November, 2015

39 Posts
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Jean Sibelius: Finlandia
Music can be an all-consuming passion that serves as a daily spiritual and physical exercise. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) certainly thought that way, as “music grasped me with a power that rapidly relegated all my other interests to the background.” Initially,
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Jean Sibelius
“Music begins where the possibilities of language end” For a number of high-profile music historians, Jean Sibelius (1864-1957)—instead of Gustav Mahler—is considered the last master in the Beethoven symphonic tradition. In his final symphony, so it is argued, Sibelius relentlessly
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A Nordic Fairytale
Jean Sibelius and Aino Järnefelt
At age 23, Jean Sibelius “was pale and good-looking, slender and sensitive. He seemed to all a strange and attractive being. And of course, we were all in love with him…And he was lovable. Refined, attractive, polite, he had that
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Chinese Musical Instruments: Hide
Musical instruments in China were traditionally classified into 8 groups delineated by the material used in the instrument: Silk, Bamboo, Wood, Stone, Metal, Clay, Gourd and Hide. We will look at selected instruments in six of these groups in this
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Rode: Violin Concertos Nos. 2 and 8 (Eichhorn, Jena Philharmonic, Pasquet)
Violin Concerto no 2 in E Major Op.9 II Siciliano From Rode: Violin Concertos Nos. 2 and 8 (Eichhorn, Jena Philharmonic, Pasquet) (2015) Released by Naxos Rode: Violin Concerto no 2 in E Major Op.9 – II SicilianoPierre Rode was
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Muses and Musings
Edvard Grieg and Teresina Tua
“To all appearances,” Edvard Grieg wrote in 1882,”I am living a more peaceful life than ever before, but in reality it is a life full of inward struggle. I am both spiritually and bodily unwell and decide every other day
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Violent and Unnatural Deaths in Opera II
In general, weddings tend to be rather happy occasions. This was certainly true, at least initially, for Orfeo and Euridice. The master musician and the most radiant beauty of the ancient world were passionately in love. But on the wedding
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Revered Cellist Aldo Parisot full of ‘Fogo’
“The master classes are extraordinary – Aldo Parisot has that enormous, rare gift of translating musical feeling into solid information about what to do with a set of fingers and a bow… as a teacher, he is an object of
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