Sunday 22 February 2026
from “Peer Gynt” by Edvard Grieg
Anitra’s Dance is part of the music to Henrik Ibsen’s drama Peer Gynt – one of the most ambitious, but also one of the most troublesome tasks that Grieg ever undertook. The composer wrote: “You don't believe, do you, that I had any choice in the matter? I was asked by Ibsen in spring, and of course I rebelled at the thought of setting this most unmusical of all subjects to music. It all hangs over me like a nightmare”. Nevertheless, the result was a triumph.
The fourth act is set on the north coast of Africa, where Peer Gynt meets a Bedouin chief in the heat of the desert. He falls for the chief's daughter, Anitra, who dances enticingly for him.
Saturday 21 February 2026
Traditional Irish jig
The earliest appearance of this jig is found in John Thomas's manuscript collection (Wales, 1752). It was subsequently included in the 1770 manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers, and in the 19th-century Alex Sutherland manuscript of County Leitrim, Ireland.
Friday 20 February 2026
from “Thirty Easy and Progressive Studies”
Today we propose étude No. 25 from Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Gariboldi's collection of 30 Etudes faciles et progressives.
Thursday 19 February 2026
from Sonata for Two Flutes No. 1
This ternary-form “Affettuoso e poco vivace” (affectionate and a bit lively) in D major constitutes the second movement of Jean-Baptiste Loeillet's Six sonatas of two parts, made on purpose for two German flutes, composed in 1720.
Wednesday 18 February 2026
Flute concerto in F major by Antonio Vivaldi
Vivaldi's first concerto for Flute is actually an adaptation of the Concerto in E-flat major for violin, strings and basso continuo, RV 253. Called in both cases “La tempesta di mare” (“The Sea Storm”), the work starts with an Allegro which presents a characteristic repeated-note theme. The opening closes on a big half cadence, and moves into the quiet central Largo, with the flute soloist becalmed in the eye of the storm. A powerful theme is then introduced in the final Presto, which closes the work.
Thanks to Andrew for suggesting this piece!
Tuesday 17 February 2026
Traditional Irish jig
This jig appears, with directions for a country dance, in Morris/Maurice Hime's Forty Eight Original Irish Dances never Before Printed with Basses for the Piano-Forte, published in Dublin in 1804.
Westmeath is the name of a county in central Ireland, now part of the Eastern and Midland Region.
Monday 16 February 2026
from “30 Caprices for Flute Solo”
This 10/8-time étude is the seventh piece from Sigfried Karg-Elert's 30 Caprices: a “Gradus ad Parnassum” of the modern technique for flute solo.
