Chopin Video of the Day: Kurikinton Fox - F. Chopin - fantasy impromptu in Guitar!!! Not bad at all!  read more »

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Airport, luggage, dawn. Desolate lanes of structure, sleeping planes like sorrowful birds, vans vrooming out of the darkness towards lonely kiosks. I boarded the bus. I had just settled myself in my seat, when a woman deposited two two-year-old boys opposite me: they swayed there, it seemed to me, like two jiggly jello molds. Aww. Casting occasional coos at them, the mother de-and-re-boarded many times, for toddler equipment the kind of equipment youd need a congressional appropriations bill for carseats, strollers, baby duffels, tripods, a gross of Ziploc bags, do I see riot gear?  read more »

Despite the increasing appeal of popular music, orchestral music has flourished in the modern era, often looking to alternative influences and stylisms. Here are some of the most famous modern composers. Bela Bartok (1881-1945) drew on his Hungarian folk roots to revolutionise opera, chamber music and ballet.

The other week, I had a phone call from a composer who was pushing a recent recording that included a work of his which he assured me was listener-friendly and which he knew my audience would enjoy listening to. Over the years, Ive learned to be fairly skeptical of such confidence not because its misplaced but because it usually implies the composer is trying too hard to be liked. When I heard his piece of music, whether it has a genuine integrity or not, all I heard was something that reminded me of a bad sophomore harmony class assignment. Yes, it was tonal and, yes, it was based on traditional major and minor chords used with even less variety than youd find in a typical pop song, these days.  read more »

Duke Bluebeards Castle. Director: Mikls Szinetr. Cast: Kolos Kovts (Bluebeard), Sylvia Sass (Judit). Conductor: Sir Georg Solti with the London Philharmonics. Further information here. For those not familiar with this work: Duke Bluebeards Castle is not the difficult Bartok one may assume if only familiar with his later works, but rather composed at a time, where he was very much under the influence of the late romantic composers such as Richard Wagner .  read more »

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I recently wrote that I felt Maconchys Three Bagatelles for Oboe & Harpsichord was a far removed from the ethos of her teacher Ralph Vaughan Williams as it is possible to imagine. I conceded that, although I was a great enthusiast of Maconchys music, I could not quite get to grips with these three miniatures. Yet a friend has challenged me to listen to them again and to make a few notes about them. The work was composed in 1972 for a recital given by Lady Barbirolli (Evelyn Rothwell) and her duo partner Valda Aveling in the Purcell Rooms. Maconchy had already shown an interest in baroque instrumentation she had composed a number of pieces for solo harpsichord in 1965 including Notebook and a Sonatina .  read more »

The solo violinist is pulling the tourniquet tight around her bicep before shooting up prior to the Brahms on the second half, the clarinets are passing around dime bags to get through Bartok a week later, and...no, just stop. Anyone...MarcGeelhoed