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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Scriabin made me do it! March 25th, 2015 The power of music is just awesome! Trumpets shattered the walls of Jericho, and when Orpheus tenderly tickled his lute, his dead wife Euridice returned to life. Given such enormous powers, you better be careful because listening to music can -
Composer’s Pianos: Chopin’s pianos March 24th, 2015 The Alex Cobbe collection in England is the largest collection of composers’ piano in the world. Three of the most important pieces of the collection are the pianos owned by Chopin, each of which was used during the final year -
Composer’s Pianos: The Liszt Upright March 23rd, 2015 The Alex Cobbe collection outside Guildford, England, holds a unique piano created for a unique performer. During Franz Liszt’s trips to Florence after 1873, he was loaned a piano by its maker, Carlo Ducci. This isn’t a multi-foot grand piano -
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.