Category: Composers and their works
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Stravinsky: The Jet-Age Composer who Outran the 19th Century into the Arms of Jazz
When Charlie Parker quoted The Firebird to a listening Stravinsky at Birdland, it wasn’t just a clever stunt. It was the meeting of two revolutions: the moment classical music’s boldest modernist officially crossed paths with the pulse of jazz. — read more
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‘Papa’ Haydn and his dark, secret codes (part 2):
In this second post about Haydn’s Farewell Symphony and its secret codes, we turn to the performance itself, and what was really at stake in the Esterházy court. — read more
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‘Papa’ Haydn and his dark, secret codes (part 1)
Think Haydn’s Farewell Symphony was just a polite joke to get musicians home to their wives? Think again. Here is Part 1 of an investigation into the dark, coded truth behind a masterpiece. — read more
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Rachmaninoff Without the Theatrics: Yuja Wang’s Masterclass in Restraint
What happens when supreme physical economy meets Rachmaninoff’s most demanding concerto? Yuja Wang balances restraint with grand architectural vision in a performance of uncompromising romantic sweep. — read more
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Ready, Steady, Compose: Cooking up Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations
What links a 1990s TV cooking show, a hidden sheet music score, and a “cobbler’s patch” of a tune? Discover how Beethoven took Anton Diabelli’s unremarkable waltz and transformed basic ingredients into the ultimate hour-long musical feast. — read more
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Capturing Lenny: The Triumphs and Omissions of ‘Maestro’
Bradley Cooper’s ‘Maestro’ is a visual triumph, but does it privilege domestic drama over musical genius? A fresh look at what works, but also what’s missing, in this Bernstein biopic. — read more
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Mahler’s Sixth Sense
This year marks 120 years since the premiere of Gustav Mahler’s (1860-1911) Sixth Symphony (1904, rev.1906). Mahler now ranks amongst the most popular of classical composers. This is heartening to his memory, and a kick in the teeth for the Third Reich and those antisemitic Viennese who supported that regime. They airbrushed Mahler from history… — read more
