(December 2018) I have completed episode 194 of my “opus project.” This edition: FELIX MENDELSSOHN. Solid and dependable, you really can’t go wrong with some Mendelssohn. Lacking the personal life drama of other composers, his music won’t adorn a biopic, but he wrote some very famous stuff (ever heard the wedding march?). This side of Mozart and Schubert, he was quite prolific for someone who died in his 30s.

Favorite piece: Symphony #5 in D major/minor

Favorite piano concerto: #2 in D minor

Favorite violin concerto: #2 in E minor

Favorite chamber piece: String Quartet #6 in F minor

Favorite song (without words): “Spring Song”

Compared to expectations: same

(November 2018) I have completed episode 191 of my “opus project.” This edition: SERGEI RACHMANINOFF. Wow, could this guy put a hurt on a piano. I wonder whether they have to euthanize the piano after Piano Concerto #3 is played. But don’t discount his orchestral and chamber work too. I think of him as the last Romantic composer, capping the long, famous line of Russians in this tradition.

Favorite piece: Piano Concerto #3

Favorite symphony: #2

Favorite solo piano : Piano Sonata #2

Favorite choral piece: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

Favorite song: Vocalise (wordless, with a melody that might have been taken by Paul Simon in Bridge Over Troubled Water)

Compared to expectations: same

(October 2018) I have completed episode 186 of my “opus project.” This edition: EDVARD GRIEG. In August we were in Bergen, Norway, hometown of Edvard Grieg, so I was delighted to start this episode there. Other than Peer Gynt, I was not so familiar with his work, but I was pleasantly surprised despite my relatively low interest in Romantic era classical music. Piano is his strong suit, and the array of arranged and original Norwegian songs shows how he helped inspire Norwegian patriotism (that led to independence in 1905).

Favorite piece: Peer Gynt

Favorite chamber piece: String Quartet in G minor

Compared to expectations: same