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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Voices of the Shanghai Conservatory I July 25th, 2015 Shanghai’s Municipal Orchestra, later to become the Shanghai Symphony, began subscription concerts in 1919. Under the direction of the expatriate Italian virtuoso Mario Paci, the orchestra relied exclusively on foreign players and rarely strayed beyond Shanghai’s colonial settlements. Over time, -
The Great Women Artists Who Shaped Music VIII- Doriot Anthony Dwyer July 25th, 2015 When Doriot Anthony Dwyer, flutist was selected as one of the first woman principal players in a top five U.S. orchestra the press went crazy, “Woman Crashes Boston Symphony: Eyebrows Lifted as Miss Anthony sat at Famous Flutist’s Desk,” “Flutist, -
BBC Proms 2015
Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel, Op. 28 July 23rd, 2015For Richard Strauss, music was always capable of telling a good story. In his tone poems, we find a composer “capable of making poetic or narrative content and formal design coalesce with great brilliance.” Strauss’s tone poems—although he preferred to -
Klais Organs: The Power behind the Throne July 22nd, 2015 The age-old craft of organ building is a highly creative profession that demands constant analysis of tradition, while simultaneously keeping abreast of the latest technical, practical and aesthetic developments. Respect for proven values and tradition has to be carefully balanced -
Brahms by Arrangement July 21st, 2015 During his early compositional career, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) exhibited a heightened sense of musical insecurity. He self-consciously responded to criticism, even when leveled by his closest personal friends, by ruthlessly destroying or severely reshaping his compositions. His Piano Quintet in -
Instruments of the Orchestra XII: The Tuba July 20th, 2015 The youngest instrument added to the orchestra is also the largest. At the bottom of the brass section, providing the support to carry all those other brass and wind instruments is the tuba. It made its appearance in the modern -
Too Good for Hong Kong July 19th, 2015 The HKPhil has recently been under fire for actively suppressing local artistic talent. A quick glance at the orchestra’s 2015-2016 concert season, merely featuring one local conductor, a pop singer and a magician, clearly seems to support that impression. In -
The Best of Tchaikovsky
Reflections on the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition July 18th, 2015Sadly, the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition, celebrating the 175th anniversary of the composer’s birth, ended this week. After numerous hours of intense music listening, from thousands of miles away via Medici TV, my adrenaline rush climaxed with the two final galas