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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Coming at Wagner from a Different Direction November 13th, 2014 We associate Wagner with gloriously large orchestral sounds, with complex stories, and magnificent singing. It’s interesting, however, when we hear Wagner’s operatic writing from the viewpoint of the keyboard and in this recording by French pianist Wilhem Latchoumia, he shapes -
Are We Going to Party?
Groupmuse November 12th, 2014‘In this modern world, we are constantly confronted by this question of how best to spend our free time’, explains Sam Bodkin. ‘Are we going to engage with a challenging work of art?’ he asks. ‘Or are we going to -
Why there’s no Fairy Godmother in La Cenerentola November 11th, 2014 Who doesn’t know the story of Cinderella? The tale of a young girl tormented by stepsisters, who with the help of her fairy godmother, pumpkin carriages and glass slippers, goes to a ball and marries the prince. But is it -
Debussy’s New Vision of an Old Standard November 10th, 2014 When we think of a musical piece called a ‘Prelude,’ we think of the monumental series of Preludes and Fugues by J.S. Bach, or, more adventurously, Chopin’s 1838 series of 24 Preludes, Op. 28. When the French composer Claude Debussy -
Raphaël Pichon and the Ensemble Pygmalion November 9th, 2014 Baroque music arguably suffers the most when it comes to its perceived stuffiness. In the world of historical performance practice, many retreat into the dark corners of the library, poring over dusty treatises to debate the authority of the way -
Weaving a Global Tapestry of Sound
The Silk Road Ensemble November 9th, 2014‘It’s based around the basic instrumentation.’ ‘What would that be?’ ‘Mainly Western strings, percussion, plucked instruments, like my pipa, sometimes a Middle Eastern oud, or a guitar, and we have the Iranian kamancheh. Oh – and we have Indian tabla, -
The Dog Ate My Music — Excuses For Not Practicing November 8th, 2014 The dinosaur ate my homework. The dog ate my homework. The computer ate my homework. Through the ages teachers have heard extremely convincing excuses to not do their work. Dear music pupils: Don’t tell me you’ve practiced when you haven’t. -
Streetwise Opera November 8th, 2014 Amongst the wealth of operatic activity in the UK today (as surveyed recently on Interlude), the work of Streetwise Opera stands out as some of the most important. Founded in 2000, they have worked with London’s homeless on a number