Blogs

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The Green Salamander of Love
Benjamin Britten’s The Prince of the Pagodas
Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) first fell under the influence of Balinese music when he met the Canadian composer Colin McPhee (1900–1964) in New York in 1939. McPhee had just returned from 6 years in Bali and in 1940, wrote his highly
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On This Day
28 November: Johannes Brahms’ Horn Trio Was Premiered
Composed in 1865 but drawing on a theme which Brahms had written twelve years earlier, the trio for natural horn with violin and piano first sounded on 28 November 1865 in Zürich with the composer at the piano. Nature, nostalgia
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Finding Music in the New World
Delius’ Florida Suite
Frederick Delius (1862–1934) was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, a center for wool manufacture. Known as the ‘wool capital of the world’, it also took on the names ‘Woolopolis’ and ‘Wool City’. Delius’ parents came from Germany to Bradford and
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The Angelina Jolie Maria Callas Movie: What Do We Know?
Classical music is having a moment at the movies. From Tár to Chevalier to Maestro, studios have been gambling lately on movies about classical music and classical musicians. Soon we’re getting a new one about the life of legendary soprano
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The 1924 Time Capsule
For the 50th birthday of David Josef Bach
Time Capsules can be a wonderful thing. Many people and organizations have gone through the trouble of intentionally assembling a cache of goods or information as a method of communication with future people. It gets even more interesting when such
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The Wind and the Tower
Ivana Radovanovic’s Burj Khalifa
The recording Urknall (Big Bang) by the Tyrolean Chamber Orchestra InnStrumenti ensemble is an interesting project which creates an anniversary project and also makes a commentary on the world. The recording celebrates the 20th anniversary of the ensemble. In a
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More Famous Classical Melodies in New Guises
Mozart: Little Night Music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart must be considered as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, and he literally left us hundreds of earworm tunes admired for their melodic beauty and formal elegance. Even
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Martha Argerich: Fifteen Facts About One of the Greatest Pianists Ever
Martha Argerich is simultaneously one of the most celebrated and most enigmatic of classical music stars. Many people call her the greatest pianist of her generation – and others, the greatest pianist who ever lived! Today, we are taking a
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