Scriabin’s fiery D#-minor Etude, with its relentless triplets and huge leaps, used to just fall under my fingers, while the Lento final movement of the Copland Sonata was a minefield of wrong notes. Why is that? Is it just because we practice hard music 20 times as much as easy music, or is it psychological, or what?”
Kyle Gann ponders music and the mind…
Click here to read blog
Kyle Gann, “Post Rehearsal Musings”, Arts Journal, 26 May 2009.
Difficult music is the easiest to play
by
Featured Content
The significance of the individual
“You are an extremely valuable, worthwhile, significant person even though your present circumstances may have you feeling otherwise.” – James Newmann, American mathematician
My tempo must be followedRavel 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 […]
Fill Us With Your Love, O Lord – Psalm 89 (90)Title: Fill us with your love, O Lord Text: Psalm 89 (90): 12-17. R. v.14 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE: .
A mushroom anyone?…everybody was possessed by the Russian passion for gathering mushrooms. Rivalries ran high, mushrooms were counted and compared, their beauty was discussed. Rachmaninoff was an early riser and often went alone for a walk in the woods. He used to return contented and start teasing (he was a great teaser). One day he badgered us […]
Puccini’s hangoutPuccini was a very sociable man, quote often putting this before his composing. Even when he was working hard, he maintained an active social life: With the opening of the 1894-1895 season not far way, Puccini began steady work on La Bohème in Torre. But he also needed a place to relax, so his “second […]
Never use a scoreI never use a score when conducting my orchestra. Does a lion tamer enter a cage with a book on how to tame a lion? — Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor Zographos, Achilleas (2017) Music and Chess. Milford: Russell Enterprises Inc.
The value of preparation“Be ready when opportunity comes…. Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.” — Roy D. Chapin Jnr., Chariman American motors association J. Roberts, The Big Book of Business Quotations: Over 1,400 of the Smartest Things Ever Said about Making Money, Simon and Schuster, 2016.
Abstraction VIITitle: Abstraction VII Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLES:
A party pieceIrish pianist and composer George Alexander Osburn (1806-93) was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and a director of the Philharmonic Society. One of his most popular compositions was La Pluie de Perles (The Shower of Pearls). At a fashionable party, at which he arrived very late, he was invited to play, and […]
Rustic DanceTitle: Rustic Dance Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score SAMPLE: