Amy Beach: Piano Concerto in C# Minor Context Amy Beach was born in 1867 in New Hampshire. It has been extensively documented that Beach was a child prodigy when it came to music performance. Records say that she was able to sing forty songs by the time she was one. Read more…
Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor Context Over the course of his lifetime Robert Schumann only composed one piano concerto. It was completed in 1845 and premiered in Dresden in December of the same year. Schumann’s wife, Clara Schumann, premiered the concerto. The work is dedicated to Ferdinand Hiller, Read more…
Gerald Finzi: Eclogue Context Although largely remembered now as a choral composer, Gerald Finzi also wrote some breathtaking orchestral music. Eclogue is composed for a solo piano and string orchestra and was originally intended to be part of a grand piano concerto that Finzi wanted to write in the late Read more…
Richard Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto Context Richard Addinsell is now most remembered for his work on film music. He wrote music for films such as Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Scrooge (1940) and Dangerous Moonlight (1941). He led the way in the popularity of ‘tabloid concertos’ – classical compositions for solo instruments Read more…
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 Context Composed in Vienna in December 1785, Mozart’s 22nd piano concerto is part of his more sophisticated collection of works. Mozart had received great success from a series of piano concertos in Vienna since his arrival there in 1781. In early 1785, Mozart’s Read more…
Dana Suesse: Concerto in 3 Rhythms Context Dana Suesse was born in 1909 in Kansas City. There is not much information on Suesse’s earlier life, but we know that whilst she was still young she travelled around the Midwest Vaudeville circuit, performing both on the piano and as a dancer. Read more…
Manuel de Falla: Nights in the Gardens on Spain Context Manuel de Falla was born in 1876, in the southern Spanish city of Cádiz. He studied harmony and counterpoint from a young age, as well as learning the piano. By 1900, he and his family had moved to Madrid, where Falla Read more…
Sergei Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Variation 18) Context Sergei Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is a concertante work (a large-scale work which uses both the symphonic and concerto forms throughout). It was composed in 1934, and is scored for solo piano and a full Romantic Read more…