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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Musical Giants of the 20th Century: Violists October 23rd, 2016 Sadly the viola has been unjustly maligned. The following five consummate violists have put the viola on the map as a solo instrument, and without them we wouldn’t have the outstanding world-renown players we hear today. -
The Poet for the Modern Age October 22nd, 2016 When the Nobel Prize for Literature was given out in 2016, music to everyone’s surprise, it went to a writer who was not only known all over the world but also was given to someone for whom almost everyone probably -
The Figaro Line and Cherubino October 22nd, 2016 In Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, we are introduced to the ever-enterprising Figaro. He solves Count Almaviva’s courting problem with Rosina by thwarting her guardian’s marriage intentions. Count Almaviva and Rosina appear again with Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, -
Composers and their Poets: Schubert II October 21st, 2016 After the simple joys and fatal ending of Die schöne Müllerin, the feeling of Winterreise comes as an interesting change. This time, Schubert set all 24 of the verses written by Wilhelm Müller. The cycle was first published in 1823 -
Ancient Sounding Timbers
Pianos by Stuart & Sons October 20th, 2016If you’ve been reading my column on instrument makers over the years, you certainly must have noticed that I am highly critical of the huge number of mass-produced and bland pianos that are being churned out by established brands every -
Pianos, old and new October 19th, 2016 Some years ago I heard two performances of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in the same day: the first was on an 1848 Pleyel from the Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands, UK, a piano said to have been used by Chopin -
Steve Reich & Beryl Korot
A Relationship of Shared Ideas October 18th, 2016Working on tape-based techniques of looping and phasing by using recordings of fragments of speech, Steve Reich created a compositional process involving structures of minimalist art and musical technique. Simultaneously, Beryl Korot was working along very similar lines in the -
Minors of the Majors
Gabriel Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 October 17th, 2016“Minors of the Majors” invites you to discover compositions by the great classical composers that for one reason or another have not reached the musical mainstream. Please enjoy, and keep listening!