My music

608 Posts
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Looking to the Future: Dani Howard’s Orchestral Works
Although in the liner notes to her new album, British composer Dani Howard protests that she avoided orchestral music during her years at the Royal College of Music, this collection of her music from 2016 to 2021 shows her utter
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Entering the Spiritual Forest: Blackford’s La Sagrada Família Symphony
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, more Famíliarly known as La Sagrada Família, is the largest unfinished Catholic Church in the world. It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) and was consecrated
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Guitar Plus: Paganini’s Guitar Quartets
We associate the name of Niccolò Paganini 1782–1840) with the violin and his seemingly demonic playing. However, the less talented are always quick to impugn the true talent of a virtuoso – the devil had to have a hand! Paganini
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Rising Hope
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending
The orchestra paints a calm scene – blue skies, some clouds – and then a rising song. It’s the skylark, a bird of the open farm and of the heath. Its song, sung only by the male, is delivered in
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Memory of a Massacre: The Coventry Carol
One of the most beautiful of the carols sung at Christmas, the Coventry Carol commemorates a truly tragic event. As told in the Gospel of Matthew (2:16–18), Herod, the king of Judea, ordered the killing of all male children two
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Sounds of the Season: The Nutcracker Suite
It’s the fond memory of many adults raised in America that the Christmas season is the time for Tchaikovsky’s beautiful ballet, The Nutcracker. George Balanchine’s New York production, which had its debut on 2 February 1954, brought E.T.A. Hoffman’s tale
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The Great Unknown: Sainte-Colombe’s Concerto No. 18
It was only in recent years that the violist and composer known as Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe could be given a first name: Jean. His place and date of birth are unknown, how he came to music is unknown, and even
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A False Report of a Death: Sor’s Variations on Malborough s’en va-t-en guerre
After starting his career in the military, as was the tradition in his family, Fernando Sor (1788–1839) worked for the invading French military and then moved to Paris when they departed, fearing retribution for his work with the occupiers. While
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