The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
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Mahler: Symphony 7
Premiered Today in 1908 September 19th, 2018While putting the finishing touches on the menacing finale of his Sixth Symphony in the summer of 1904, Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) also drafted two central “Nachtmusiken” (Music of the Night) that would eventually become the second and fourth movements of -
Musical Selfies and Snapshots Part II
François Couperin September 18th, 2018Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known under his stage name “Molière,” is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language. He spent 13 years as an itinerant actor before he started to write his own plays. Combining elements -
Music and Nature: Animals September 17th, 2018 Animals in music occur in everything from children’s pieces to great serious works. Their rhythm in the world is something that a composer can take up and develop and also their aspect: fierce or calming. -
Classical Music and Wine
“Where There Is No Wine There Is No Love” September 16th, 2018Ernest Hemingway never met a drink he didn’t like! In fact, he had a rather tumultuous lifelong affair with alcohol. Given such expertise, we should probably pay close attention to what this great novelist and journalist had to say about -
Oblique Strategies in Practice September 16th, 2018 Oblique Strategies (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) is a deck of 7 by 9 centimetres (2.8 in × 3.5 in) printed cards in a black container box, created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt and first published in 1975. -
Cello Concerto Overview: The Could Haves Part I September 15th, 2018 You may be surprised to learn how many cello concertos there are, more than most people think, from several eras, and they deserve to be heard. Of course, it’s a matter of taste, and one could include Lalo, Haydn C -
James Baillieu: Facilitating Greatness @ Verbier September 14th, 2018 “A glamorous pianist in an unglamorous role as an accompanist!” That was my first consuming thought when James Baillieu garnered a vast amount of attention in 2013, at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in Wales as the accompanist -
Living With the Music September 13th, 2018 A busy professional pianist will need to have several programmes of music “in the fingers” at any given time, which can be made ready for some kind of performance at any given time. Alongside that there is new repertoire to