When precision isn’t enoughDebussy was well known for wanting precision in performance. However, it was not always quite enough: Some time in 1917 Debussy went to hear the Suite played by a famous pianist. ‘How was it?’ I asked him on his return. ‘Dreadful. He didn’t miss a note.’ ‘But you ought to be satisfied. You who insist […]
Love your musicWhen I was 19 years old I joined Columbia Artists in New York. It was my first management and a momentous event in my life. All of a sudden here I was, part of what was perceived to be one of the most prestigious such organizations in the country. It was a big time and […]
Mozart’s masterpieces“Mozart makes you believe in God – much more than going to church – because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and then passes after thirty-six years, leaving behind such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces.” Sir Georg Solti Source: Kelly, Henry & Foley, John (1998) Classic FM […]
Practice slowly“One must practice slowly, then more slowly and finally slowly.” – Camille Saint-Saëns Cited in: The Piano Quarterly, 1974, p. 24.
Arnold on culture“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.” Matthew Arnold (poet and scholar), Preface to Literature and Dogma (1873 edition), https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Literature_and_Dogma/Introduction, accesssed 29 August 2021.
On thinking“If you make people think they’re thinking they’ll love you: but if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.” Don Marquis, American writer, poet & artist. Creator of the characters such as Archy (1916), a cockroach who had been a poet in a previous life, who supposedly left poems on Marquis’ typewriter by jumping […]
A $1.2 million piano“Spotlights dance down on 216 jewels of lead crystal, set in dazzling diamond patterns into the piano’s black lid, sides, legs, fallboard and bench. Each jewel features several hundred to several thousand intricately cut, ground and polished pieces of crystal — nearly a half-million in all.” Glass artist Jon Kuhn has collobarated with Bosendorfer to […]
A result of education“The highest result of education is tolerance.” – Helen Keller, Optimism (1903)
The power of music“Music is a readily available, highly effective tool that you use to improve both your cognitive and physical abilities.” Arthur Winter, English priest and cricketer Cited at: QuotationsBook
The Lord is Kind and Merciful – Psalm 102 (103)Title: The Lord is kind and merciful Text: Psalm 102 (103): 1-4, 9-12. R. v.8 Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: SATB and piano Product medium: PDF score and part Sample:
