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sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Sonata, She Wrote
@sonatashewrote.bsky.social
510 followers 500 following 630 posts
A defunct YouTube channel about music theory. Chess, Classical Music, LPs

These letters may appear random, but they apply to me: DMA, AuDHD, LGBTQ - Dan Wolfe - he/him

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCx9noPmwpRhDKtunBjpSYNQ
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sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I sacrificed, THE ROOOOOOOK! #chess is there any kind of chess BlueSky community? Thinking of doing a 100 days of chess type of thing
October 16, 2025 at 2:39 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
And he sacrifices THE ROOOOOOOOOOK
Chess game from chess.com with a rook sacrifice
August 22, 2025 at 7:04 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Don’t ask my elo but just know I’m way prouder of this checkmate than I should be
A chessboard from chess.com showing 2 knights giving checkmate
April 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Something that surprises me about having a 13 year old dog is that I have to tell him to slow down so he doesn’t get hurt. A truly bizarre combination of geriatric and toddler behavior
The dog in question, 13 year old Merlin, a lab-hound mix.
March 1, 2025 at 10:49 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. …To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known. — Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
January 23, 2025 at 3:39 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Listening to a 1978 recording of Histoire du Soldat conducted by stokowski, probably one of my all time favorite pieces and if you’re a bassoonist incredibly fun to play (and wickedly hard!). Loren Glickman is crushing it on this record-although I haven’t gotten to the ragtime yet…
Stravinsky Histoire du Soldat [A Soldier’s Tale] ensemble info in alt text of next picture, album art depicts the soldier playing his violin attended by his gf, while the devil sneaks up behind him Igor Stravinsky Speaking roles (In both French and English versions) MADELEINE MILHAUD, Narrator JEAN PIERRE AUMONT, the Soldier MARTIAL SINGHER, the Devil L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT (The Soldier's Tale) Libretto by C. F. Ramuz Instrumentalists Gerald Tarack, violin Julius Levine, double bass Charles Russo, clarinet Loren Glickman, bassoon Theodore Weis, trumpet John Swallow, trombone Raymond Desroches, percussion Conducted by LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
January 11, 2025 at 11:03 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Some more images from inside the included brochure, I’m definitely going to have to track down this exclusive binder to store all the included composer biographies in
Top text of pg 1-2: A collection of 24 Magnificent Stereo Albums Every Home Should Have Page 1 of an included advertisement for the library which includes the selection process and pictures of the 24 albums Bottom text from pg 1-2: 66 Musical Masterpieces Selected by Experts for your Family’s Enjoyment Page 2 of the ad for the family library, continued pictures of the included albums Back page of the advert, includes the image of a wonderfully stylish binder to house all the included biographies, free with your purchase of album 2!
December 10, 2024 at 9:18 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Have you always wanted to Capture the sounds of great music? Well now thanks to Funk and Wagnalls Family Library of Great Music, you can!
I love finding things like this, especially ones with all the parts but I hate how tempted I am to track down all 24! More details in the alt texts
Funk and Wagnalls Family Library of Great Music, album 1. Beethoven’s pathetique. Played by the RPO and conducted by Charles Grove. Reverse of the album. The collection is from 1966 originally, but this was printed and pressed in 1984, which explains the number of “the late…” on the advisory committee Cover of the included brochure for the library of 24 albums, bassoon prominently featured of course
December 10, 2024 at 9:13 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Listening to Sinfonia Domestica, a digital recording from 1984 but it was also 75 cents. Perfectly good as a placeholder til I can find a better recording of it.
The young Richard Strauss, after writing two symphonies, insisted that he did not believe in the form. He wrote tone-poems instead - and in several cases preferred not to call them by that name either. In 1894 he married Pauline de Ahna, a high-spirited, strong-willed operatic soprano. Their only child, Franz, was born in 1897. Strauss had progressively extended his symphonic poems from the concise Macbeth (1888) to the lengthy Ein Heldenleben (1898). All these symphonic poems were about some hero with whom the composer more or less consciously identified himself; they are masterly constructions for large symphony orchestra. In early 1902 he began work on a further tone-poem which would be expressly about his own home-life, Father, Mother and Son, invaded only for a moment by adoring relations. He finished composing this tone-poem in F major, which he entitled a "Domestic Symphony" ', in June 1903 while he, his wife, and their son were holidaying in the Isle of Wight. On his return to Berlin, where he was musical director of the Imperial Court Opera, he scored the work and completed it on New Year's Eve 1903. During a tour of America Strauss conducted the first performance at Carnegie Hall, New York, in March 1904. The introduction first exposes five themes describing Father: easy-going on cellos; dreamy on oboe, moody on clarinets, fiery on violins, and (after more moodiness), high-spirited on a trumpet; the easy-going theme returns for a moment. The second group is about Mother: loud on flutes, oboes and first violins (it is Papa's first theme upside down, to show that they are well-matched op-posites). The mother has a further variety of themes, forthright and clearly audible: she is supposed to be rough-tempered but full of feeling. One of her themes comes from a piano waltz by Tchaikovsky (a taunt against her husband's lack of originality). Father's first theme returns, even more affable than before, perhaps calming her tantrum.
December 6, 2024 at 6:31 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
#Spinning Mahler 2 conducted by Bruno Walter. I have Bernstein’s coming in the mail in a few days and wanted to refamiliarize myself with it. Great performance, and I hadn’t realized the liner notes were written by Walter, I’ve put some excerpts in the alt text as usual #vinyl
Album cover of Mahler’s second symphony “Resurrection,” conducted by Walter with the Mew York Phil. Photo by the Lick observatory, unfortunately the record doesn’t say what the photo is of Notes by BRUNO WALTER In 1888, Mahler had finished his First Symphony. In this audacious and vehement work, he had given deeply stirring musical expession to a heart-rending personal experience. With the conclusion of that symphony, the 28-year-old composer seems to have outgrown a self-centered urge to tell in his music of the jubilations and torments of his own youthful heart. Like Goethe in Werthers Leiden, he overcame a grave emotional crisis by expressing it in his art. The sufferings of mankind became the center of his inner life; an ever-growing consciousness of man's tragic destiny on earth dominated his soul. Such development was based, of course, on the moral foundation of Mahler's nature and so, after his first symphonic venture — or perhaps through it - Mahler had risen to a stage of maturity at which he could envision the sublimity of his Second Symphony. Within the limits of these introductory comments, I cannot enter into a professional analysis or a detailed discussion of a work of such exceptional scope. For my purpose, some general remarks must suffice. Mahler's work is not a religious message in symphonic language; it is a symphony, conveying a religious message; it is primarily a musician's, not a prophet's expression. The composer, whose creative mind abounded with musical ideas, derived from them a musical language in symphonic form and expressed by this medium the emotions of his heart. He was at home in the world of music and he would have denied indignantly having other intentions than musical ones; he never wrote a "sym-phonic poem" of programmatic contents like Richard Strauss' Don Juan or Death and Transfiguration. Certainly his soul was moved by an abundance of visions, thoughts, emotions, impressions—and it could not fail that those inner experiences influenced the music he wrote. But the highest rule in his creative work remained the symphonic form. So I suggest the listener approach the three first movements just as what they are and are intended to be: symphonic music. In contrast to them, the fourth and fifth movements reveal their lofty spiritual meaning in words. Urlicht tells us of the author's heart in the following verses
December 5, 2024 at 6:31 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Brahms Clarinet Quintet and reedmaking this afternoon, recorded in 1985. Amazing playing and a pretty good sound on this one, pressed after Nonesuch went ✨digital✨ #spinning #vinyl
Nonesuch LP of Brahms clarinet quintet and a Mozart fragment. Excerpt of liner notes by Robert D. Levin: Most of the great composers of instrumental music have been accomplished keyboard players- Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms come immediately to mind. Their chamber music is primarily scored for strings, with and without piano: the string quartet represented the epitome of chamber music from Haydn's time to Bartók's. The domination of string chamber music over that with winds can be statistically confirmed by perusing a list of chamber works by any of the composers just mentioned. Given the existence of orchestras, string players were necessarily more numerous than wind players, and the market for string music-quartets, chamber music with piano, and sonatas for keyboard and violin— has always been far larger than that for works with winds. We owe the existence of chamber works featuring individual wind instruments to chance encounters between master composers and contemporary wind virtuosos. Nowhere is this clearer than in the artistic collaborations commemorated on the present recording, between Brahms and Richard Mühlfeld, and between Mozart and Anton Stadler.
December 2, 2024 at 4:54 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I don’t want to be to dramatic but if you don’t like this album then you don’t like me.

