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Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor opens with one of the most powerful and iconic introductions in music history. A mighty four-note descending line, stated three times in the horns, is punctuated by orchestral thunderbolts. A soaring and expansive theme emerges in the strings, accompanied by colossal
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Camille Saint-Saëns was 24 years old when, during the summer of 1859, he composed Symphony No. 2 in A minor. It is a work which is both youthful and convention-defying. Intimate and compact, this music is far removed from the monumental grandeur of the “Organ Symphony,” which Saint-Saëns wrote some
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The Latvian composer, Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946), began as “a young, angry and avant-garde” modernist. Over time, his music evolved to embrace consonance, simplicity, spirituality, Latvian folk influences, and “echoes of bird songs.” Composed in 2013, Vasks’ The Fruit of Silence is a choral setting of a prayer by Mother
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In the historiography of Western music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart occupies a special position. We consider him an exceptional and singular musical genius who attained the status of an undisputed superstar of Classical music. God-like status and reverence aside, we also understand, however, that Mozart was very human in his emotions
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Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was determined to devote her life to music and thus she studied at the Leipzig Conservatory. There she met Dvořák, Grieg and Tchaikovsky, and later through her private teacher Heinrich von Herzogenberg, became acquainted with Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Tchaikovsky wrote in his memoirs, “Miss Smyth
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Franz Joseph Haydn’s 1798 oratorio, The Creation, begins with a shocking musical depiction of chaos which, at times, seems to anticipate the chromaticism of Wagner. This famously progressive harmony sets the stage for a masterful dramatization of the creation of the world, as outlined in the Book of Genesis.
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Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940) was one of the most impressive and exciting musical voices at the beginning of the 20th century. She wrote her first compositions for piano solo at the age of nine, and graduated from Brno Conservatory with a piano concerto, which she conducted herself. She was able to
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The British cellist, Steven Isserlis, has called Franz Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major, “the greatest Classical cello concerto. It’s full of joy, of joyous virtuosity. It’s perfect.” Haydn wrote this music in the early 1760s, around the time that he began employment as
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Museums can be magical places as they collect, preserve, interpret and display objects of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance. Exhibitions tell us stories of communities and cultures or highlight particular missions such as civil rights or environmentalism. In essence, museums are storehouses of knowledge and community treasures, and their collections
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“The opening movement of the Sonata [No. 21] in B-flat Major goes beyond analysis,” writes the pianist Stephen Hough. “It is one of those occasions when the pen has to be set down on the desk, the body rested against the back of a chair, and a listener’s whole
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By placing Ludwig van B. on a musical pedestal we tend to forget that he was surrounded by a whole host of talented composers and musicians who competed for his audience. And as we all know, Beethoven was a difficult person to get along with at the best of times,
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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) seems to sneak up on me in the unlikeliest of places. I‘m not much of a Netflixer, and tend to watch episodes of series very erratically, often with weeks to months in between. One such series is ‘Outlander’, based on the eponymous historical fiction novel
