A good performance is one that moves me. But it is not only the passion and emotion expressed in a performance that move me, it is also allowing the clarity of the structure, as well as the different characters, to shine through, a well-judged balance, a sense of architecture of the whole piece and, at the same time, a sense that it unfolds naturally from the first note to the last.
Mihai Ritivoiu, Romanian pianist.
“Young Artist Interview: Mihai Ritivoiu”, The Musicians’ Company, https://wcom.org.uk/news/yeoman-interview-mihai-ritivoiu/, accessed 21 February 2021.
A good performance
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Vaughan Williams on an authentic performance of Bach
Vaughan Williams gave a broadcast talk on Bach entitled “Bach the Great Bourgeois.” It was later published in The Listener. Vaughan Williams, who was involved in performances of works such as Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion as part of the Leith Hill Festival, offered some insight in contemporary approaches to Bach performance: WHEN I was a […]
Tchaikovsky and the village childrenTchaikovsky lived in a village Maidanovo. When Tchaikovsky would go for works, he would also be hailed by groups of village children. As Sofya Nikolayevna recalled: “They had discovered the times he went out and, as he always liked to gave them something, sweets or a coin, they used to lie in wait for him.” […]
Not just a one hit wonder … but there was an audience favoriteRachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp minor proved very popular with the public. At times, it was programmed “by request” (1), and if not was freqently expected as an encore. In 1922, Rachmaninoff performed in the Queens Hall (London). A critic in the Musical Times described the event: It was clear that the bulk of those who filled Queen’s Hall […]
The necessity of the serial methodBoulez declares: “Any composer of our time who has not felt the necessity of the serial method is worthless.” Omit the word “not,” and I agree. Ned Rorem (2000) Lies: A Diary 1986-1999. Cambridge: MA: Da Capo Press, p.69.
Application of talent“…all talent, all application will not suffice if one’s whole life is not directed towards being a mediator of great thoughts and feelings. Every deed, yes, every thought leaves its trace on the personality. One must live a life of purity in every detail, even down to the morsel one is putting into one’s mouth. […]
Bernstein’s response to violenceThis will be our response to violence To make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. – Leonard Bernstein.
How to win over an orchestraHaydn was in London in 1791 when he performed in a concert led by Johann Salomon (a violinist/composer). Salomon played the first violin and led the orchestra, and Haydn sat at the harpsichord, keeping the band together by an occasional chord or two, as the practice then was. Great composers have not always been […]
I’ll Softly SighComposer: Greg Smith Title: I’ll Softly Sigh Instrumentation: Piano Performer: Greg Smith (2010) Your browser does not support the audio element. Sheet music
Dostoyevsky on beauty“Beauty will save the world.” – The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Two paths for the future of classical musicGreg Sanders ponders the position of classical music and describes the need for it to catch up with culture, without simply “dumbing it down”: “Of course, I think that if we really understand current culture, we’ll want to go the other way, and make classical music smarter.” Greg Sanders, Arts Journal Blog, February 2, 2009. […]