Worry less about what you make — that will mostly look after itself, and is to some extent beyond your control, and perhaps even none of your business — and devote yourself to nourishing this animating spirit. Bring all your enthusiasm to bear on the development of that good and essential force. This is done […]

Title: The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice Text: Psalm 97 (98): 5-9. R. v.9 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:

The conductor Stokowski (who was the conductor of Disney’s Fantasia) was a pioneer of orchestral recording.  This was not without its problems: Stokowski was moving more and more toward what is recognized as his most significant achievement – the broadening of popular interest in serious music.  He developed a firm conviction that radio, recordings, and […]

Title: Wexford Carol Text: 12th century Irish Composer: 12th century Irish, arr. Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano     Related products:     – Wexford Carol – SATB and piano (PDF score) Product medium: PDF score and parts Sample:

The composer Harold Shapero, who lived a few doors away from Bernstein in Newton and was a year behind him at Harvard, also noted Bernstein’s cavalier approach to counterpoint studies. “Lenny didn’t come to class at all. I was a dutiful little student. I did my Palestrina stuff and I got an ‘A.’ . . […]

There is, behind the soul and the whole life of the artist, perhaps a suffering soul … The moment one day will come in which perhaps yourself – if you possess a soul as I wish to believe – you will be able to see through feeling without any explanation. – Dimitri Mitropoulos to Leonard […]

Title: The Battle of the Somme (silent movie score) Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: Full score (PDF download) – 80 pages     Related products:     – The Battle of the Somme (MP3) Background: In 1916 France was struggling to fend off German occupation.  It had become apparent that to break the stalemate Britain […]

Music can imply the infinite if enough things depart from the norm far enough. Strange “abnormal” events can lead to the feeling that anything can happen, and you have a music with no boundaries. – Morton Feldman, American composer Cited in Tom Johnson, Remembrance, September 1987. Accessed 13 May 2013.

Pianist Freddy Kempf on the recording process: Solo recording is the most indulgent type … it’s 90 per cent down to me. The producer can shout at me all he likes, but if I am set on doing it my way, there’s few people who can stop me! – Freddy Kempf, in an interview with […]

‘The following is an account of the conductor Hans von Bülow: Young composers whom Bülow decided to feature in the concerts were encouraged to present themselves at the rehearsals, and even to direct the orchestra themselves, whenever it was deemed to be helpful.  We can only admire the resourcefulness of the budding symphonist who, in […]