FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) Four Lieder About the Composer Franz Schubert established the German lied as an important art form and then set a standard of excellence that no one since has quite matched. Schubert created more than 600 songs in … Continue reading
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In this week's e-news we share a fascinating conversation — courtesy of Ottawa Chamberfest — in which Eric Friesen and Robert Harris discuss Beethoven. Plus, we're still coming to terms with our disappointment regarding the cancellation of our fall season, which should have kicked off last Sunday with a performance by Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci. 😞 bit.ly/3mriKb6
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts has just announced its new Dot Com Series. There are six performances including one from South African cellist Abel Selaocoe. Check it out!
In this week's e-news, Leila chats with Zsolt Bognár pianist, author, and host of Living the Classical Life, an award-winning series of conversations with musicians from around the world. Plus, we share more of the music we're listening to right now: bit.ly/2Rbp5Ji
PROGRAM NOTES: Jerusalem Quartet with Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth
Posted onRichard Strauss String Sextet from Capriccio Capriccio (1942), Richard Strauss’ last stage work, is an opera about opera, constructed as a series of elegant salon conversations dealing with a question that has bedevilled opera lovers for centuries: which is more … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: EVGENY KISSIN
Posted onFrédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann “…calling it a sonata is a caprice if not a jest for Chopin seems to have taken four of his most unruly children and put them together possibly thinking to smuggle them, as a sonata, … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: CASTALIAN STRING QUARTET
Posted onFranz Joseph Haydn String Quartet in D, Op. 76 No. 5 Having recently returned from his hugely successful visits to England and been liberated from financial woes, Haydn composed a set of six String Quartets, Op. 76 which were commissioned … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: PAUL LEWIS
Posted onLudwig van Beethoven 11 Bagatelles Op. 119 Beethoven’s Op. 119 is a catch-all collection of pieces written without any preconceived formal plan for the enjoyment of amateur piano enthusiasts. The last five were published first as a contribution to a … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: INON BARNATAN
Posted onGeorge Frederick Handel Chaconne in G Major While Handel is principally remembered as a composer of operas and oratorios, it was well known to his contemporaries that he possessed major moxy as a keyboard performer, as well. In witness thereof, … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: EDGAR MOREAU & JESSICA XYLINA OSBORNE
Posted onFrancis Poulenc Sonata for Cello and Piano Op. 143 Mozart meets Stravinsky – in a Paris cabaret. As unlikely as such a meeting might be in historical terms, it is about as good a description as you can find for … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: SIR ANDRÁS SCHIFF
Posted onRobert Schumann Variations on an Original Theme in E at major (“Ghost Variations”) WoO 24 In February of 1854, Robert Schumann was in a state of delirium, but a very musical one. He was surrounded by ghosts, he told his … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: BENEDETTI ELSCHENBROICH GRYNYUK TRIO
Posted onFranz Schubert Adagio from Piano Trio in E at Major Op. 148 D 897 Schubert’s Adagio for Piano Trio D 897 was composed in 1827 but only published decades later, under the publisher’s title Notturno. And indeed, the opening section … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: SCHAGHAJEGH NOSRATI
Posted onJohann Sebastian Bach GOLDBERG VARIATIONS BWV 988 Historical Background Such was Bach’s mastery of his musical materials that he was often tempted to explore a particular genre or compositional technique in a systematic way by providing a quasi-exhaustive compendium of … Continue reading