Conductor and pianist Seymour Lipkin (born 1928) recalled piano lessons with his teacher, Bohemian-born pianist Rudolf Serkin: He said so many memorable things to me that I continue to pass on to my students.  A few examples: “The worst crime you can commit as an artist is to bore your listeners”; for another, “People who […]

Pianist Glenn Gould discussed the recording process with Yehudi Menuhin completing the playback of a Bach gigue: Now, Yehudi, you’ve got to admit that you would not be likely to encounter a sound like that in the concert hall… The point is that, if I were to play that piece in a concert hall, as […]

Title: Mass of Solidarity Text: Roman Catholic Mass Composer: Greg Smith Sections: – Penitential rite – Gloria – Gospel acclamation – Creed – Holy – Eucharistic acclamations – Amen – Lamb of God Additional: – Gospel acclamations for Lent (Glory and Praise to You) – Gospel acclamations for specific Sundays or Feasts available on request. Instrumentation: – SATB […]

Robert Schumann aspired to be awarded a doctorate degree. On January 31 1840, Robert Schumann asked a friend to appeal to the University of Jena to give him an honorary degree, or set him a degree to pass, on the grounds of: “My sphere of action as an editor on a high-class paper, which has […]

“When you’re young, you can be taken with the impulse of the moment and the beauty of a phrase, but the older you get, the more you see that the phrase is only beautiful because of the context within which it works.  The melody is only the outward manifestation of something quite deep inside and […]

Ravel was very particular about how his works were performed.  Ravel always insisted that the tempo for Boléro should be moderate and rigorously maintained throughout.  He made a recording of that, too establishing his requirement.  Toscanini took it much faster and made an accelerando towards the end.  Ravel, who was in the audience, objected.  He […]

“Set me a task in which I can put something of my very self, and it is a task no longer. It is joy and art.” -Carman Bliss, Canadian Poet Cited at QuotationsBook  

Title: Love came down at Christmas Text: Christina Rossetti Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano solo Product medium: PDF score     Related products:     – Love came down at Christmas – SATB and piano     – Love came down at Christmas – Piano solo (MP3) hase_link id=”1673″ text=”Purchase” style=”button” color=”blue”] Samples:

In a radio interview in 1937, Edward Elgar’s violinist friend William H. Reed described Elgar’s “distractions” while composing the violin concerto: I can never play the last movement without seeing the River Wye flowing past the meadow at Hereford where Sir Edward and I used to practise throwing a boomerang in our “off-time” between working […]

Title: Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble (setting ii) Text: Psalm 90 (91): 1-2, 10-15. R. v.15 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: SATB score and partSAMPLE: