Born for music“I was born with eyes closed listening to my heartbeat from my mother’s womb… There, without knowing it, I discovered that I would be born and would die for music…” – Alicastro Source: Peer Music.‘
Beethoven’s shuttersBeethoven moved often, and his landlords were not always keen to have him back. While he was working on the Ninth Symphony in 1923, Beethoven couldn’t stand his present lodgings in Hetzendorf, as the landlord, Baron Pronay, constantly bowed to him when they met.He sought lodgings where he had previously stayed in Baden. The landlord […]
Abstraction IXTitle: Abstraction IX Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Brass quintet (2 trumpets in B-flat, Horn in F, trombone, bass trombone) Product medium: PDF score and parts SAMPLE:
Wagner’s observations on the English and oratoriosWagner attended a performance of Messiah at Exeter Hall in London with a chorus of 700 voices. He recorded in his autobiography: It is here that I came to understand the true spirit of English Protestantism. This accounts for the fact that an oratorio attracts the public far more than an opera. A further advantage […]
Two hands or oneAmerican pianist Seymour Lipkin, a student of Rudolf Serkin recalled a performance of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata Back in the 1970s I gave a recital at Curtis at Mr. Serkin’s invitation. I was playing the Hammerklavier in those years. Why, in my right mind … I should never have … but I did. There, sitting in […]
Richard Bach on perseverance“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” — Richard Bach, American writer Applewhite, Ashton; William R. Evans, Tripp Evans, Andrew Frothingham (2003) And I Quote. Macmillan. Macmillan.
Can you teach resourcefulnessYoung musicians will need resourcefulness to make their way in the world. Music “jobs” in the future are likely to be less attached to institutions (many of which are troubled in one way or another), entrepreneurial, and varied beyond a straight performance career to include all manner of teaching, coaching, and work we could loosely […]
Writing music is easier than words"I would rather write 10,000 notes than one letter of the alphabet."' Beethoven. Letter, 28 November 1820. Cited in: Kelly, Henry & Foley, John (1998) Classic FM: Musical Anecdotes. London: Hodder & Stouhgtan, p.68.
Arthur Schnabel“Artur Schnabel is a pianist unlike any other. One is conscious in listening to him of a powerful and original mind revealing unsuspected meanings and complications in music as familiar as Brahm’s Intermezzi and Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata. His tone is as a rule dry in anything above a piano, but a sudden touch of pedal […]
LullabyTitle: Lullaby Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 recording Related products: – Lullaby (PDF score) SAMPLE:
