September, 2017

47 Posts
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Born in a Mental Institution
The Operetta in France
After a hard day of coming to terms with personal demons and morbid obsessions in a mental institution, not everybody is in the mood to sit through a seemingly endless Wagnerian musical drama or the monumental theatricality of a Verdi
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WAGNER, S.: Lieder
Der Kobold (The Goblin), Op. 3, Act I: Vogellied (Bird Song) From WAGNER, S.: Lieder (2010) Released by Marco Polo Wagner: Der Kobold (The Goblin), Op. 3, Act I: Vogellied (Bird Song)Best known for his operas, several of which are
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Tangentenflügel
Mozart’s favorite keyboard instrument (for a while)
Today I accidentally stumbled over another rarity from the vault of unusual and singular instruments! The instrument in question—variously called “Tangent piano” in English, “Tangentenflügel” in German, “cembalo angelico” in Italian, and “clavecin harmonieux et celeste” in French—sounds like a
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It’s All About the Character: An Interview with Riccardo Massi
Tenor Riccardo Massi takes the world’s stages in the most heroic of roles: Radamès in Aida, Don José in Carmen, Calaf in Turandot, but for the years while he was studying voice, he took to the cinema screen in other
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A Monument of Twentieth-Century Pianism:
Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’enfant Jésus
Olivier Messiaen’s monumental and profound work Vingt Regards sur l’enfant Jésus (Twenty Gazes on the Infant Jesus) surely ranks amongst the “greats” of the piano repertoire, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with such titans as Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas
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Forgotten Pianists: Monique Haas
Monique Haas (1909-1987) received the Premier Prix in 1927 from the Paris Conservatoire before going on to study privately with Rudolf Serkin, Georges Enescu and Robert Casadesus. As was common with most French pianists of her generation, she was an
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Finding a New Light Source: Funding Lumen de Lumine
How do you get a record of new choral music made? In these days of austerity and penny-pinching, you need to be innovative. At the same time, in these days of social media and the power of networking, new avenues
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The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Alfred Brendel and Imogen Cooper
Demonic Intensity
Imogen Cooper proudly announced at the age of 5 that she wanted to be a pianist. Her father, the noted musicologist Martin Cooper, warned her about the perils of becoming a performing artist. “I had no idea what it all
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