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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Going Against the Composer’s Wishes: Mahler’s Sentinel’s Night Song October 31st, 2021 In his settings of songs from the von Armin and Bretano collection Das Knaben Wunderhorn, Mahler set the martial Der Schildwache Nachtlied (The Sentinel’s Night Song), which is the musing of a night guard. As everyone slumbers around him, he -
On This Day
31 October: Halloween October 31st, 2021In some parts of the word, Halloween is a hugely profitable holiday for retailers. In fact, roughly 25 percent of all the candy sold annually in the United States is purchased for Halloween. Halloween isn’t just a holiday for kids, -
Cello Music by Women Composers VII
Mazzoli, Clyne, and Montgomery October 30th, 2021Today major orchestras and artists are commissioning young women composers to write music for them. Here are three rising stars. Missy Mazzoli was selected as a featured composer by the Minnesota Orchestra’s Composer’s Institute more than a decade ago. We -
If You Were on the Jury, Whom Would You Choose as Winner of the 18th Chopin Piano Competition? October 29th, 2021 This was the most frequently posed question among my friends and colleagues at the conclusion of the Chopin Piano Competition in 2021. I suspect that it did not come from those who approved of the jury’s official verdict, but probably -
Remembering Debussy
Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy Premiered in 1921 October 29th, 2021In 1920, Henry Prunières, editor of the French music journal Revue Musicale, commissioned 10 of the leading composers of the day to contribute to a work in memory of Claude Debussy, who had died from cancer 2 years earlier. The -
Recording Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, at Last! October 28th, 2021 My closest, most long-standing musical relationship is with Beethoven. The essential joy of life as an interpreter is, to me at least, in making friends with these extraordinary composers through their music; I know his moods, his rough humour, his -
Ancient and Modern and Left-Handed: Korngold’s Suite October 27th, 2021 When up-and-coming pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961) returned from WWI, it was without his right arm, amputated by necessity in a Russian prison camp. He did return to a family with money and so was able to commission works that he -
On This Day
27 October: Niccolò Paganini Was Born October 27th, 2021Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, then capital of the Republic of Genoa, on 27 October 1782. His father, Antonio Paganini was a dockworker and unsuccessful trader who supplemented his meager income by playing the mandolin for social occasions. Unsurprisingly,