Robert Schumann Fünf Stücke im Volkston Op. 102 The late 1840s saw Schumann take up “house music” in a big way. This does not mean that he began to DJ at raves, playing dance music with repetitive drum tracks and … 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: Winterlude – Super Sunday with Alexander Melnikov
Posted onSergei Rachmaninoff Variations on a Theme of Chopin Op. 22 Chopin’s funereal, passacaglia-like Prelude in C minor from his collection of 24 Preludes Op. 28 provides the theme for Rachmaninoff’s first large-scale work for solo piano, his Variations on a … Continue reading
Program Notes: Winterlude – Suite Saturday with Jean-Guihen Queyras
Posted onA Bit of History Few scholars doubt that Western music was better off for the release of a certain “Bach, Johann Sebastian” from the county jail in Weimar where he had languished, in unsuitable company, for the better part of … Continue reading
Program Notes: Joyce DiDonato with Il Pomo d’Oro Chamber Orchestra ‘In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music’
Posted onWAR, PEACE and BAROQUE OPERA The lust for war, the longing for peace: emotions such as these lie at the extremes of human experience. What better place to explore them than in the luridly violent, yet touchingly pathos- filled world … Continue reading
Program Notes: Behzod Abduraimov
Posted onAntonio Vivaldi Siciliana in D minor (arr. J. S. Bach and Alfred Cortot) Nothing could be more Baroque than an arrangement of an arrangement. The Baroque was a period in music history in which music travelled freely between instruments … Continue reading
Program Notes: Anna Fedorova
Posted onWolfgang Amadeus Mozart Fantasia in D minor K. 397 Mozart’s D minor Fantasia is a bundle of mysteries; an intriguing sound-puzzle for the listener but a labyrinthine minefield of interpretive choices for the pianist. Mere slavish attention to the details of … Continue reading
Program Notes: István Várdai
Posted onFelix Mendelssohn Variations Concertantes Op. 17 Felix was not the only musician in the Mendelssohn family. His older sister Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) was a prodigiously talented pianist and composer, although she chose marriage over a public career, and his … Continue reading
Program Notes: The Danish String Quartet
Posted onJohann Sebastian Bach Well-Tempered Clavier II Fugue No. 7 in E-flat major BWV 876 (arr. Mozart) In 1782 Mozart’s patron, Baron Gottfried van Swieten, showed the composer a number of manuscripts of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and encouraged … Continue reading
Program Notes: Ksenija Sidorova
Posted onThe Concert Accordion Early Beginnings The accordion has for centuries been associated with music of a light or popular nature. Its portability, full harmonic texture and penetrating, reedy timbre have made it the ideal mini-orchestra for country dances and … Continue reading
Program Notes: Ian Bostridge with Wenwen Du
Posted onGustave Mahler Three Des Knaben Wunderhorn Songs The collection of German folk poetry published between 1805 and 1808 under the title Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn) had an enormous influence on the development of German lyric poetry and … Continue reading