Blogs

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Sir Neville Marriner (1924-2016)
“I just wish I’d started conducting earlier”
The soundtrack to the 1984 hit film “Amadeus” sold more than 6.5 million copies, reached No. 1 on the Billboard classical albums chart and won a Grammy! Recorded by Sir Neville Marriner and his acclaimed chamber orchestra St. Martin in
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Musical Giants of the 20th Century: The Art of Lieder (Male Interpreters)
The Art Song, also known under the German title “Lied” refers to a musical setting of a poem for solo voice and piano. Significantly, the art of romantic song resides as much in poetry as it does in music. Almost
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Musical Giants of the 20th Century: Clarinettists
It is not an enviable job to create a list of great players of an instrument that is so versatile, one that has changed so much even in the last 100 years. These Musical Giants of the clarinet have been
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The Concerto That’s Not Concerto-like
Frederick Delius (1862-1934) was a rare English composer with an international outlook. Born in Bradford, England, to a family who had emigrated there from Germany, he spent 2 years in Florida in his early 20s, and shortly thereafter began composing.
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Critical Ear with Sharpened Pen
Music Critics—Their Past and Future: An interview with Arthur Kaptainis
Growing up in Canada Arthur Kaptainis was held in awe in the music world. He has been the music critic of The Montreal Gazette since 1986 and served on the Gazette editorial board from 1991 to 1999 and 2003 to
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Playing the Beethoven Piano Sonatas
Frequently referred to as the ‘New Testament’ of piano music (Bach’s ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ being the ‘Old Testament’), Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas rank amongst the high Himalayan peaks of the pianist’s repertoire. The primary appeal of these pieces, aside from the
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Musical Giants of the 20th Century: Cellists
As with the great violinists, it is difficult to choose just ten great cellists. But as a cellist myself here are my heroes. Pablo Casals, born on December 29, 1876 in the Catalonian region of Spain, can be credited with
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Musical Giants of the 20th Century: Violinists
During the last century we have been blessed with many exceptional violinists. Ten violinists, musical giants of the 20th Century, truly changed the world of music. Bronislaw Huberman Legendary violinist Bronislaw Huberman was born in Poland in 1882. His extraordinary
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