Blogs

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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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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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What Else Do You Do?
People often ask me what an average day is like. For those who have more regular jobs, what we musicians do from day to day can often be a mystery – especially since they know we give concerts in the
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The Piano Sonata III
The Romantic Piano Sonata – Innovation within the Classical Form If Beethoven was the bridge from the Classical to the Romantic era in richly expressive piano sonatas like the Moonlight, the Appassionata, the Hammerklavier and the final three, Franz Schubert
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Superstar of the Italian Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
What is there to say about Leonardo da Vinci that hasn’t been said over the last 500 years? Well, let’s start with some superlatives before placing the man within the context of the Italian Renaissance.
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How Musical Imagery, the Art of Interpretation, and Google DeepDream Interact
When musicians first encounter a piece of music, they begin by learning the notes and rhythm, perfecting the dynamics, and studying the instructions from the composer. These might be sparse and involve merely tempo indications and subtle markings. What then?
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The Piano Sonata II
In Beethoven’s hands the Classical piano sonata reaches its apotheosis. A fine virtuoso pianist himself, he had a lasting influence on the genre, and the design of the piano, and his piano sonatas reveal the demands he placed on pianist
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