The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
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Composer’s Pianos: The Cobbe Collection March 22nd, 2015 The Alec Cobbe collection, housed at Hatchlands Park, near Guildford, Surrey, England, holds pianos owned by a number of different composers, such as Haydn’s Longman & Brodrip piano; Mahler’s 1836 Graf piano; Elgar’s 1844 Broadwood piano; Chopin’s 1848 Pleyel, used -
Erik Satie March 22nd, 2015 “Memoirs of an Amnesiac” When eccentricity and classical music are used in the same sentence, Erik Satie (1866-1925) immediately comes to mind. Irreverent, disrespectful, contemptuous of tradition, forcefully direct and brutally honest, Satie famously wrote underneath his self-portrait, “I have -
iSING! in Vancouver March 21st, 2015 Nessun Dorma was the caption on a colourful poster for the 13th annual CCSA ( Chinese Community Service Association ) Chinese New Year Gala held in Vancouver on 10th February, 2015, to celebrate the Year of the Goat, Sheep or -
Baldwin: The National Piano March 21st, 2015 What do Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Liberace, Dave Brubeck and various other performers, ensembles and composers have in common? They all preferred the rich sound of the Baldwin Piano. Dwight Hamilton Baldwin (1821-1899) originally hailed from northwestern Pennsylvania, -
Recalling Richter March 20th, 2015 “…I don’t play for the audience, I play for myself, and if I derive any satisfaction from it, then the audience, too, is content.” Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) 20th March 2015 marks the centenary of the birth of Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter. -
Shackelton’s Cat March 19th, 2015 English Touring Opera maintains an reputation not only for high-quality productions both of core and rarely performed repertoire, but also for a wide-ranging education programme. That programme includes collaborative work with dementia sufferers (see Interlude’s previous feature on this Turtle -
Musical Sudoku II March 19th, 2015 Now that your little grey cells are all warmed up, are you ready for a more complicated puzzle canon from Bach’s Musical Offering? If so, the 4th canon will probably give you a very good workout, indeed. Bach inscribed this -
Music as a Character – John Malkovich and Ksenia Kogan Exclusive March 18th, 2015 I always approach a music/text collaboration with caution. So often neither are made for each other; they exist perfectly happily by themselves, and risk losing something of their intrinsic value when joined together, an artistic Odd Couple at each other’s