Dmitri Shostakovich

Today we are celebrating the birth anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich, born 1906.  His life is one of the most well-known and historically iconic in all of classical music.  The creative life of people in Soviet Russia was surely traumatic and that is heard throughout the defiant and at times tortured music of this composer.  The "DSCH" musical motif is incorporated into many of his most famous pieces as a kind of musical signature.

Here's a great performance of the Symphony No. 5.  It is an emotional, epic piece which has an often quoted history of its own. 

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Schoenberg - Verklarte Nacht

Today we are celebrating the birthday anniversary of Schoenberg, most notably known as the inventor of 12-tone music, was also a composer of lush post-romantic works before his transition to modernism.   This work, Verklarte Nacht, was inspired by a Dehmel poem which is well worth the time to read and study as it captures something of expressionism in this form.  I've attempted to approximate the scene set at the outset of the poem.

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Mozart - Hunt Quartet

September 1st is the anniversary of the Six String Quartets dedicated to Haydn by Mozart in 1785.   Here's a poster design for this great masterpiece of chamber music.  Also, as a fan of historically informed performances, enjoy this great performance by Quatuor Mosaiques

Image sources: Wikipedia & Fine Art America

The Firebird

The music of Stravinsky offers great inspiration for creating images as is works tend to be colorful and exotically expressive; The Firebird, along with The Rite of Spring, were both ballet scores which means there's an intended visual element to accompany the music.
Currently available at Prelude Posters

See this set on Polyvore

Here's Gergiev conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.