Abstraction VTitle: Abstraction V Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLES:
Musicians’ response to violenceThis will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. — Leonard Bernstein, 25 November 1963 Christopher Buchenholz, “An Artist’s Response to Violence”, Leonard Bernard Office, https://leonardbernstein.com/about/humanitarian/an-artists-response-to-violence. Accessed 18 March 2022.
Brahms’ post-concert adventureBrahms was invited to the family of one of his students, Fräulein von Meyensbug, in Detmol : The Meysenbug ladies proved very prim and conventional. Brahms was ill at ease. He was so afraid of shocking his aristocratic hostesses that he hardly knew what to say or how to behave. Their young nephew Carl, however, […]
Reverie IIReverie II Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano (left hand) Product medium: PDF score
Glenn Gould on recordingPianist Glenn Gould discussed the recording process with Yehudi Menuhin completing the playback of a Bach gigue: Now, Yehudi, you’ve got to admit that you would not be likely to encounter a sound like that in the concert hall… The point is that, if I were to play that piece in a concert hall, as […]
Work joyfully and peacefullyIf you will become possessed of this faith you will not need to bother about your success or failure, for success will come. You will not need to be anxious about the results, and will work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results. — James Allen […]
The source of inspirationFor me, inspiration comes from a bunch of places: desperation, deadlines… A lot of times ideas will turn up when you’re doing something else. And, most of all, ideas come from confluence — they come from two things flowing together. They come, essentially, from daydreaming. . . . And I suspect that’s something every human […]
Abstraction XVIITitle: Abstraction XVII Composer: Greg Smith Performer: Greg Smith (April 2020) Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: MP3 recording Related products:– Abstraction XVII (PDF score)
George and Ira Gershwin preview Porgy and BessThe stage director of the first Porgy and Bess production recalls hearing the score in Gerswhin's New York apartment: They both blissfully closed their eyes before they continued with the lovely "Summertime" song. George played with the most beatific smile on his face. He seemed to float on the waves of his own music with […]
Dee-da-dee-da-dee-da-splat“I also like to play the famous tunes because there’s nothing like inspiring a whole bunch of kids who are struggling to play these pieces on flute. And then they see me ripping through them. They all want to play Flight of the Bumblebee when they’re 11 years Old. And it goes something like “dee-da-dee-da-dee-da-splat!” […]
