On Oct. 14-16, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Fairfield, Orchestra Iowa will perform my favorite symphony: No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, "Pathétique," by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The "Pathétique" is one ...

The titles of these sonatas summon up a stormy, blood-and-thunder vision of Beethoven. That isn’t Ingrid Fliter’s way. Her approach is grandly spacious, and full of the subtle pedal effects you ...

This Sonata represents one of the few cases in which the popular title came from the composer himself - its full name is 'Grande sonate pathétique' (pathetic in the sense of 'suffering', rather than ...