In essence

1669 Posts
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Composer’s Pianos: Chopin’s pianos
The Alex Cobbe collection in England is the largest collection of composers’ piano in the world. Three of the most important pieces of the collection are the pianos owned by Chopin, each of which was used during the final year
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Composer’s Pianos: The Liszt Upright
The Alex Cobbe collection outside Guildford, England, holds a unique piano created for a unique performer. During Franz Liszt’s trips to Florence after 1873, he was loaned a piano by its maker, Carlo Ducci. This isn’t a multi-foot grand piano
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Composer’s Pianos: The Cobbe Collection
The Alec Cobbe collection, housed at Hatchlands Park, near Guildford, Surrey, England, holds pianos owned by a number of different composers, such as Haydn’s Longman & Brodrip piano; Mahler’s 1836 Graf piano; Elgar’s 1844 Broadwood piano; Chopin’s 1848 Pleyel, used
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Musical Sudoku II
Now that your little grey cells are all warmed up, are you ready for a more complicated puzzle canon from Bach’s Musical Offering? If so, the 4th canon will probably give you a very good workout, indeed. Bach inscribed this
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The Ukrainian Factor in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23 (1875) Even at the best of times, the relationship between Russia and the Ukraine has been somewhat troubled. Although they share much of their early history, the Mongol
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Rock me Amadeus!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the undisputed rock star of the 18th century! Incredibly gifted as a musician yet nevertheless prone to long periods of self-doubt and professional jealousy, he made a lot of money but spent it just as quickly.
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Musical Sudoku I
Although the brain is technically not a muscle, the old saying “use it or loose it” still applies. And when musicians and composers get together to exercise the little grey cells, they generally look towards puzzle canons for a brainy
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A Tear in his Throat
Carlos Gardel (1890-1935) The tango developed as a distinctive dance around 1880 in the poorer districts of the city of Buenos Aires. Because it emerged from an economically marginal and semi-criminal social milieu, the dance was long rejected by Argentine’s
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