts on Schubert songs with this one: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/10/schubert-and-invention-of-song-cycle.html Have a look at the other ones as well, especially on Winterreise.

November:

• One of the songs from my newly-recorded cycle, Songs from the Poets: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/11/songs-from-poets-nuits-de-juin.html
• Standing in for a number of posts on popular music here is one on the Mystery of Adele: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-mystery-of-adele.html
• A post on a newly-discovered (by me) composer, Henri Dutilleux: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-case-of-henri-dutilleux.html

December:

• Another post on Dutilleux, about his string quartet: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/12/dutilleux-ainsi-la-nuit.html
• And finally, a post on Mr. Handel: http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-case-of-mr-handel.html

And there you have it: a collection of some of my favourite posts of the year, some of which you may have missed. Enjoy! And to end with a musical envoi, here are the Goldberg Variations by J. S. Bach in a recording by Glenn Gould made in 1955: