#161 The Smell of Provocation

Sunny, excited, sexy piece of music. It's a call for play, for acting out. Smile and dance!

Kunzel's reading is an unsurprising classics. Playful and intensive even in the middle calm passage.

Composer: George Gershwin
Work: Cuban Overture
Recording: Cincinnati Pop Orchestra, Erich Kunzel

#141 The Smell of Bigger Than Life

It's a mix of pride and emotion with several moments that get you very high (2'33'' or 4'22''). The beginning is so sweet, a preparation for a shot of pathos. And the finale, oh my, what an orchestration!

Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra were already introduced here, mostly in Schumann. Their Brahms is big, too. Lovely tempo, very consistent, solid sound. Faithful.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Academic Festival Overture
Recording: Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell

#106 The Smell of Sunrise

This piece is charged with positive energy. Everything goes up, everything grows and shines. Truly a magical world. Moreover, it's wonderfully recorded, so you can really follow different musical flows and be astonished how they intertwist and merge together.

This recording is from 1972 but there's still a touch of young Bernstein: swift tempos, fire, spontaneity. Is it even possible that strings can smile like that?

Composer: Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: Nutcracker Suite, 1. Miniature Overture
Recording: New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein

#97 The Smell of Constraint

Here's the original overture to Jenůfa, discarded before its premiere. It's not a happy piece of music, all the menacing fanfares and nervous changes...

Mackerras is the Janáček's conductor, and despite the overture name, he's able to keep it soft, somehow lyrical, with bad ass prickles and thorns.

Composer: Leoš Janáček
Work: Jealousy
Recording: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Mackerras

#72 The Smell of Class

This is classy composition and classy 1960 recording. There's drive and dignity and thrill and sadness and victory. The stress of first chords is literal, the intensity does not drop.

Munch goes for clarity, it's a very classical approach, no fruitless romantism. BSO keeps beautiful, balanced sound.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Prometheus Overture
Recording: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch

#69 The Smell of Dignity

Recordings of Dvořák's Carnival Overture are typically jolly and cheered up. This one is different. It coheres to structure, it keeps its reputation. No place for drunk festivity.

Szell is concentrated, entries are explosive, everything works, brasswinds climp up–and yet, no smile in the music. As if it's not a carnival at all. Why so serious?

Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Work: Carnival Overture
Recording: The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell

#55 The Smell of River

This river is a wide, slow river. It flows in a relaxing manner and if there's an excitement (1'31''), it's a controlled one. Drift along, it's an amazing journey.

Jansons is able to stretch the orchestra out and keep the motion pulsing. Slow, natural, it's not sentimental in strings, yet wonderfully emotional in brasswinds.

Composer: Richard Wagner
Work: The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, Prelude to Act I
Recording: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons

#52 The Smell of Shaggy Garden

You're walking in a garden, it's late afternoon, the shadows are long. The garden is deprived, sometimes it's hard to find a path to walk on. Yet you can manage to go on, and in a while you're not really sure: am I really walking here or is it a dream? Weird trees are always in your way, you can see an alcove in a distance but you can never reach it.

Kempe's recording underlines the mystery of the garden, walking the line between real and unreal, balancing thirst and fear. The final chords are affirmative but not really telling what the truth is.

Composer: Johannes Brahms
Work: Tragic Overture
Recording: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe

#48 The Smell of Montreux

Some smells are very personal, and this is one of them. It's from summer 1999 when I heard Manfred for the first time. John Eliot Gardiner was à la tête and the Swiss city of Montreux shined till late night.

Szell's account is not so ferocious but goes in big romantic waves and has wonderful old school sound of fifties.

Composer: Robert Schumann
Work: Manfred Overture
Recording: The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell

#43 The Smell of Gunpowder

The cellos in the beginning are articulate, wild. You can hardly find such a sound in new recordings (this one is from 1958). You are expecting something to come and you're not failed–the omnivorous pressure explodes at 1'53''. And it all continues, combining different moods together, like that military march together with a romantic line at 3'40''. Marseillaise and God Preserve the Czar!

And here comes the original scoring: symphony orchestra augmented by brass band, church bells (74 bells of Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon), and cannon (Napoleon's bronze cannon "Le Constant" from 1775). Inspiring music for this sunny Saturday.

Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Work: 1812 Festival Overture
Recording: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, University of Minnesota Brass Band, Antal Dorati

#17 The Smell of Firmness

This is a very special recording of Coriolan. Smell the force of bows in the first chord, it defines the landscape. Here I am, here I stand, live or dead.

Depending on your mood, you can sense Coriolan music as either fragmentary or concentrated. It's nervous, pushing forward. And then (after 6 minutes), the heroic theme breaks in the middle. The finale brings nothing but emptiness with no salvation.

Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Work: Coriolan Overture
Recording: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner