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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Ruth Crawford-Seeger: It’s Depressing! March 16th, 2016 The “Great Depression” was the immediate result of the sudden devastating collapse of the US stock market on 29 October 1929. Known as “Black Tuesday,” it plunged the world into a severe economic downturn in the 1930’s. Construction virtually halted -
Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016)
Make it new by making it old March 15th, 2016Like an enormous surgeon’s scalpel, the Second World War indiscriminately severed musical and cultural arteries. A new world order was gradually taking shape, and music became a pretty adornment to our busy little lives. Coming of age in the years -
Schubert’s Impromptus March 15th, 2016 I’ve been playing and listening to Schubert’s Opus 90 Impromptus since I was about 14, when my mother fell in love with Alfred Brendel playing the fourth of the set, in A flat, and insisted that I learn it. So, -
Minors of the Majors
Richard Strauss: Oboe Concerto March 14th, 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! -
“If music be the food of love, play on.”
Shakespeare and Music VII – Hamlet March 13th, 2016The Tragedy of Hamlet is one of the most quoted works in the English language and has had a pervasive influence on virtually every art form—literature, film, stage, screen, art and music. What better play to perform on a two–year -
Music – Silence – and the Art of Listening March 13th, 2016 In December 2015 I attended the last performance of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations played by the Russian/German pianist Igor Levit in the Drill Hall of New York’s City’s Park Avenue Armory — the setting arranged by the performance artist Marina -
Toccata
A striking piece of Music! March 12th, 2016During the Renaissance, lute music was all the rage! A versatile instrument used for accompanying vocal works or for playing short solo dance pieces, it was the most important instrument for secular entertainment. An important aspect of lute performance was -
How You Should Feel in the Key of G Minor March 11th, 2016 The Austrian composer and pianist Ernst Pauer (1826-1905) was a student of Mozart’s son, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, before moving to London in 1851. He was one of the first piano professors at the Royal College of Music and also