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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Yehuda Inbar February 1st, 2021 Audiences and Solitude Israeli pianist Yehuda Inbar, currently based in Berlin, is an internationally renowned young performer, and the artistic director of the Akko International Chamber Music and Jazz Festival in Israel. His debut album, released in 2019, featured the -
Musicians and Artists: Stravinsky and Benois January 31st, 2021 Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes hit Europe like a storm: no one had ever seen ballet taken to this level. Founded in 1909 by Diaghilev and lasting 20 years, the Ballet was based in Paris and traveled around Europe and to -
Is It Time to Lose the Concert Interval? January 31st, 2021 British pianist Stephen Hough thinks it is, and he makes a persuasive case for it in an article for The Guardian, reminding us that coronavirus has forced us to rethink how we organise and attend concerts. Those who decry the -
Classical Music’s Way of Expressing Love and Intimacy
10 Romances to Stir Ardor January 30th, 2021In classical music, composers have used the romance as the perfect vehicle to express tenderness. The romance grew out of narrative ballads of Spain and by the 18thcentury they became distinctive as lovely, lyrical, short works. Composers such as Elgar, -
Best Songs in B Minor January 30th, 2021 I was reading that the key of B minor meant different things to different people at different times. According to some theorists, during Bach’s time it “expressed a quiet acceptance of fate, a submission to divine dispensation, and very gentle -
Interview With a Recorder Player – Alicia Crossley January 29th, 2021 When listening to Alicia Crossley play one of her 18 handmade recorders, which I’ve heard her play many times, a listener gets the feeling that the instrument was made for her. In this interview, we get to understand more about -
Note For Note: A Musical Fable by Howard Smith January 28th, 2021 In part a memoir, ‘Note for Note’ is a Pilgrim’s Progress for the amateur pianist – indeed, any amateur musician – and in it the author charts the pleasures and the pitfalls, the breakthroughs and “lightbulb moments” as well as -
Fairies and Butterflies in the Salon: Debussy’s Two Arabesques January 27th, 2021 Private gatherings at home, known as salons, started in the 17th century in France, where literary gatherings or intellectual groups would get together to exchange ideas. Often headed by a brilliant man or woman who could bring like-minded people together,