Through a Looking GlassTitle: Through a Looking Glass Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Duet Level: Piano I – level 1 (five finger position) Product medium: PDF score and MP3 accompaniment track (Audio sample of accompaniment track only
Water musicA common theme in the music of French composers at pre world war I was water. Debussy wrote En bateau (On the Boat), Sirenes (Sirens), Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in the Water), Voiles (Sails), and La Cathedrale engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral). Ravel wrote Jeux d’Eau (The Water Fountain), and Ondine. So striking a peculiarity of […]
Where to curse the orchestraThe following is an account of the conductor Hans von Bülow: Bülow’s close relationship with his Berlin audience was not achieved without some stress and strain along the way. At a Philharmonic concert in January 1892, a half-dozen latecomers, who had been held up at the cloakroom during the intermission, made a noisy entrance in […]
Accustomed to being ignoredJosef von Spaun recalled the following incident involving Franz Schubert at a concert. Schubert had just accompanied Baron Schönstein, at the house of Karolina Maria Kinsky (Princess, née Baroness Kerpen) when everyone loudly acclaimed Schönstein for his performance while taking no notice of the composer who had accompanied him, the princess sought to make amends […]
GreatnessGreatness means the construction of an inner world, and the communication of this inner world to the physical world of humanity. The two belong together; neither is thinkable without the other. The strongest feeling and the most vivid imagination are worthless to humanity if they do not manifest themselves; the greatest constructive talent is worthless […]
Mozart’s masterpieces“Mozart makes you believe in God – much more than going to church – because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and then passes after thirty-six years, leaving behind such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces.” Sir Georg Solti Source: Kelly, Henry & Foley, John (1998) Classic FM […]
The art within“Only art experienced within, in which the personality plays a creative role can be of interest …To achieve this, those of you who are not already in this sense dead, must die an expiatory death of all superficiality, of all that you have already learnt, of all encumbrances and of all that is false. Then, […]
Performers and performancesObedience and liberty in creativityA great work, I believe, is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty. Such a work satisfied the mind, together with that curious thing which is artistic emotion. Stravinsky said, “If I were permitted everything, I would be lost in the abyss of liberty.” On the one hand he knew the limits, on […]
The career of a musician compared to other artsThe career of a musician out to be — it is, actually, and in many ways — different from the careers of artists in other fields of art. All comparisons of the other arts with music are necessarily somewhat superficial. The art of music needs, essentially, not much contact with social groups, or concern with […]
