Yiruma: River Flows in You Context Yiruma, born Lee Ru-ma, is a South Korean-British composer and pianist. Born in 1978 in South Korea, Yiruma moved to England in 1988 to study at the prestigious Purcell School of Music, and then at King’s College London where he studied composition. Whilst studying Read more…
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No.2 ‘The Four Temperaments’ Context Carl Nielsen was born in 1865 on the island of Funen (the third-largest island that is a part of Denmark). The Nielsen family were incredibly poor, however, his parents were keen musicians, with his father playing cornet and his mother, a singer. Read more…
Gioachino Rossini: William Tell Overture Context Born in February 1792 into a family of musicians in Pesaro, Italy, Gioachino Rossini began to learn the piano from age eight. Rossini became a multi-instrumentalist at a young age, being competent at piano, cello and horn by his late teens. Rossini is most Read more…
Takashi Yoshimatsu: White Landscapes Context Takashi Yoshimatsu was born in 1953 in Tokyo, Japan where he is regarded as one of Japan’s greatest Western classical composers. Interestingly, he did not learn music from a young age, in fact it wasn’t until his teens that he became interested in music at Read more…
Carl Ruggles: Men and Mountains Context American composer Carl Ruggles only composed a small selection of works in his lifetime. However, he was one to constantly revise his works, so many of his compositions have various changes as time went on. His orchestral work Men and Mountains was composed in Read more…
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture Context Completed in the summer of 1888, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov completed his ‘Bright Holiday’ work Russian Easter Festival Overture ready for its premiere in December 1888. It was dedicated to the memory of two of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian contemporaries, Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin, who were Read more…
Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Vagabond Context Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Vagabond was originally set for voice and piano and is part of a larger song cycle entitled Songs of Travel. Composed between 1901-1904, this was Vaughan Williams’ first major offering in the world of vocal music. Songs of Travel is Read more…
Ben Gaunt: Empty Hand, Peaceful Mind Context Ben Gaunt studied at the Royal Northern College of Music for a BMus degree, to which he then stayed on and studied Composition for his Master’s degree. Gaunt has recently completed his PhD in Composition at The University of Sheffield, whilst studying under Read more…
Teresa Carreño: La Fausse Note Context Teresa Carreño was born in Venezuela 1853 into a musical family. She began piano lessons with her father and in 1862 her family emigrated to New York City. She was seen as a child prodigy when she was young, and after the move she Read more…
Dmitri Kabalevsky: The Comedians Context Born in 1904 in Saint Petersburg, Kabalevsky was encouraged at a young age to focus on “important” subjects, such as maths and science (i.e not the arts). However, against his family’s wishes, Kabalevsky accepted an offer to study at Moscow Conservatory, where he studied composition. Read more…