Cooking another meal for some friends and myself so I have leftovers today
Supertramp’s breakfast in America
December 1, 2024 at 9:18 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Spinning this speakers corner reissue of a MLP record. I think sometimes in classical recordings certain LPs catch fire for the sound quality, but that alone won’t carry a performance and I’m not sure it does in this case. Does have an amazing sound to it though. the Brahms Trio is an amazing work
Speakers corner reissue of a Mercury Living Presence Stereo LP. Recording of Brahms’ Horn Trio and second sonata for Vln/Pno. Pictured is a young forest in early fall, photo by Bradley Smith NOTES ABOUT THIS RECORDING Imagine a magnificent ballroom, decorated in gold and purest white, lit by the gleaming brilliance of many chande-square columns Alone end app reminatele aloe, sutes raised , and above it is a tiny balcony gracefully designed in wrought iron. At the other end, one would expect to find a Cutmate balon, out en actual pel, less dace with a coole un-Rococo, clinically efficient control room, housing all sorts of the newest and most twentieth-century recording equip-ment. The ballroom is a ballroom no longer; it has become the chief studio of the Fine Recording Company, as glamorous or more than it ever was, but in a somewhat different way. The Great Northern Motel has been known ever since it was built as a convenient and comfortable place for musicians, its proximity to Carnegie Hall being one of its principal attrac- the building, not long ago took over the ballroom as a recording studio. Many tests showed it to be amazingly and beautifully resonant; what is more, its acoustical properties are as flattering to two or three chamber musicians as they are to an ensemble of fifty players. The sound of the music is embellished with warmth, and at the same time clarity of line and texture is maintained For these sessions, the piano was placed about a third of the way along the length of the ballroom, in the center; Mr Szigeti stood somewhat to the left of the keyboard so that he cculd catch the eye of Mr. Barrows, who sat a little way out from the crook in the piano, and Mr. Horszowski. Neither the positions of the artists nor those of the microphones were altered throughout the course of the recording. Wilma Cozart was director of the session; Harold Lawrence was musical supervisor; and C. R. Fine was recording engineer and technical supervisor. George Piros made the subsequent tape-to-disc transfer. Mercury Stereo label
November 30, 2024 at 9:37 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Spinning Alpensinfonie today, been on kind of a Strauss kick lately. The beginning of this was pretty out of tune but smooth sailing since then. It’s a famously hard opening for bassoonists I’m sure it’s not easy for anyone, excerpts of liner notes in the alt text if you’re curious #vinyl #classical
Alpine symphony, the LA Phil conducted by Mehta, pictured is a portion of Carl Gustav Carus’ painting of the Mont Blanc Group in the alps, 1821-24. The album is a reissue of a 1976 performance Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony, opus 64 Completed in 1915, An Alpine Symphony was the last of Strauss' orchestral tone poems and like its predecessors it must be viewed from more than one level. It is richly descriptive - using an exceptional array of instruments to depict a wide range of natural phenomena - yet it is also profoundly human, setting personal endeavour in a universal environment. In its twenty-two closely-welded sections the symphony embraces every aspect of the ascent and descent of an Alpine peak. At first the mountain is silent at Night. A descending scale evolves from a unison B flat, with every note sustained. Out of this mass of tone rises a theme - symbolizing the mountain itself - which is to unity the entire work. From swirling eddies of sound the Sunrise appears in its glory and Strauss cleverly adapts his Night music to produce a transformation of electrifying impact. The Ascent begins, signified by a martial motive, and as excitement mounts the ecstasy of the climbers is summarised in a brassy fanfare while hunting horns sound in the distance. So we come to the Entry into the wood, with the climbers forcing their way through thickets to the accompaniment of rustling foliage and birdsong. Wandering by the brook takes our mountaineers to ever more enthralling scenery, culminating spectacularly At a Waterfall. Strauss even finds a way of conjuring the Apparition of an Alpine Spirit, said by tradition to appear in the rainbow spray as it falls on the rocks. But the scene changes yet again as we emerge in Flowering Meadows, with blossoms depicted by lovely touches on harp, pizzicato strings and woodwind. So to the Alm - high pastures used by herdsmen in summer. Here cowbells decorate the score and an earlier bird-song motive is altered slightly to evoke a yodel. The ascent continues Lost in thicket and undergrowth, with ingenious variations of the marching theme, but eventually the party finds itself On the glacier, with the mountain motiv… London Jubilee label, made in holland
November 22, 2024 at 4:38 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
I have a stack of albums that I’ve yet to listen to and jot down some notes about, and today I pulled this baddy out of them! A DGG tulip that I had no idea was in there. Seems to be the 1966 reissue of the original 59 recording, sounds amazing and the #vinyl is easily NM. Got lucky with this one!
DGG lp album of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life). The album art is a close up of a knight in armor with a lance and feathers decorating the helmet. Karajan conducting the Berlin Phil, original from 1959, this is a reissue from 1966 Excerpt: EIN HELDENLEBEN, Op. 40 Richard Strauss' symphonic poem Ein Helden-leben, Op. 40, was written in 1898, the year when the composer moved from Munich to Berlin to share with Karl Muck the musical direction of the Hooper (court opera). His new position demanded, among other personal qualities, self-assertiveness and the ability to discipline others. Strauss possessed both throughout his life, and at no time were they more accentuated than at the time in question. Ein Heldenleben is his most self-revealing com-position. Strauss paints in this, his "Eroica" not so much a portrait of universal human idealism, but rather a detailed and prominently embellished piece of autobiography. To understand such self-glorification the period of the work has to be considered as well. It was written at the turn of the century, the time of imperial greatness and wild abandonment, which left its inevitable traces in art and literature. Even so, the composition is clearly constructed and contains plastic themes as well as a vivid imagination which still appeals to the listener of the present day.
November 21, 2024 at 4:08 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Spinning Rachmaninoff’s 1st symphony this morning, Ormandy/philly on a Columbia 2 eye. It’s in really great shape. Not my favorite Rach symphony but it’s fun, and not too long for a single LP like 2 is, only about 20-22 minutes per side. #vinyl #classical
LP of Rach 1 with Ormandy/Philly Orchestra. Pictured are decorative Russian eggs on a red velvet cloth Liner notes, nothing unusual, a little bio, a little gossip, not much about the actual music at hand Columbia 2 eye label, stereo “360 SOUND”
November 20, 2024 at 3:10 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
This statue of Bach from Baldwin Wallace is serving
A bust of JS Bach painted bright pink
November 18, 2024 at 2:43 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
If anyone needs cane or bassoon reeds and lives near Berea or Cleveland, I’m set up in the Lobby of Kulas Musical Arts Building at Baldwin Wallace University, stop by!
My booth at BWU, clip and play oboe and bassoon reeds
November 17, 2024 at 5:04 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Hello new followers! I swear this image isn’t about you, this is about those other followers that I have no idea who they are. Not you though. You’re one of the good ones, I can tell.
Who is this!? LEAVE ME ALONE DAMMIT gif on unknown origin. Unknown to me, I’m sure someone knows.
November 16, 2024 at 11:21 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Afternoon walk before the sun goes down, Ohio and I are not on good terms but I always love the Cuyahoga Valley NP
November 11, 2024 at 8:06 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Listening to Liszt’s Faust Symphony, I see I have a bunch of new followers, I must be on a list somewhere, but in a good way. Happy Sunday everyone #liszt
LP of Liszt’s Faust Symphony. Conlon conducting the Rotterdam Phil on the Erato label
October 20, 2024 at 2:58 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Trading in my extremely entry level squier classical guitar (yes it’s a thing, lol) for an extremely entry level 7 course lute. I’ve gone through 2 G strings already but the third seems to be bearing up under the strain, finally. Practicing Packington’s Pound at the moment. #lute
A squier classical guitar next to a 7c Thomann lute. No complaints about the lute so far but it’s obviously not as good as a luthier made instrument.
October 19, 2024 at 5:50 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Is anyone familiar with French #lute tab? I’m wondering what the double bars at the end of every line in this piece might mean, I’ve been interpreting them as just a breath mark or something There’s nothing in the book at large (Diana Poulton’s tutor) that explains them. Probably just phrase marks?
The first 3 lines of Packington’s Pound in French lute tab
September 27, 2024 at 1:02 AM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
#nowspinning Liszt’s b minor piano sonata, one of my favorites, although not necessarily this recording. Seems to be a dynagroove casualty, still glad it’s an Indianapolis pressing. The Wanderer fantasy has a slightly better sound to it.
LSC-2871 STEREO ARTUR RUBINSTEIN Liszt: Sonata in B Minor / Schubert: "Wanderer" Fantasy Two romantic masterpreces in their first recording by Rubinstein the cover features a depiction of Schubert and an early photograph of middle aged Liszt. Along with cover pages to both pieces. The LP label, stereo dynagroove
June 23, 2024 at 4:14 PM
sonatashewrote.bsky.social
Aurora Borealis in Cleveland. Seems to be a big year for staring at the sky and waiting for something to happen
May 11, 2024 at 3:47 AM