Gershwin’s playing (and sense of humour)The composer Burton Lane describes George Gershwin’s playing: You could feel the electricity going through the room when he played. He could transpose into any key with the greatest of ease. He had total command of what he was doing. Musical surprises, unusual changes of keys. He was one of the few composers who had […]
Shostakovich on music“There can be no music without idealogy … We, as revolutionaries, have a different conception of music from the composers of other [non Soviet-Russia] countries. Lenin himself said the “Music is a means of unifying people”. It is not a leader of the masses, perhaps, but certainly an organising force … I think an artist […]
Music is a moral lawMusic is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. – Plato
The technique of conducting“Technique is communication: the two words are synonymous in conductors.” – Leonard Bernstein, conductor, composer and pianist. Cited at QuotationsBook.
GreatnessGreatness means the construction of an inner world, and the communication of this inner world to the physical world of humanity. The two belong together; neither is thinkable without the other. The strongest feeling and the most vivid imagination are worthless to humanity if they do not manifest themselves; the greatest constructive talent is worthless […]
I live in a world of my imaginationI confess that I live only in my surroundings and in myself. I can conceive of no greater pleasure than sitting in my chair at this desk and looking at the walls around me day by day and night after night. In these pictures I do not see what you see; in the trees outside […]
Rorem’s affinity with French music“Bartók’s music as a whole is a music I never think about when its not around. It’s impeccable, it’s theatrical, it’s even great. It dazzles, thrills, horrifies, sometimes irritates, but also moves me. But I’m not touched by it, as by, for instance, the outset of the quartet by Ravel – Ravel, supposed to be […]
Hoffman on techniqueTechnic represents the material side of art, as money represents the material side of life. By all means achieve a fine technic, but do no dream that you will be artistically happy with this alone. There is a technic which liberates and a technic which represents the artistic self. All technic ought to be a […]
A duet under the bedIt was in the eventful year, then, of 1813—the year of “Il Figlio per Azzardo”, with its obbligato accompaniment for lamp-shades of “Tancredi” and of “L’Italiana in Algeri”—that Rossini was writing one morning in bed, when the duet on which he was engaged fell from his hands. “Nothing easier”, an ordinary composer would say, “than […]
All the Ends of the Earth – Psalm 97 (98)Title: All the ends of the earth Text: Psalm 97 (98):1-6. R. v.3 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part SAMPLE:
