By Katie Farthing
For Valentine’s Day, and just for us, Virginia Public Media’s classical music host Mike Goldberg (also a CBS6 weatherman) named his top tunes for romance. It was a tall order, but Mike graciously obliged and gave us a wealth of options to share with our readers. Queue them up on your playlist and dance the night away with that special someone—or simply savor their brilliance curled up with whatever makes you happy.
“Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet”
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
One of the most well-known and beautiful melodies from a classic!
“Symphony No. 2 (3rd movement)”
Sergei Rachmaninoff
An exquisite, lyrical movement with rich melodies that create a very warm, blissful feeling. Just close your eyes and listen!
“Piano Concerto No. 2 (2nd movement)”
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Another emotional and passionate work by the great Romantic composer. It was featured in the 1945 film Brief Encounter.
“Salut d’amour, Opus 12” • Edward Elgar
“Salut d’amour” was created from a poem written by Alice, Elgar’s wife. He put the poem to music and presented it to her as an engagement present.
“Adoration” • Florence Price
A very simple and beautiful short work by a composer not everyone is familiar with. Price was the first Black female composer to gain national status and the first to have a symphonic work performed by a major national symphony orchestra.
