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Seven of the Best Works by Women for Viola and Orchestra
The viola may be the less flashy sibling of the violin, but in the hands of these seven great women composers, the viola truly shines as a solo instrument. From the bold modernism of Marga Richter and Peggy Glanville-Hicks to
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  • My Beethoven by Rob My Beethoven by Rob
    Is there anyone who does not know the name of Beethoven? Beethoven might just be the universal word for classical music. His contemporaries thought so much of him that in 1877, Dr. Ludwig Nohl published a book titled Beethoven Depicted
  • Jacquelyn Wagner Jacquelyn Wagner
    Heart and Home American soprano Jacquelyn Wagner is getting ready for her first opera appearance since the Coronavirus pandemic, singing Alice in Verdi’s Falstaff in Malmö, Sweden. After a long enforced break she is excited to be back, and talks
  • The Curious Pleasures of LPs The Curious Pleasures of LPs
    My son (22) amused me when he told me recently that one of the reasons why he liked LPs was “because of the crackles”. For someone who has grown up in the digital age, with almost unlimited access to superb-quality
  • 17th-Century Music Making in the World of Samuel Pepys 17th-Century Music Making in the World of Samuel Pepys
    Samuel Pepys, FRS (1633-1703), is best known to us through his 10-year private diary, kept between 1 January 1660, when he was just ending his 26th year, and 31 May 1669. He lived for another 34 years but complains at
  • Democracy and Music Democracy and Music
    Looking at the history of music, it hasn’t always been the most democratic art form in the world. Religion and royalty held sway over music-making and music performance for a long time. Joseph Haydn had his employer, Prince Esterhazy. Beethoven