People are mistaken thinking that the creative artist uses art to express what he feels at the very moment of experience. Joy and sorrow are feelings expressed retrospectively. Without any particular cause for rejoicing I can be immersed in a mood of happy creativity and, conversely, I can produce, when cheerful, a piece saturated in […]

Title: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord (setting ii) Text: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4, 6 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:

“The difference between the reputation that Bach enjoyed in his lifetime and that which accumulated posthumously is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of music.” Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites.  Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 65.

Title: One Week (silent film soundtrack) Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 score (22:24) BACKGROUND: Film: Directors: Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton Starring: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Sybil Seely Date of release: 1920 Synopsis: A newly wed couple receive a generous gift of a house of their own. There’s […]

Puccini custom built a villa in the seaside resort of Viareggio. Here, Puccini had a “rain machine that sprinkled water from the trees, beneath which he would stand with an open umbrella, cooling himself from the summer heat. Source: Wilson, Conrad (2008) Giacomo Puccini. London: Phaidon Press, p.205.

Rachmaninoff once urged Horowitz to go for long walks.  “If you don’t walk, your fingers will not run.” Abram Chasins, “The Return of Horowitz”, The Saturday Evening Post, October 22, 1966, p.102-3. Cited in: Gerig, Reginald (1974) Famous Pianists and Their Technique.  Washington: Robert V. Luce, p.307.

Title: Easy Street (Silent film soundtrack) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score     Related products:     – MP3 soundtrack BACKGROUND: FILM:     Written by: Charles Chaplin, Vincent Bryan & Maverick Terrell     Starring: Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance & Eric Campbell     Directed by: Charles Chaplin & Edward Brewer     Released: 1917 SAMPLE:

Hubert Parry, who taught Vaughan Williams composition, instructed the composer to “write choral music as befits and Englishman and a democrat.” Vaughan Williams recalled that “this attitude to art led to an almost moral hated of mere luscious sound…” Vaughan Williams, cited in Holmes, Paul (1997) Vaughan Williams. London: Omnibus Press, p.17.

When Vladimir Horowitz performed in Japan: …. a kitchen had to be built in his suite because he insists that all his meals – fish or chicken only – be taken there. The electrical wiring ran afoul of Tokyo fire laws, requiring new wallpaper and a special floor. Several critics suggested in a music journal […]

If a man teaches composition in a university, how can he not be a composer? He has worked hard, learned his craft. Ergo, he is a composer. A professional. Like a doctor. But there is that doctor who opens you up, does exactly the right thing, closes you up—and you die. He failed to take […]