Amongst 20th-century pianists, Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) has achieved almost mythical status. Conductor Herbert von Karajan repeatedly said, “It was no longer piano playing, it was music, released from all earthly weight, music in its purest form, in a harmony that

I admit it, I’m a fervent auto-didact, a “self-teacher” whose answer to “how do I do that?” is to either reach for a book or more likely these days, look it up on Google or YouTube. For me, self-teaching goes

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers for the piano in history, and his music is beloved and widely performed to this day. So what makes Rachmaninoff’s piano music so special? It probably helped that

The Polish virtuoso violinist, composer, and pedagogue Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) was one of the greatest violinists of the 19th Century. As a performer, he dazzled audiences with his impeccable technique, expressive phrasing, and wonderfully warm and rich tone. As a

Sometimes, when we listen to music from the Classical Era, we think, we suspect, we believe it might be a little, shall we say, formulaic? When you get involved with the phenomenon of Musical Dice Games, you can see how

In 1865, Antonín Dvořák decided to write two full-scale symphonies, both nearly an hour in length. Composed within a couple of months, both works are imaginative and arresting, “yet clearly overlong.” At that time, Dvořák was basically unknown as a

The Czech composer Paul Wranitzky (1756–1808) moved to Vienna at age 20 to find new opportunities. His education combined music (singing, organ, violin, and viola) and then theology in Olomouc. After his move to Vienna, he led the choir at

Just over one year ago, Vladimir Putin ordered his armies to invade Ukraine, an independent country with a democratically elected government. Putin’s full-blown criminal invasion has left a trail of devastation, with towns and cities in ashes. Specifically targeting civilian