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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Carl Maria von Weber: Inspired by Turandot
“Overture and Marches” for Turandot, Op. 37 September 23rd, 2020Carlo Gozzi’s play Turandot was first performed in Venice in 1762. It was a deliberate attempt to counter the new literary trend of bourgeois realism so prevalent in the works of Carlo Goldoni. When Friedrich Schiller fashioned his German translation, -
Composers of the Zodiac
The Tropic of Libra September 22nd, 2020Located between the constellation of Virgo to the west and Scorpio to the east, the constellation of Libra was first cataloged by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century. It is the only zodiac sign not represented by a -
Ludwig van Beethoven and His Fellow Musicians September 22nd, 2020 By placing Ludwig van B. on a musical pedestal we tend to forget that he was surrounded by a whole host of talented composers and musicians who competed for his audience. And as we all know, Beethoven was a difficult -
The Music of Poetry
Joseph Eichendorff: “The poet is the heart of the world” September 20th, 2020The German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) is best known for his allegorical landscapes. Contemplating nature, he sought to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. He was looking not just to explore the blissful enjoyment of -
En Pleine Lumière
Shining a Light on Piano Music by Women Composers September 20th, 2020It seems extraordinary to us now, in these equality-conscious times, that women composers and musicians were, until fairly recently, sidelined, ignored or simply erased from music history. Now, women such as Clara Schumann, Amy Beach and Cécile Chaminade are recognised -
Conducting Fathers and Sons I September 19th, 2020 What is it about conducting fathers whose sons followed in their footsteps? Many professional musicians sire musical offspring, (myself included) but I was struck by the number of conductors in the bunch and thought you’d like to hear more about -
“In a Chinese Temple Garden”
Exotic Mood Pictures by Albert Ketèlbey September 18th, 2020He was proclaimed “Britain’s greatest living composer” in the Performing Right Gazette of 1929. That assessment was based on the overall number of performances of his works, and his apparent popularity caused a good deal of professional jealousy. Today, he -
On My Music Desk……
Benjamin Britten – ‘Notturno’ (Night Piece) September 17th, 2020This atmospheric miniature was composed in 1963 as a test piece for the inaugural Leeds Piano Competition (which was won by Michael Roll, the seventeen-year-old pupil of Dame Fanny Waterman, the competition’s founder). The competition committee regarded it as a