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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Redefining the piano summer school April 13th, 2016 Launched in 2015, La Balie, in the beautiful Lot-et-Garonne region of France, is the brain-child of Fiona Page, a high-flying former CEO and amateur pianist. After a busy and satisfying career in finance, Fiona felt the tug of a change -
Ferruccio Busoni
“Music is the art of sounds in the movement of time” April 12th, 2016Ferruccio Busoni was the only child of two professional musicians. His Italian father was an accomplished clarinetist and his German mother a capable pianist. Towards the end of his life Busoni declared, “I bless my father for having directed me -
Minors of the Majors
Franz Liszt: Cantantibus organis April 11th, 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! The 1860’s were not particularly kind to Franz Liszt. -
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
Shakespeare and Music VIII – Othello April 10th, 2016Othello has long been a seductive Shakespeare tragedy, adaptable to our present day life with its enduring leitmotifs—love, mistrust, duplicity, racism, retaliation and remorse. -
The Mermaid Singer and Her Song April 10th, 2016 The not-so-young composer was working on the next piece after the work that made him a national star. The singer was an up-and-coming contralto. At the 1899 Norwich Festival, Edward Elgar unveiled his new song cycle, Sea Pictures, with the -
The Angst and Agony of Young Love
Ferruccio Busoni and Gerda Sjöstrand I April 9th, 2016At age 22, Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) was appointed piano teacher at the conservatory of Helsingfors, then part of the Russian Empire, today known as the Finnish capital Helsinki. Stable employment and income aside, Busoni could not speak a word of -
How You Should Feel in the Key of A major April 8th, 2016 In our earlier series on C major and minor, G major and minor, and D major and minor, we listed Ernst Pauer’s suggestions from 1876 of pieces that fit the particular affect he assigned for a key. For the rest -
Cosplay at the Philharmonic April 7th, 2016 I went to a concert the other night – dynamic conductor, electrifying soloist, enthusiastic audience that cheered as each piece was announced and often sang along with the melodies – and yet the programme consisted of music that you hear,