Musical gestures in some films are all about mirroring or inferring movement. But, as we see in certain movies like Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the music suggests the mental condition of the lead character, Jimmy Stewart, who suffers from vertigo. This spinning

When I was a student at The Aspen Music Festival and School, the conductor and music director at the time, Jorge Mester, brought his fluffy English Sheepdog to rehearsals. The enormous dog loved to stretch out on the podium while

In part I of this series, we heard several examples of how film music is designed to affect us psychologically. In this part, we look closer at why movie makers need to include music that pulls our psychological strings. In

For many pianists, our first encounter with the music of Cyril Scott is through his exotic, languorous piece Lotus Land. This was also Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze’s first introduction to Scott’s piano music, through one of her teachers at Tbilisi

Cuban conductor, pianist, composer, and educator, Tania León, is another woman who deserves the honorific ‘Grande Dame’ for her outstanding talents and remarkable career. You may not know she became the New York Philharmonic’s new-music advisor in the 1990s. This

After finishing my three-part series on the philosophy in music, the inquiry into the psychology in music was something I thought that needed to be further fleshed out, also as a three-part series. What I’ve always known is that if

Beethoven: Cello Sonata No. 3 in A major, Op. 69 – I. Allegro ma non tanto (Janet Horvath, cello; Arthur Rowe, piano) I grew up with Beethoven. From my earliest years I remember the scowling white plaster bust on our

Touring is almost an inevitable aspect of many freelance musicians’ lives. Whether it’s a long or short trip away, time spent away from home can quickly take its toll. Lots of short journeys away make home seem like a pit