Kairoff at the Keyboard

Claude Debussy's music continues to be described as "impressionistic", even though the composer himself hated the term. Debussy just wanted to be known as a French composer.

These days, if you have a tough time falling asleep, you might grab yourself a melatonin, turn in early and hope for the best.

Peter sings without singing with a little help from Felix Mendelssohn. His Songs Without Words was conceived as a song with a singer, yet it has no words.

The Romantic Era in music--basically the 19th century--was much more deeply influenced and inspired by literature than love.

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers in all of music history, but what exactly made him so great?

Composer Béla Bartók was the father of ethnomusicology, scouring the villages of Eastern Europe for folk songs.

In this episode, Peter demonstrates what makes Beethoven such a giant in the world of classical music.

Peter pays tribute to wonderful late 19th century American composers, some of whom were once considered among the best in the world.

Brahms was composing in the late 19th century, but he worshipped music of the past. In this episode, Peter shows us how Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven all find their way into Brahms' music.

In this episode, Peter shows how less is more when it comes to the writing style of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.

The word 'sonata' simply means 'sounded', but when it comes to the classical period in music, there's a lot more to it than that.

In this episode, Peter explores Robert Schumann's nostalgic Scenes of Childhood. The set of thirteen pieces paints different pictures of the composer's idealized childhood.