HuffPost Culture is spotlighting a few new songs from the Tanglewood archives each week. Check back for the latest additions.
Across the country, classical music festivals are filling the summer air with symphonies, but none can compete with the long-distance run of festivals -- Tanglewood -- which runs from the first day of summer all the way through the unofficial end of it, Labor Day weekend.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the festival held in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts is releasing a soundtrack, if you will, of its musical history, with releases from their archives from 1937 to 2009. We've teamed up with the people at Tanglewood to bring you a sampling of these pieces, whittled down to two minutes apiece. From Mozart's Symphony No. 25, performed in 1937, to Foss' nine-minute opera from three summers ago, some have the feel of an old record, while others a "thereness" unique to live classical performance. Listen carefully for the audience members' coughs, seat shiftings and throat clearings, especially when the sound drops -- it's a great bit of history that's all the more vivid for it.
LISTEN to the selections in chronological order, and head over to Tanglewood's website to hear today's free stream, and purchase the songs in full:
Mozart: Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 173dB[183] - 1. Allegro con brio (August 5, 1937 and 1944)
Bach: Suite No. 2 in B minor for Orchestra, BWV 1067 (July 8, 1955 and July 5, 1957)
Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from "Tristan and Isolde" (July 2, 1956 and August 1, 1958)
Brahms: Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52 (August 3, 1965)
Verdi, 'Otello,' Act 1 (July 26, 1969)
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (July 4, 1981)
Harbison: Symphony No. 1-2. Allegro Sfumato (July 19, 1984)
Brahms: Trio in A minor for clarinet, cello and piano, Op. 114 - 1. Allegro (August 2, 1990)
Stravinsky: "Histoire du Soldat" (The Soldier's Tale) - Part 1 (July 25, 2006)
Foss: Introductions and Goodbyes: A 9-Minute Opera (July 20, 2009)
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