Julius Asal on interpretation

On the one hand, I believe that to connect tradition and innovation is the most important thing to me personally. On the other hand, to explore the score and be close to what the composer wanted is essential. There is a way to find your own language within the details that the composers left.

Julius Asal. Cited in: J. Duchen, “Improvisations on Scriabin and Scarlatti: Julius Asal follows his intuition”, Bachtrack, 9 August 2024, https://bachtrack.com/interview-julius-asal-scriabin-scarlatti-stage-plus-deutsche-grammophon-august-2024, (accessed 25 April 2025).


Posted

in

by


Featured Content

Satie on La Mer
At the 1905 premiere of La Mer, one of whose movements is called “From Dawn to Midday on the Sea”, Debussy received the usual post-performance congratulations. Satie’s deflating comment was, “Ah, my dear friend, there’s one particular moment between half past ten and a quarter to eleven that I found especially stunning.” Levison, B. (2015). […]
Skye Boat Song
Title: Skye Boat Song Composer: Scottish folk melody (arr. Greg Smith) Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score
Form and content
“I think that one way toward a more intelligent and involved appraisal is through a connection with the pieces, and that one way to develop that connection is to talk about what the pieces mean to people who have spent a lot of time with them: the content, if you will. This approach can also […]
Art cannot change events. But it can change people.
“The point is, art never stopped a war and never got anybody a job. That was never its function. Art cannot change events. But it can change people. It can affect people so that they are changed…because people are changed by art – enriched, ennobled, encouraged – they then act in a way that may […]
Szymanowski’s dogs
The Polish composer Karol Szymanowski was brought up in  very musical environment: he had a dogs named “Scherzo” and “Crotchet”. Source: Palmer, Christopher (1983) Szymanowski.  London: BBC, p. 9.
Adding quality music to the world
“My music is melodic.  After all, why add to the world’s problem’s with bad music.” Alexander Prior, composer. Source: Classic FM, December 2009, p.9
Let My Tongue Be Silenced – Psalm 136 (137)
Title: Let my tongue be silenced Text: Psalm 136 (137) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano (unison verses) Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:    
Rachmaninoff’s concert routine
Reporters described Sergei Rachmaninoff on a concert tour (c. 1940): His punctuality is a legend.  If a reporter asks for two minutes of his time, two minutes and no more are given.  Consequently he arrives at a concert hall on the dot of 8 and goes on the stage precisely at 8:30.  If the concert […]
The excitement of all possibilities
“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of all possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” Gloria Steinem, writer http://www.gloriasteinem.com  
The spice of music
“Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.” Frank Zappa, composer Cited at QuotationsBook.