Richard Peaslee: Nightsongs Context Richard Peaslee was born in New York City in 1930. He studied composition at Yale University, and began to specialise in big band music. With Peaslee’s breadth of knowledge, his style has been described as eclectic due to his use of jazz, folk, electronic and instrumental 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…
Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 Context Born into a lower-middle class Jewish family in Vienna in 1874, Schoenberg was a mostly self-taught composer. He learnt counterpoint with composer and pedagogue, Alexander Von Zemlinsky and was also taken under the wing by Gustav Mahler. Schoenberg is perhaps most famous for Read more…
Patrick Nunn: Escape Velocity Context Patrick Nunn was born in Kent, UK in 1969. He studied composition at Dartington College of Arts, Welsh College of Music and Drama and at the Royal Academy of Music, where he received his PhD in composition. Nunn has a large catalogue of music which has 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…
Grace Mary Williams: Sea Sketches Context Grace Mary Williams was born in Barry, Wales in 1906, where from a young age was encouraged to take part in musical activities. Both of Williams’ parents were school teachers, who both loved music. Williams took up the piano and violin with her siblings and Read more…
Jay Ungar: Ashokan Farewell Context Today’s blog is going differ from all the others as this is a tribute post for someone who taken from us far too soon – our Bryony. Life is incredibly precious, and it’s important to remember how fragile we really are. So I hope some of Read more…