“Mozart has the classic purity of light and the blue ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal peaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each […]

You know what I think about metronome marks: they’re right for a single bar, like “roses, with a morning life”. Only there are “those” who don’t hear music and who take these marks as authority to hear it still less! But do what you please. — Debussy, Letter to Jacques Durand of 9 October 1915 […]

“The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” Edwin Land, American scientist and inventor.

“Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.” – Joseph Joubert, French writer Joubert, J. (1983) The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert: A Selection. Translated by Paul Auster. San Francisco: North Point Press, p. 76.

Before the time of Bach, keyboardists would often only use the middle three fingers of each hand and tended to keep their hands flat. Bach taught his students under the new principle of using all the fingers. Beethoven asked his pupils to curve the hand. Source: Marek, George (1969) Beethoven: Biography of a Genius. London: William […]

“Our greatest glory is, not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Oliver Goldsmith (1762) The citizen of the world: or, letters from a Chinese philosopher, residing in London, to his friends in the east, Dublin: printed for George and Alex. Ewing, 1762, letter 7, p. 30.  Digitally archived at https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/ecco/004776950.0001.001/1:9?rgn=div1;view=fulltext, […]

Cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, after running into some problems with his accommodation, was spending a cold November day in the Tiergarten, Berlin, in 1923. Throughout the course of the day, he was approached by Paul Bose to play Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. It began to rain. In Moscow it probably is snowing now, I thought absently, making […]

Title: Ode IComposer: Greg SmithInstrumentation: PianoPerformer: Greg Smith (January 2010) Your browser does not support the audio element. Sheet music

“Inspiration is merely the reward for working every day!” – Charles Baudelaire (French poet).  According to Roland-Manuel, Ravel would often recite this phrase.  Source: Nichols, Roger (1987) Ravel Remembered.  London: Faber & Faber, p. 143.

> Title: Tally Ho Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Duet Level: Piano I – 1.1 (five finger position with movement to the 6/4 position) Product medium: PDF score and MP3 accompaniment track SAMPLES: (Audio sample of accompaniment track only)