Articles

3516 Posts
archive-post-image
On This Day
30 January: Lynn Harrell Was Born
Cellist Lynn Harrell, winner of the inaugural Avery Fisher Prize and two Grammy Awards had the ability to generate a penetrating richness of sound, and to communicate with tremendous personal warmth. A formidable technician, Harrell was appointed principal cellist of
Read more
archive-post-image
A Surprising Start
Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Song
The orchestra is mighty, chords resonating in a large space, the timpani emphasizing the vastness of the concept. It’s a bit Wagnerian – some ideas seem like they might do well in Die Walküre or perhaps there’s a foreshadowing of
Read more
archive-post-image
Happy 150th Birthday Josef Suk
“I do not bow to anyone, except to my own conscience and our own noble Lady Music” January is a busy time for lovers of classical music as we celebrate the birthdays of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert on
Read more
archive-post-image
Alone Yet Together: The Shared Experience of Live Performance
I’ve been going to live classical music concerts since I was a little girl – and not just professional concerts, but also amateur performances when my dad (a clarinettist) played in a local amateur orchestra. As keen music-lovers, my parents
Read more
archive-post-image
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Zaide Project
Something very exciting took place on 27 January 1866, the 110th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth. The city of Frankfurt witnessed the performance of an unknown Singspiel, which Mozart had abandoned to work on Idomeneo. The unknown work carried
Read more
archive-post-image
Violet Gordon-Woodhouse: The Daring Harpsichordist In a Ménage à Cinq!
Violet Gordon-Woodhouse changed how listeners approached and appreciated Baroque music. She helped spur the revival of the harpsichord and Baroque Era composers, making a big contribution to the beginnings of the historical performance practice movement, which is still going strong
Read more
archive-post-image
On This Day
27 January: Emmanuel Pahud Was Born
Swiss flautist Emmanuel Pahud has been hailed as the finest flautist of his generation, “admired for the purity and subtlety of his tonal colours, his imaginative phrasing and his command of a broad range of styles.” Pahud auditioned for principal
Read more
archive-post-image
On This Day
26 January: Jacqueline du Pré Was Born
Cellist Jacqueline du Pré only began to perform publicly at the age of sixteen, “yet her musical genius was evident at a very early age and its special nature was defined by her rich emotional inner world, rather than her
Read more