Greatness

Greatness 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 if it does not serve a creative power that is capable of forming a cosmos.

Einstein, Alfred (1941) Greatness in music.  Trans. César Saerchinger.  New York: Oxford, p.163.  Cited in: Barrett-Ayres, Reginald (1974) Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet.  London: Barrie & Jenkins, p. 387.

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The Just Will Live in the Presence of the Lord (Setting II) – Psalm 14 (15)
Title: The just will live in the presence of the Lord (Setting II) Text: Psalm 14 (15):2-5 (setting ii) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
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Beauty Around Us
Title: Beauty Around Us Composer: Greg Smith Based on text by: Bernhard Severin Ingemann Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score     Related products:     – Beauty Around Us (hymn version)     – Beauty Around Us (easy piano version)     – Beauty Around Us (mp3) SAMPLE:
Purpose of the arts
Rachmaninoff and phrasing
A student of Rachmaninoff, Ruth Slenczynska, recalled: I remember how Rachmaninoff explained to me the problem of phrasing: he showed me an elastic band and stretched it slightly, then allowed it to bounce back; next, he stretched it beyond a certain point, and it snapped. He meant to say that no part of a musical […]
The musician’s role: maintain our trust in the world
“I feel that tolerance, love and social harmony can and should be the by-products of an artist’s way of life and creation.  I would like to believe that beauty and truth, two great disciplines, when combined as they are in music, where order is based on self-restraint and a better understanding of repose, will lead […]
A bewitched recording
Early phonograph recordings were a little rough.  In 1889, pianist Hans von Bülow was asked to play into a phonograph in America: After playing upon a pianoforte, from which issued sounds compared to the soft and dreamy gurgle of a brook, the far-off sighign of the night wind and the roar of the cataract, he […]
The power of music
“Music is a readily available, highly effective tool that you use to improve both your cognitive and physical abilities.” Arthur Winter, English priest and cricketer Cited at: QuotationsBook  
Who needs four strings anyway?
In his work Le Streghe (The Witches), the virtuoso violinist Paganini would use scissors to reduce the number of strings on his violin throughout the piece, until he would be left playing the work on just the G string. Source: Haylock, Julian, “Nicolo Paganini”, Classic FM, December 2009, p. 41.
Beauty Around Us
Title: Beauty Around Us Composer: Greg Smith Based on text by: Bernhard Severin Ingemann Instrumentation: Piano (easy) Product medium: PDF score     Related products:     – Beauty Around Us (hymn version)     – Beauty Around Us (full piano version)     – Beauty Around Us (mp3) SAMPLE: