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Music to Save Your Life
An Interview with Jeanne Kelly of Encore Chorale
In America, we tend to think of music as something done by children, or professionals, or, perhaps done by adults who are still channeling their inner child (a nod to Mr. Jagger, now hitting a youthful 75). In other countries,
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What is Practice?
Practice and practising is what musicians do. It’s the bulk of their “work” and must be undertaken with an almost clockwork regularity in order to learn new music, hone skills and keep existing repertoire going. The traditional view is of
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The Ferment of Life: Schubert’s Last Piano Sonatas II
Alfred Brendel describes Schubert as “a sleepwalker”, yet in his final three sonatas, we see Schubert’s innate sense of musical geometry and his bold treatment of traditional sonata form. These are tightly-organised woks with almost perfectly-balanced structures, perhaps most obviously
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Cooking with the Classics
I was in a shop recently and found BeepEgg, an egg timer that goes into the water with your eggs and lets you know when they’re done. I bought the one with Classical Music themes, called BeepEgg Nori, decorated with
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The Weight of History
Politicians in particular talk a lot about the “weight of history” or of feeling “the hand of history on our shoulders”, especially when faced with a serious national crisis or significant policy decision.
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The Jigsaw Puzzle of Music
Musicians and composers should be good at puzzles, because music is like an enigma.
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The Ferment of Life: Schubert’s Last Piano Sonatas
Ignored for years, their composer regarded as Beethoven‘s poor relation, Schubert‘s last three piano sonatas now enjoy a special place in the piano repertoire, ranking alongside Beethoven’s final three piano sonatas, and they hold a particular fascination for pianists, audiences,
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In the Ear of the Beholder: Music Composed by Artificial Intelligence
Music composed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) is enjoying a resurgence of interest, in part due to the completion of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony by Chinese tech firm Huawei. The international harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani has also performed music
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