Composers can be difficult people to get along with. They can be demanding, perfectionistic, needy, dramatic, and stressed. Their attention can often be split between their creative lives and their personal lives. They are not always the best spouses. Today

The Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923-2006) made his name by developing a process of interweaving different strands of sound into a complex polyphonic fabric, “deriving the shape and momentum of the music from barely perceptible changes in timbre, dynamics, density,

We easily remember Bruno Walter (1876-1962) as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. His legacy is secured in hundreds of recordings made between 1900 and 1961. However, around the turn of the century, he primarily considered himself

When we think about the great composers, it’s easy to picture them in a kind of vacuum of genius. However, the great composers were human, just like the rest of us, and they lived and worked surrounded by other people.

The word “Canon” actually means rule, or law, and it is one of the most important elements in counterpoint. Clearly, it is musically very powerful when a previously heard melody reappears in another voice as a canon. Both voices maintain

Béla Bartók famously exclaimed, “competitions are for horses, not artists!” Well, times have certainly changed, but the intrinsic value of artistic competitions is still hotly debated. After all, there are plenty of competition winners that nobody knows about, and plenty

One of the most discussed composers of our times; Philip Glass. When he first started performing and recording his music in the 1960s in New York, much of the conservative classical world initially rejected him. Luckily, sixty years later, it

In 1916, Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén was commissioned by the Royal Swedish Opera for a ballet that he completed in 1922. He considered it one of his finest works, but after its first season in production, opening on 7 February