Blogs

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Will You Be Mine This New Year?
7 Sexy Takes on “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to spend New Year’s Eve with someone special? Well, there is an enchanting song that is all about that spark of curiosity and anticipation. “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” is the
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Waltzes and Wonders
A Viennese New Year’s Dream
It’s almost 2025, and I think everybody should welcome the new year with some sparkling champagne; musical champagne that is! Personally, I think there is nothing better for musical bubbly than the New Year’s Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Leading to the Peace of a Moment: Harvey’s Tranquil Abiding
The foundation of meditation is achieving a peaceful state and then remaining in that state. Your attention is focused on rest. Your ever-active thoughts still come to a pause. This state of tranquil stillness, known as Shamata, is that point
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Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Ravel in Motion: The Virtuoso Concertante Works
In the early morning hours of 28 December 1937, Maurice Ravel lapsed into a coma and died at the age of 62. He had been troubled by persistent health problems for some time, suffering from insomnia, extensive bouts of depression
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Ice Music: Ice Castles and Ice Instruments and Igloos and Oh My!
Music featuring icy climates has always fascinated composers. Many composers are compelled by frozen tundra, the extremes of the poles, and frigid temperatures, and they have used polar backdrops as inspiration. Sergei Prokofiev’s Battle of the Ice from his work
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It’s All in the Stars
12 Greatest Composers of the Zodiac
I must admit that I occasionally check my horoscope. Many times, I look upon my daily predictions with a playful suspension of disbelief, but occasionally, it seems to fit really well. I know as a fact that many of my
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Escaping the Holiday Bells
Gerald Finzi’s New Year Music
English composer Gerald Finzi (1904–1956) wrote to a friend about his love / hate relationship with the year’s end: ‘I love New-Year’s Eve, though I think it’s the saddest thing of the year’ and in his 1926 piece, Nocturne (New
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Malcolm Williamson’s Pieces of Peace
These days, with the horrors that are unfolding on every continent, we look for peace. But what, exactly, might we be looking for? Australian composer Malcolm Williamson (1931–2003) moved to London when he was in his 20s and started on
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