Music & Culture
Classical Music Posts
Spring Music Moment: Tchaikovsky’s ‘April’
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was approached by The editor of a Russian music magazine known as the Nouvellist with a commission – write one piece a month for a year and give our listeners something to look forward to.
Spring Music Moment: Vivaldi
Vivaldi’s “Spring” is one of the most recognizable, best loved works in the world and one of the best ways to celebrate the season. Vivaldi penned his famous quartet of concertos, The Four Seasons or Le quattro stagioni, between the late 1710s and early 1720s. Each concerto includes an accompanying sonnet of unknown origin (a classic case of “which came first – the sonnets of the concertos?”). The first lines of “Spring” perfectly encapsulate what’s ahead, musically speaking: “Springtime is upon us. The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.” The first of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concertos not only invites us to imagine birds singing in a crisp, clear morning, but depicts a rolling spring thunderstorm and a festive dance in the country.
Spring Music Moment: Britten’s Spring Symphony
Unlike his contemporaries, Britten did not devote much of his time to writing symphonies. It’s no wonder that when he *did* sit down to write his Spring Symphony, it resulted in a grand journey in 4 parts and 12 movements, harnessing the power of mixed chorus, boys’ choir, soprano, alto and tenor soloists and a massive orchestra including harp, tambourine and cow horn. Britten’s Spring Symphony takes us through the changing of the seasons and the power of that transition – both as a time of the year and a stage of life.
Spring Music Moment: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel got a much needed breath of fresh air and a boost of musical inspiration from a year-long Italian trip in 1840.
Mendelssohn-Hensel, her husband and their young son spent the entire year away from their home of Berlin and vacationing throughout Italy – stopping in Rome and Venice to take in the vast musical inspiration.
Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies at 87
Simmons died last week at the age of 87. The cause of death remains unknown, but his life is cause for considerable celebration. Although jazz has established a place in academic and cultural institutions, it was and largely still is an outsider’s music, and Simmons was an outsider’s outsider.
A Melting Pot Of Traditions: Violinist Regina Carter Talks With Lara Downes
When Duke Ellington famously coined the phrase “beyond category,” he was talking about freedom — of choice, of expression, of belonging. He meant following your heart and your instincts into an artistic territory without borders. And that’s the place where violinist Regina Carter makes her home.
