Know Your Composer
Recently, I had a chat with a young colleague who suggested that the writing of biographies of great composers was a boring myth-making exercise practiced in a cultural galaxy far away and two centuries removed. She had a point about the myth making, of course, but I really couldn’t
Know Your Composer
Erik Satie was a French composer born in the late 1800s. And while, oftentimes, the first thing that comes to mind when we think of French Impressionistic composers is a creative yet prim-and-proper type, it is clear that Mr. Satie was anything but. Satie was dubbed “Mr. Precursor” by Debussy
Know Your Composer
The ubiquitous portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach, painted by court portraitist Elias Haussmann, adorns book covers, music school classrooms, record sleeves, and perhaps visits the nightmares of students working feverishly to master his ferociously complex works. The 60 year-old Bach, bewigged, piercing of eye, holding in his surprisingly soft and
Know Your Composer
A composition inspired by nature and aspiring to the impulse of liberation that a bird in flight represents, Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending is also a gentle love letter to the rolling English countryside. By Jehangir Batiwala Never underestimate nature. The truth of this statement normally becomes apparent
Know Your Composer
While we’re still in lockdown / curfew / restrictions / whatchamacallit, the rest of the world is slowly, cautiously, opening up. The Wigmore Hall London, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading centres for chamber music, threw open its doors to live audiences, “in line with Government guidelines.” One of
Know Your Composer
The celebrated Indian composer Vanraj Bhatia passed away on 7 May, just a few weeks shy of his 94th birthday. I listened and fell in love with Bhatia’s music without even realising it. I refer to the signature tune of the popular TV serial ‘Khandaan’, the ‘Liril’ soap advertisement
Know Your Composer
The collection of music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) commonly referred to as the “works for solo lute”, has been the subject of study and debate for centuries. The arguments have recently been focussed on whether or not Bach wrote these pieces for the lute, lautenwerk (a lute-harpsichord hybrid)
Know Your Composer
Despite the worsening coronavirus pandemic in India, the media circus over the Bengal elections has been so all-consuming that one hopes the birth centenary of Satyajit Ray (2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992), one of its great sons of the soil doesn’t get forgotten. The 51st edition of IFFI
Know Your Composer
Whether we like it or not, Hector Berlioz is primarily associated with a single composition. Everybody knows his Symphonie Fantastique, but his religious works, the dramatic legends, his songs and even his operas are rarely scheduled for performance, and they have remained an enigma to the concert going public. One
Know Your Composer
It was the birth centenary of larger-than-life Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger Astor Piazzolla (11 March 1921 – 4 July 1992) last month.The Strad magazine carried a tribute article “How should we interpret tango music?” a guide to classically-trained violinists on how to tackle this music genre. Yet
Know Your Composer
It has been said that a performance of Ravel’s Boléro begins every 10 minutes somewhere in the world. The Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein, a close friend and financial supporter of Ravel, commissioned the piece. Originally, it was part of a ballet production and first performed on 22 November 1928
Know Your Composer
The common image of the struggling artist started with Mr. Ludwig van B. We all know the story of him overcoming his disability to create some of the most uplifting and inspirational masterpieces in music. But we don’t have to be necessarily rich and famous to struggle with adversity;
