In classical music, the Romantic Era lasted from around 1810 to around 1910. That century gave us some of the most famous symphonies in the repertoire. Nineteenth-century composers like Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvořák, Schubert, Mahler, Rachmaninoff, and others elevated the symphony
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Looking From the Inside Out: Self-Portraits in Music
Couperin, Poulenc, Thomson, and Ligeti January 23rd, 2022How does a composer look at himself? In these works, covering some 400 years, we’ll see composers’ self-portraits in music and try to discern how they saw themselves. Seeing himself in an allemande rhythm, the French composer François Couperin (1668-1733) -
On This Day
23 January: Yvonne Lefébure Died January 23rd, 2022Yvonne Lefébure, who passed away on 23 January 1986 in Paris, was one of the premiere French pianists and teachers of the 20th century. She was a remarkably well-rounded and cultured musician with a no-nonsense approach to performing and to -
A New Year and a ‘New Normal’ for Live Concerts? January 23rd, 2022 The word “normal” has shifted in meaning over the past nearly two years of the covid pandemic. For concert halls and opera houses, and other arts venues such as galleries and exhibition spaces, “normal” now has a variety of meanings, -
Conductors 3/3: Behind the Baton January 22nd, 2022 For musicians, trading off stories about conductors is the water-cooler-iest form of water cooler gossip. Tales of incompetence abound, and those who are lucky enough to gain approval are spoken of with respect and appreciation. To an audience, conducting seems -
Musicians and Artists: John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg January 21st, 2022 Usually when we write about musicians and artists, we write about how one inspires the other, either how an artist might choose a musical work as the inspiration for his work or how a composer might choose to portray a -
On This Day
21 January: Plácido Domingo Was Born January 21st, 2022Plácido Domingo is recognized as one of the best and most influential singing actors in the world of opera. He has recorded over 100 complete operas in addition to arias and duets compilations, and his crossover recordings have earned him -
On My Music Desk……
Allegretto in C minor, D. 915 – Franz Schubert January 20th, 2022Following my article about Schubert’s Drei Klavierstucke, here is another piano work which I feel is unfairly overlooked and rarely performed, perhaps simply because of its brevity and apparent simplicity. Yet Schubert packs an expressive punch and offers the pianist -
On This Day
20 January: Claudio Abbado Died January 20th, 2022On 20 January 2014, Claudio Abbado died at the age of 80 after a long and severe illness in Bologna. One of the greatest conductors of his time, he led La Scala, the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, and the Lucerne