We had so many possibilities for last week’s three-minute mixtape, we had to cut some of the best entries. Hence this week’s playlist, which is a compilation of some of classical music’s most famous dance tunes, all under three minutes (with one minor exception). We promise to stop short here ... but not for lack of three-minute classics.
- “Alla Hornpipe”, from Water Music Suite No. 2 in D Major (Handel), Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Gerard Schwartz
- Tarantella from Pulcinella Suite (Stravinsky) New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein
Stravinsky took the main tunes for this ballet score from Giovanni Pergolesi, an 18th-century composer. He does a lot of fun and unusual things to the rhythms and harmonies, though. - Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin) Scott Joplin
We actually have piano rolls, which were punched for player pianos, from Scott Joplin himself. The composer/pianist died just before recordings of famous rag and stride piano players began to be made. This recording is thus an interpretation, with the tempo set by the operator of the player piano. There are other recordings of this rag that are under three minutes, but Joplin’s own style is worth breaking the rule by a few seconds. - “Ruthenian Dance”, from Petite Suite (Bela Bartok), Jeno Jando, piano
Bela Bartók was a music teacher, among other things, and a couple of his famous compositions (Mikrokosmos, for example) are graded teaching methods. 44 Duos for Violins is another of those, and Bartók arranged six of the duos for piano in this Suite. - “Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor” (Brahms) London Festival Orchestra, Alfred Scholz)
When Brahms was just starting out, he played a two-month tour with a Hungarian violinist friend. Throughout his composing life, he had a love for the “Hungarian style,” which classical composers derived from Romani folk music, among other things. The Hungarian Dances were originally for piano, and sold so well in publication, that they were arranged many times, including this version for orchestra, by Brahms himself. - Furiant from The Bartered Bride (Bedrich Smetana) The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell
This is a Bohemian dance (that is, from Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic). - “German Dance No. 1 in D Major” (from German Dances, D. 790) (Schubert) Alfred Brendel, piano
Schubert made most of his money by composing for the home market. These delightful but not-too-difficult German dances are examples of that. - Badinerie, from Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor (J.S. Bach) Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner
- “Cantina”, from Star Wars soundtrack (John Williams) the Cantina Band
What would it sound like if aliens found classic jazz recordings under a rock someplace and tried to interpret them? - Finale from Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saëns) Gaby Casadesus, Philippe Entremont, pianos; Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy