The solo violin has long been acknowledged as the perfect instrument to express emotions like love, longing, heartbreak, rapture, and romance. The Romantic era lasted from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century and produced numerous works that
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Let’s Celebrate Popular Classical Pieces April 11th, 2021 In 2020, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ‘The Lark Ascending’ topped Classic FM’s Hall of Fame as Britain’s most favourite piece of classical music. And it’s not the first time this piece has topped a poll of listeners – in fact it’s -
Forgotten Pianists: Sergio Fiorentino April 10th, 2021 “The only other pianist” – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli “Recently I listened to a pianist on the radio who impressed me very much: Sergio Fiorentino, do you know him?” – Vladimir Horowitz It takes a musical genius to be such highly -
Best Songs in E-Flat Major April 10th, 2021 When I first got interested in classical music, my music teacher told us an interesting story about Beethoven. When the composer had finished his 3rd symphony, he dedicated the work to Napoleon. When Napoleon crowned himself Emperor, however, Beethoven was -
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
“I Have Cultivated My Hysteria With Pleasure and Terror” April 9th, 2021200 years ago this month, on 9 April 1821, Charles-Pierre Baudelaire was born in Paris. Roughly thirty years later, his Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil) was considered the most important and influential poetry collection published in all -
Why Isn’t Classical Music Popular? April 9th, 2021 Julian Johnson is a lecturer in music at the University of Oxford. In his book, Who needs classical music?, he asks why isn’t classical music popular? He doesn’t answer the question, either because he can’t, or no one can, or -
Conductors Caricatured April 7th, 2021 To the outsider, the conductor looks as though he holds the oddest position in the orchestra – he may be the focus of the audience’s attention, but the orchestra barely seems to look at him. He turns his back to -
Upcycling Pianos April 6th, 2021 In our last article on this topic, we looked at orchestral instruments, but omitted the most versatile of them all, the piano. The piano offers a world of upcycling possibilities and in a number of different media. First, let’s look -
Why Classics Are, Classics April 5th, 2021 Classics, standards — even at times masterpieces — often make classical music’s true devotees raise an eyebrow. “Oh, not again”. How many times have they been performed, at times doubtful and at rarer exceptional. It is quite true that the