A glance at which radio programmes people like to listen to and what music they stream only confirms what we all suspect – that classical music is really at the margins these days. But there is still, for now, a public interested in new works. Putting music for film and TV series to one side, […]
The Classical Music business today Read More »
Art Tatum (1909-1956) sounds like he’s constantly out to impress and take the listener’s breath away – not perhaps the best goal of an artist. But his superhuman technical prowess aside, his pure musicality is also breath taking. Of course, there is no shortage of piano prodigies in jazz – just think of George Shearing
The early silent films were accompanied by a cinema pianist improvising before the screen, playing a mix of popular and classical music. With the coming of sound, professional film composers wrote music for Hollywood in the ‘30s and ‘40s – Erich Korngold, Max Steiner (Gone with the Wind, Casablanca) and Franz Waxman. “Broadway-cum-Rachmaninov” describes the
Let me share with you an overview of the music of the great Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). I’ve highlighted my favourite works. Piano music Much of Ravel’s music was conceived on the piano, and then orchestrated a few years later. He is famed as an instrumental colourist, so it’s always fascinating to compare the
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