Brahms’ reaction to Wagner’s MusicBrahms attended a Wagner concert in Vienna: All through the concert Johannes sat in stony silence. At the close, when everyone was applauding vigorously, he still made no move or comment. Finally his companion – beside himself with enthusiasm – cried: “What music! Wasn’t it marvellous?” The composer raised his eyebrows a little. Then he […]
Pavel Kolesnikov on the Goldberg Variations“Like climbing an infinite stairway, one step at a time.” —Pavel Kolesnikov, working on Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Jeal, Erica, “Pavel Kolesnikov, the pianist making ‘a palace of sound built by your own imagination’”, The Guardian, 9 September 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/09/pavel-kolesnikov-the-pianist-making-a-palace-of-sound-built-by-your-own-imagination, accessed 11 September 2021.
A Tear Hangs There (Tchaikovsky)Composer: Pytor Il’yich Tchaikovsky (arr. Greg Smith) Title: A Tear Hangs There (Слеза дрожит), Op. 6. No. 4 Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
Music as a metaphor … or not“Most music is metaphor, but Wolff is not. I am not metaphor either. Parable, maybe. Cage is sermon.” – Morton Feldman, American composer Cited in Tom Johnson, Remembrance, September 1987. Accessed 11 May 2013.
Elegie IITitle: Elegie II Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
The orchestra as a symbol of unity“You see behind me a symphony orchestra. Every single one of the instruments has an entirely different background and history; they come from different places …; they’ve had different developments; they sound different… And so, the next time your soul sings, assailed with some sort of horrid indication that people can’t get along together, please […]
Put creativity into everything“When you put creativity into everything, everything becomes available to you.” – Robert Rodriguez, filmmaker Cited in: Nathalie Sejean, “30 Piece of Advice from Robert Rodriguez to Lead a Creative Life”, Mentorless, 4 September 2015, https://www.mentorless.com/2015/09/04/30-piece-of-advice-from-robert-rodriguez-to-lead-a-creative-life/, accessed 28 October 2020
Franz Schubert: Six Moments Musicaux (Musical Moments), op.94(i) Moderato (C major) (ii) Andantino (A-flat major) (iii) Allegro moderato (f minor) (iv) Moderato (c-sharp minor)/ (v) Allegro vivace (f minor) (vi) Allegretto (A-flat major) In 1929, Oscar Bie reflected on Schubert: That face! . . . It is the face of a teacher, but not of a strict one. The hair curls about […]
Gershwin’s romantic sideRodney Greenberg describes a side of George Gershwin’s “romantic side”: He wrote a little waltz-song, which he would sing and play to his current dating partner. It was, in effect, what his friend Kitty Carlisle (who later married playwright Moss Hart) described as his “mating call”, because he left a blank space in the lyrics […]
Dance of the Knights (Prokofiev)Title: “Dance of the Knights” from Romeo and Juliet (op. 64)Composer: Sergei ProkofievArranger: Greg SmithInstrumentation: Cello and pianoProduct medium: PDF score and part This item is available at Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus. Sample: