In essence

1707 Posts
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Carl Maria von Weber: Abu Hassan
First performed in Munich in 1811, the delightful one-act Singspiel Abu Hassan is based on a famous episode in “The Arabian Nights.” Set to music by Carl Maria von Weber, the opera features Abu Hassan (tenor) and his devoted wife
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The Legends and Sounds of Amazonia
Heitor Villa-Lobos and Philip Glass
The Amazon rainforest covers the majority of the Amazon basin in South America. Its region stretches over nine nations and thousands of indigenous territories, and it is said to represent over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests. Well over 30
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Some Other Nutcrackers
You can hear it one too many times. It’s the season for every ballet company to line up all their children dancers, get their prima ballerinas primed and put on their annual edition of The Nutcracker. It serves as the
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Exploring Partitas III
Marx, Casella, Martinů, Petrassi, Dressel, Leighton, Penderecki, and Pärt
Joseph Marx (1882-1964) enjoyed an esteemed reputation as a major composer and teacher. Nikolay Medtner, one of the most important representatives of the group of composers based in Moscow that included Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin and Alexander Taneyev expressed his
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Antarctic Symphonies by Vaughan Williams and Maxwell Davies
Our incredible planet is in real trouble. Scientists have identified a triple-threat of climate change, biodiversity loss and overpopulation as humanity is racing “towards mass extinctions, health crises and constant climate-induced disruptions to society.” Earth has lost an estimated 50%
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Legitimatizing Jazz and Failing: Copland’s Piano Concerto
American composer Aaron Copland (1900-1990) only wrote one work for piano and orchestra, his 1926 Piano Concerto. To put this work in context, we need to listen to it not only as a work by the young American composer newly
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Hearing Beethoven a New Way
Michael Gordon: Rewriting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony
In 2020, the year the “Beethoven Year” met the COVID-19 virus, we heard hours and hours and miles of miles of Beethoven. We recently found, however, a different version of Beethoven that we found very intriguing. American composer Michael Gordon
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Henryk Wieniawski and Isabella Hampton
“Music May Melt the Heart of Stone”
We all know that music may melt the heart of stone! And that was seemingly the case when Mr. Hampton heard the Légende by superstar violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880). You see, Henryk had fallen in love with Isabella
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