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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Salzburg Mozarteum – the Place to Smell Music March 30th, 2015 The Mozarteum University, nestled in the Austrian town of Salzburg, forms an inseparable part of the musical fabric of this artistically and historically rich town. Thomas Manhart from the Mozarteum’s press office tells me how the School that dates back -
Composer’s Pianos: Piano Innovation March 29th, 2015 The Alex Cobbe Collection of composer’s pianos is a collection that can give us a feeling for how pianos developed, often in response to the demands of composers. The square piano, called that despite the fact that they’re actually rectangles, -
“Before I compose a piece, I walk around it several times” March 29th, 2015 For Erik Satie, dance, theatre and cabaret music run as virtually continuous threads throughout his life. And every single composition adheres to the virtues of his musical craft; simplicity, brevity and precision. Many of Satie’s early compositional efforts rely on -
A-Mao Wang March 28th, 2015 “I thought if I could play my own work, nobody would know if I played the wrong notes or wrong rhythms.” This was what composer and pianist A-Mao Wang thought, when at the age of 10, her father asked her -
Mozart does Bach and Handel March 28th, 2015 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the undisputed pop star of the 18th century! Numerous composers and musicians arranged his music, and profited handsomely from this indirect association with a superstar. But Mozart himself was also a rather active arranger of works -
Aimez Vous Brahms? I March 28th, 2015 Hamburg, a Hanseatic city of 1.8 million inhabitants, previously a free city-state. It is part of the Hanseatic chain of ports, sitting on the Baltic Sea. (along with Lübeck, Antwerp, Bergen, Novgorod and London by extension) -
Antoni Gaudí: God’s Architect March 27th, 2015 The unfinished church of “Sagrada Familia” in Barcelona is Antoni Gaudí’s exceptional creative contribution to the development of architecture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. George Orwell called it “one of the most hideous buildings in the world!” -
Composer’s Pianos: The Elgar Piano March 26th, 2015 The Alex Cobbe Collection at Hatchlands, near Guilford, Surry, holds an interesting variety of pianos, most with composer connections. When we look at a composer’s piano, for the most part, we can only imagine what works were created on it.