Enigma Variations: Music with secret and cryptic messages
This playlist, named after Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, presents works characterised by hidden messages or secret ideas. Whether it is Alban Berg retelling the story of an affair, Robert Schumann paying homage to his “distant beloved” or Dmitri Shostakovich capturing Stalin’s brutality in sound, it is instrumental music that in each case allows the composer to express and hide secrets at the same time.
Our recommendations
- Tema con variazioni: Music with alterations
- The instrument in the centre: The viola in solo and orchestral works
- Johannes Brahms I: Symphonies, Concertos, Deutsches Requiem
- Grand Opera with the Berliner Philharmoniker
- Our concertmaster’s perspective: Noah Bendix-Balgley’s favourites
- Our viola player’s perspective: Amihai Grosz’s favourites