We all know Bess’ song from Porgy and Bess: ‘Summertime, and the Livin’ is Easy’. We decided to do a survey of what other composers thought about summer and were surprised at the very different moods and modes composers used
Latest article
Spotlight
-
BBC Proms 2015
Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 2 July 15th, 2015It is difficult to make a living as a composer at the best of times. But when you are trying to make your mark at the peak of music’s history as a cultural form, your chances of success diminish significantly. -
A Marriage of Cousins
Sergei Rachmaninoff and Natalya Satina July 14th, 2015Sergei Rachmaninoff and Natalya Satina knew each other since childhood. This is hardly surprising as Natalya was the child of Alexander Alexandrovich Satin and Varvara Arkadyevna Rachmaninoff. Her mother Varvara, as such, was the sister of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s father, Vasily -
The Juilliard School July 13th, 2015 Standing proudly on West 65th Street in the heart of Manhattan, the striking Lincoln Center building plays host to the Juilliard School, a world-renowned centre of study for dance, drama, and music. The activities at the school are as numerous -
Organ Restoration — A Lifelong Calling July 12th, 2015 Master Organ builder Wolfgang Rehn, (who, incidentally, happens to be my very own brother) formerly director of organ restoration at Kuhn Organ Builders, of Männedorf, Switzerland (www. orgelbau.ch) had started his career as a designer and builder of new organs. -
Students and Teachers July 12th, 2015 School’s out for summer! Well, formal school, but practicing continues on forever. We know how influential our teachers can be so we thought we’d look at teachers of the past and see how curiously far they reach into the present. -
Rach goes to the Movies July 11th, 2015 Just four days shy of his 70th birthday, Sergei Rachmaninoff died of melanoma on 28 March 1943 in Beverly Hills, California. He always wished to be buried at his estate in Switzerland, but the ravages of WWII only allowed for -
Don’t, Won’t, Can’t July 11th, 2015 Songs tell us about all sorts of things: love, the beauty of spring, and all about happiness. But there are lots of songs that just go to the negative. When we look at songs that say don’t, won’t or can’t, -
Hildegard von Bingen: Nun more versatile! July 10th, 2015 She experienced “shades of the living light” at age three, and understood that she was experiencing visions by the age of five. Her parents, a family of the free lower nobility, had absolutely no idea how to deal with the