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 Musical Anecdotes.  London: Hodder & Stoughton, p. 63.

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Schnabel on recording
Having spent five days recording five Beethoven sonatas and two concertos, Schnabel wrote to his wife: This week was an ordeal, a torture chamber. “What does not kill me makes me stronger,” says Nietzsche. Hopefully (probably) this is true. I had no idea of how outrageous a process the recording on discs could be. Like […]
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Underrated and overrated composers
“Polls of various musical personalities (but not me) in the Times about who’s underrated and who’s overrated.  Naturally Vivaldi is deemed overrated in the light of Bach.  Since everyone knows he’s overrated.  I’d have said he’s the most underrated of overrated composers.” Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary 1986-1999.  Cambridge: MA: Da Capo Press, p.82. […]
I Will Praise You, Lord – Psalm 29 (30)
Title: I will praise you, Lord Text: Psalm 29 (30): 2, 4-6, 11-13 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
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Ganymed (Schubert)
Title: Ganymed (Op. 19, No. 3)Composer: Franz SchubertArranger: Greg SmithInstrumentation: Cello and pianoProduct medium: PDF score and part Sample:
The line and the harmony
Phrases have their own topography—they move forward with the line but also remain wedded to the ground with each change of harmony, and this is where the battle lies, why each piece of music grapples with its own destructive potential, why beauty is never what it appears to be. — Simon Tedeschi S. Tedeschi, Fugitive, […]
Sleepy Bear
Title: Sleepy BearComposer: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoPerformer: Greg Smith (22 March 2009) Your browser does not support the audio element. Sheet music
Fightened of ideas
“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” – John Cage Cited in: Richard Kostelantez. Conversing with Cage (New York : Limelight Editions, 1988).
Art and patience
“Good art is nothing more than infinite patience.” William Wallace Kimball, founder of Kimball Piano Company Cited in: Cited in: Kimball, K., Petersen, R., Johnson, K. (1990) The Music Lover’s Quotation Book. Toronto: Sound and Vision, p. 85.