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…
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…
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…
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…
Aram Khachaturian: Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia Context Born in Tblisi, Georgia in 1903, Aram Khachaturian’s music is still performed regularly in concert halls today. Perhaps one of his most famous works is the Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia from his 1954 ballet: Spartacus. The ballet follows the trials and tribulations faced by Spartacus as Read more…
Edward Elgar: The Music Makers Context Edward Elgar is fondly remembered as one of the forefront English composers of the late 19th/early 20th century. His music is often incorporated into international concerts, with some of his most famous compositions including Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Enigma Variations and his Cello Concerto. Whilst all of these works Read more…
Antonio Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto in E minor Context Antonio Vivaldi composed a vast amount of concertos for a range of different instruments. No less than 230 of those are for violin, with the second most popular concerto soloist being the bassoon for Vivaldi. Out of the 39 bassoon concertos that Read more…
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 87 Context Haydn composed his set of six ‘Paris’ symphonies between 1785 and 1786. A product of a prestigious foreign commission from the Comte d’Ogny (a French Nobleman), this set of symphonies are influential due to their rich musical language and obvious shift in Haydn’s compositional style. Read more…
Jacques Offenbach: La Vie Parisienne Overture Context Jacques Offenbach’s famous comic operetta La Vie Parisienne was premiered initially as a five-act production at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in October 1866. Soon after Offenbach revised the operetta into the four-act version we now know (the original fourth movement was removed).The revised Read more…
Alberto Nepomuceno: Symphony in G minor Context Although not particularly known outside of his native country of Brazil, the music of Alberto Nepomuceno has recently been recorded and shown to the world. The son of a violinist and music educator, Nepomuceno was born in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza in Read more…