Dora Pejačević: Two Piano Sketches Context Dora Pejačević was born in Budapest on 10th September 1885, and her family descended from the old Croatian noble Pejačević family. Her mother, Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya was a very competent pianist and she gave Pejačević her first piano lessons when she was a young girl. Read more…
John Barry: Out of Africa Context By 1985, John Barry was already a very well-established film score composer. His work in the James Bond franchise was legendary, and his huge output of film music speaks for itself. One of his most beloved scores came from the 1985 film Out of Read more…
Ruth Crawford-Seeger: Suite for Wind Quintet Context Born on July 3rd, 1901, Ruth Crawford spent her early life in East Liverpool, Ohio. Throughout her childhood, the Crawford’s moved around a lot, from Ohio to Missouri to Indiana. In 1912, the Crawford’s moved to Florida, where Ruth’s father passed away two years Read more…
Mikhail Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture Context Composed between 1837-42, Mikhail Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila is based on Alexander Pushkin’s poem of the same name. Split into five acts, the opera’s libretto was written by Valerian Shirkov, Nestor Kukolnik and N.A. Markevich. Seldom performed as a full-scale opera today, Read more…
Eric Whitacre: The Seal Lullaby Context Shortly after attending the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop in 2004, Eric Whitacre was soon contacted by a big film studio asking for a meeting. The studio were looking into creating a new classic animated film based on Rudyard Kipling’s The White Seal. After reading Read more…
Sergei Prokofiev: String Quartet No.1 Context Sergei Prokofiev composed his first string quartet in 1931 as a commission from the Library of Congress. The quartet premiered in Washington D.C. in April of the same year by the Brosa Quartet. The Russian premiere came later in the year in October, this Read more…
Herbert Howells: Pageantry Context Herbert Howells was a well-established composer by the time his invitation to compose a work for the British Open Brass Band Championship was issued. The year was 1934 and Howells accepted the big task of writing a new piece for the top UK brass bands to Read more…
Richard Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks Context Composed between 1894-5, Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is one of his most popular tone poems. The story behind the music is based on the pranks and tomfoolery of the German peasant folk hero Till Eulenspiegel. Known as being a rogue mocker Read more…
Ursula Mamlok: Concerto for Oboe Context Born on February 1st, 1923, Ursula Mamlok was born in Berlin, Germany into a primarily Jewish family. Her biological father, Hans Meyer, died when she was a baby, but her mother remarried fairly soon after. Mamlok composed and performed as a child in Berlin, however, Read more…
Thomas Newman: Nemo Egg Context Thomas Newman is known for his broad portfolio of film scores for films such as The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Finding Nemo and Skyfall. His accessible style creates sparkling scores of music that are very much loved. Newman has been nominated for fifteen Academy Read more…