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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Ludwig van B.
A Universe of Dedications III March 3rd, 2020Count Ferdinand Ernst Gabriel von Waldstein (1762-1823) was Beethoven’s first great patron in Bonn. Originally he hailed from Vienna, and after receiving the knighthood of the Order by its Grand Master Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria, he was sent on -
Bach to Choir: Bringing Bach Into a New Century March 2nd, 2020 Cellist Sophie Webber had a long-standing idea that Bach’s Cello Suites could be made more accessible. In many ways, they stand as these beautiful and isolated jewels, created through a relationship of a player and her cello and the music -
A Heavyweight Musical Boxing Match
Franz Liszt vs. Felix Mendelssohn March 2nd, 2020It might not be a complete surprise, but Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn really didn’t like each other! Mendelssohn first heard a Liszt performance at a concert in Paris in 1825. In his opinion “Liszt had many fingers but few -
Víkingur Ólafsson March 1st, 2020 I talk to Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson about Beethoven, personal growth and problems facing young pianists ahead of his debut appearance in Hong Kong in March. Hot off the heels of the French Premiere of John Adams’ Piano Concerto in -
Cyril Scott: the English Debussy March 1st, 2020 For many pianists, our first encounter with the music of Cyril Scott is through his exotic, languorous piece Lotus Land. This was also Georgian pianist Nino Gvetadze’s first introduction to Scott’s piano music, through one of her teachers at Tbilisi -
Women Conductors Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling
Tania León February 29th, 2020Cuban conductor, pianist, composer, and educator, Tania León, is another woman who deserves the honorific ‘Grande Dame’ for her outstanding talents and remarkable career. You may not know she became the New York Philharmonic’s new-music advisor in the 1990s. This -
The Psychology in Film Music I February 28th, 2020 After finishing my three-part series on the philosophy in music, the inquiry into the psychology in music was something I thought that needed to be further fleshed out, also as a three-part series. What I’ve always known is that if -
Oliver’s 10 All-Time Favourite Music Pieces February 28th, 2020 There are many pieces of wonderful music that I’ve had the fortune to encounter, and still even more I’ve yet to come across. Making a list of ten of my favourites was nigh-on impossible, not least because the list would