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Lorin Maazel, who died at age 84 on Sunday, from complications of pneumonia, was a true Renaissance man of music: a child prodigy as a conductor and violinist, and later a composer as well.

Born in France in 1930 to American parents, he was raised in Los Angeles. His family was musical: one grandfather was a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Lorin’s father taught voice and piano, and Lorin’s mother started the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. A child prodigy blessed with perfect pitch, Lorin was playing violin at age five and piano at age seven, but was especially captivated by conducting. Studying with Vladimir Bakaleinikov, the associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Maazel made his conducing debut at age eight with the University of Idaho Orchestra and quickly moved on to more prestigious ensembles. When Bakaleinikov became assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra the same year, the Maazel family went with him.

Across the country, classical music festivals are filling the summer air with symphonies, but none can compete with the long-distance run of festivals -- Tanglewood -- which runs from the first day of summer all the way through the unofficial end of it, Labor Day weekend.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the festival held in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts is releasing a soundtrack, if you will, of its musical history, with releases from their archives from 1937 to 2009. We've teamed up with the people at Tanglewood to bring you a sampling of these pieces, whittled down to two minutes apiece. From Mozart's Symphony No. 25, performed in 1937, to Foss' nine-minute opera from three summers ago, some have the feel of an old record, while others a "thereness" unique to live classical performance. Listen carefully for the audience members' coughs, seat shiftings and throat clearings, especially when the sound drops...