Memorial Day Weekend 2018: Hear Your Favorite Pieces By The Greatest Composers

Photo collage: CPR/Brad Turner

Essential Classics Weekend returns this Memorial Day on CPR Classical!

Listen all weekend starting at 3 p.m. Friday for the most enduring pieces by some of history's greatest composers. We'll play music from giants like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.  We'll also feature favorites from living composers like Philip Glass, Mason Bates and Caroline Shaw. 

For more weekend listening options, try one of our podcasts: explore Beethoven's story and symphonies in The Beethoven 9@9, learn about the life of Mozart in the The Great Composers. And check out the Season 2 premiere of Centennial Sounds, featuring Colorado performances of music by 21st-century composers.

Friday highlights:

• Copland: Rodeo
• Bach: Violin Concerto in A minor
• Beethoven: Violin Concerto

Saturday highlights: 

• Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream Overture
• Mozart: Clarinet Quintet
• Elgar: Cello Concerto
• Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor"
• Brahms: Symphony No. 3
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 7

Sunday highlights:

• Mozart: Ave verum corpus
• Palestrina: Pope Marcellus Mass 
• Lauridsen: O magnum mysterium
• J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations
• Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks
• Vivaldi: Four Seasons: Spring
• Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
• Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"

Monday highlights include:

• Beethoven: Fidelio Overture
• Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
• Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
• Mozart: Requiem
• Schubert: Symphony No. 5
• Tchaikovsky: "1812" Overture
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral"