Essays

Maurice Ravel / Piano Concerto in G

Celebrating Shades of Blue's second birthday with a meditative, melancholy waltz that reveals depths of emotion below its radiant surface.

Jun 21 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Erich Korngold / Violin Concerto

Embedded within a gentle serenade lies one composer's story of displacement, loss, and longing for a home that exists only in memory.

May 10 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Gustav Mahler / Urlicht (Primal Light)

A comforting prayer of love and light that helped me transcend grief after losing a beloved canine companion.

Apr 26 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Philip Glass / String Quartet No. 4, "Buczak"

Grief gives way to hope and healing in a meditative impression of an artist struck down by AIDS.

Feb 22 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Revisiting a fabled "land of mists" that helped one young composer overcome a creative crisis

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Symphony No. 1, "Winter Daydreams"

Feb 8 •

Michael Cirigliano II

"An experience that transforms something inside us"

Beauty, possibility, and Beethoven in Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

Dec 21, 2024 •

Michael Cirigliano II

W. A. Mozart / Clarinet Concerto

A serenade of serenity I turn to whenever I want to connect with the instrument that helped me find my voice.

Nov 30, 2024 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Revisiting an intimate serenade written in the language of friendship

Franz Schubert / Piano Trio No. 1

Oct 26, 2024 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Frédéric Chopin / Mazurka in A Minor

A nostalgia-laced dance of defiance that transports us to a place of love and belonging where we ache to go again.

Sep 28, 2024 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Felix Mendelssohn / String Quartet No. 2

A hushed hymn of devotion from a young composer navigating his first journey through love and heartbreak.

Aug 3, 2024 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Henryk Górecki / Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

Celebrating Shades of Blue's first birthday with the work that inspired my exploration of melancholy classical music.

Jun 22, 2024 •

Michael Cirigliano II

Thomas Tallis / Spem in alium (Hope in Any Other)

A prayer of piety and hope reaches across the centuries to guide us to a more peaceful, loving future.

Jun 1, 2024 •

Michael Cirigliano II

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