“If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day.” Alex Noble, cited at Brainy Quote  

On the one hand, I believe that to connect tradition and innovation is the most important thing to me personally. On the other hand, to explore the score and be close to what the composer wanted is essential. There is a way to find your own language within the details that the composers left. Julius […]

Daniel Saidenberg ws the first cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.  He recalled: Stoki’s ability to exert disciplines was occasionally matched by a sense of humor.  After a concert at which I had played the Saint-Saëns A-minor Concerto, one of my buddies said, “Watch your step, Danny.  All through the second movement, […]

Reverie II Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano (left hand) Product medium: PDF score

“The statue is concentrated in one moment of perfection. The image stained upon the canvas posses no spiritual element of growth or change. If they know nothing of death, it is because they know nothing of life, for the secrets of life and death belong to those, and those only, whom the sequence of time […]

I. Andante-Moderato II. Allegro non troppo III. Largo IV. Allegretto Having recently finished his Eighth Symphony, Shostakovich stated work on his second Piano Trio in late 1943: Chamber music demands of a composer the most impeccable technique and depth of thought. I don’t think I will be wrong if I say that composers sometimes hide […]

In 1824, Schubert wrote a letter to his friend Schober concerning a general complacency about the role of art at the time: The idle time, which hinders the fulfillment of all greatness, destroys me too. Even golden verse is foolishly mocked by the people, no longer attentive to its powerful message. Only by the gift […]

Title: The Lord hears the cry of the poor Text: Psalm 32 (33): 2-3, 17-19, 23 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:

“If you are on a mission to discover what you have to offer, and to bring it out into the world, every moment you spend distracted is a moment you aren’t following your art. It’s a moment you aren’t pursuing your true potential.” — David Kadavy David Kadavy, “The Anecdote to Distraction is Art”, https://steemit.com/productivity/@kadavy/the-antidote-to-distraction-is-art-1515195404-5002096. […]

Make your musical lines as long as possible. Rachmaninoff said, “Small musician, small ideas; big musician, big ideas.” After an artist has played a program many times he can soar so high above the music that he conceives the whole event in one arch of sound. Make each phrase prepare for the next; make many […]