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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Best Songs in B-Flat Major March 13th, 2021 I have always loved songs in the key of B-flat major. For me, songs in that particular key always sound very bright and cheerful. I was really happy to discover that important musicians and theorist think about that key in -
The Message of Music Is the Music Itself March 12th, 2021 After almost a lifetime of music-making and trying to figure out what it is saying, I’m coming closer to the thought that the message of music is the music itself. For an experiment in discovery, I’ve been listening to all -
Forgotten Pianists: Rafael Orozco March 12th, 2021 The winner of the 1966 Leeds International Piano Competition, Spanish pianist Rafael Orozco (1946-1996) was born into a musical family and enrolled at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Córdoba at the age of 7. He later studied at the -
All at Sea: The Barcarolle in Piano Music March 11th, 2021 Evoking the rush of water, the stroke of oars and the motion of the ocean, the Barcarolle was a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers (the word comes from “Barca” meaning “boat”). Characterised by a rocking rhythm, suggestive of the -
Igor Stravinsky and His Maidens March 10th, 2021 Igor Stravinsky first met Katherine Gavrylivna Nosenko in 1890. He was quietly drawn to “Katya,” who was by all accounts a soft-spoken and intelligent girl. They shared a number of interests, and found common ground in music, as Katya was -
Based on Bach
Gounod: Ave Maria March 8th, 2021Charles Gounod took the first prelude of Bach’s Well-Tempered Klavier and started noodling around on it, and his piano teacher, Pierre Zimmerman, with whom he was studying at the Paris Conservatoire, took note of it. J.S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, -
Avoiding Our Peers March 8th, 2021 A natural process for the creative artist is to reproduce what he admires. In the case of composers, it translates as composing the music that they heard and enjoyed, or the music that they want to hear. Of course, the -
Marcel Proust (1871-1922)
“In Search of Lost Time” and the Mysterious Violin Sonata March 7th, 2021Born 150 years ago in Paris, Marcel Proust was a sickly child and he suffered from poor health for most of his short life. Yet his almost inexhaustible complexity as a novelist, critic and essayist has reverberated through virtually every