The solo violin has long been acknowledged as the perfect instrument to express emotions like love, longing, heartbreak, rapture, and romance. The Romantic era lasted from the early nineteenth century to the early twentieth century and produced numerous works that
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In touch with Carol Lin October 21st, 2013 Carol Ho-Yan Lin is one of Hong Kong’s leading mezzo-sopranos. A graduate of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), she furthered her studies with the American mezzo-soprano Delores Ziegler at the New England Conservatory in Boston where she -
An inconvenient proposal!
Francis Poulenc and Raymonde Linossier October 20th, 2013Invariably, Francis Poulenc is described as a man of constant contradictions. A sense of ambivalence and ambiguity is readily found in his compositions, but it also extends to his sexual behavior and preferences. Poulenc was a devout Catholic and homosexual -
Practice makes perfect…but what makes perfect practice? October 19th, 2013 There’s one word that many musicians fear, a word that strikes terror (or boredom) into their hearts. Of course, I can only be talking about practice. Why do we hate it so much? It’s a necessary part of every musician’s -
Horatio Parker October 18th, 2013 The New Haven Conservative In the United States, Charles Ives is revered as a cultural messiah who provided musical identity to a country desperately searching for a classical musical tradition of its own. Ives went to school at Yale University, -
In touch with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená October 14th, 2013 The Nightingale from Czech With her father a mathematician and her mother a biologist, it would have been natural for Magdalena Kožená to become a scientist. Nevertheless, she chose to be a musician; piano was her first love, but she -
When the Symphony Embraces the Concerto
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 83 October 13th, 2013In 1881, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) wrote to his friend Elisabeth von Herzogenberg that he had finished “a tiny little piano concerto with a wisp of a scherzo.” At that time, Elisabeth could scarcely have known that Brahms had just completed -
Matthias Goerne October 12th, 2013 German baritone Matthias Goerne (b.1967) is one of the most celebrated singers of his generation. Since studying with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, he has become one of the world’s foremost song recitalists, and since his début as Papageno at -
Music and the Arts in 19th and 20th Century Russia II October 11th, 2013 In last month’s article I focused on the relationships between musicians, artists and writers in 19th century Russia, which foreshadowed the even more drastic changes of the beginning of the 20th century. Not only would the artists and painters, associated