Forget about unattainable lovers, idealized beauty or threatening nature! When it comes to artistic inspiration and musings, nothing has been more popular than death! Indeed, death is a cruel mistress to us all! Gruesome inevitability aside, death has inspired some

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Vienna acted like a gigantic magnet for composers and musicians. Talented individuals from the surrounding areas and all parts of Europe streamed into the city hoping to make their mark in

As musicians our musical scores are very personal to us, and the markings and annotations we make on our scores can be deeply associated with memories – of significant teachers, special concerts and venues, colleagues and friends, and may even

From his very first concerts at age 14, Josef Lhévinne (1874-1944) was recognized as a pianist with a brilliant future. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory from age 11 with Vasilly Safonov, who reformed the skills of the boy who

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946) started with a story about a lecherous magistrate and his desire for the miller’s virtuous wife (El corregidor y la molinera) and revised it into The Three-Cornered Hat (El sombrero de tres picos, 1917). As a

All types of music are enhanced by the artistry, dazzling technique and emotional intensity of virtuosos. Yo Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, singers Renée Fleming, Kiri Te Kanawa and label-defying artists Audra MacDonald, Andrea Bocelli, and Bela Fleck have

Brixi In Moravian folklore, the “Brixi” is not actually a river. Rather it describes a mythical creature that secretly rises from the Morava River during the summer solstice to take a long bath in the moonlight. According to local lore,

Symphony No 2: III. Allegro – Alla Köçekçe From ERKİN, U.C.: Köçekçe / Violin Concerto / Symphony No. 2 (2016) Released by Naxos Erkin: Symphony No 2: III. Allegro – Alla KöçekçeUlvi Cemal Erkin was one of the ‘Turkish Five’,