Several years ago, I wrote an article entitled The Dog Ate My Music- Excuses for Not Practicing. Those of us who are musicians have tried these excuses with varying success; teachers have heard them all. Just like in other professions,

Let us continue with our exploration of unfinished classical masterpieces. Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 “Finale” When Anton Bruckner died in 1896, he left a major symphony in D minor incomplete. Dedicated to “the beloved God,” this symphony No. 9,

Nuanced and colourful final chords of Gabriel Fauré’s Valse-Caprice in D-flat Major, Op. 38, performed by the 1st Prize Winner Manami Suzuki, provided the fitting conclusion for the 12th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. It was a significant event as Manami

Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (1881–1945) wrote two ballets, one that has achieved some fame (The Miraculous Mandarin of 1926), but the other has faded from today’s stages. In its time, however, the first ballet, The Wooden Prince, was staged everywhere.

There is a strange phenomenon happening in our modern world. The prominence of slow music in the classical genre. The slowing down of pace, the reduction of notes — and instruments — and the shortening of the music (or the

Leonard Bernstein – composer, conductor, pianist, educator, and more – is remembered as one of the greatest American musicians of all time. His voracious appetite for art extended to his love life. He had many relationships with men, but he

Franz Joseph Haydn is considered the father of the symphony, and John Field (1782-1837), the father of the Nocturne. Although Field was born somewhere between Beethoven and Schubert, his music seems much closer to Chopin, who appeared thirty years later.

In our last blog, we looked at the stories of some unfinished masterpieces being restored. Let us continue our exploration, starting with Mahler’s Symphony No. 10. Mahler: Symphony 10 In 1910, Gustav Mahler was not a happy man. He had