Elisabetta Brusa: Firelights Context Italian-British composer Elisabetta Brusa is an award-winning musician with a wealth of experience in the music industry. Her music has been performed by some of the top orchestras in the world including the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and The Women’s Philharmonic. Read more…
Herbert Howells: Elegy Context Herbert Norman Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucestershire on 17th October 1892. After beginning to learn piano and organ at home with his parents, Howells continued his musical studies at the prestigious Royal College of Music, London. Here, Howells studied under the likes of Hubert Parry 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…
Jóhann Jóhannsson: Flight from the City Context After studying Languages and Literature at university, Jóhannsson began playing guitar in Icelandic Indie-Rock bands. This lasted for a short time before he began being seriously interested in creating minimalist music, and ambient structures for classical instruments. Jóhannsson worked for many years on creating a sound world Read more…
Dobrinka Tabakova: Spinning a Yarn Context Dobrinka Tabakova was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria to a music-loving family in 1980. At age 11, Tabakova moved to London and has since stayed there. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department, specialising in composition, piano and conducting. From there, Tabakova Read more…
Camille Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 Context Composed for cellist Auguste Tolbecque in 1872, Camille Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto is still regarded as one of the most successful of its kind. During a time where instruments such as the piano and violin were often centre stage at concerts, Tolbecque was Read more…
Arnold Schoenberg: Friede auf Erden Context Arnold Schoenberg composed Friede auf Erden in 1907, with the style reflecting his late Romantic influences. The work was premiered in 1911, after many cancellations from the choir as they struggled to get through it. Schoenberg was very aware of the troubles that choirs Read more…
Igor Stravinsky: Elegy for Solo Viola Context Composed in 1944 on a commission from Germain Prevost, Igor Stravinsky’s sombre Elegy for Solo Viola was written for the ProArte Quartet. The piece was written in memory of the quartet’s first violinist, Alphonse Onnou, who had died some four years before. The Read more…
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Concerto for Two Pianos Context Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Concerto for Two Pianos was originally composed as a standard concerto for solo piano. Vaughan Williams wrote the work between 1926-1930, and it was first performed in 1933 with Adrian Boult conducting. Technically adventurous and devilishly difficult to perform, Read more…
Augusta Read Thomas: Radiant Circles Context Composed in 2010 that came from a commission by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Radiant Circles is a celestial orchestral work. At the time of composition, Thomas was Composer-in-Residence at the New Haven Read more…