Gieseppe Tartini: Devil’s Trill Violin Sonata Context Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) was a Venetian violinist and composer. Born in Piran, Tartini was a part of an old aristocratic family. His parent’s had intended him to become a friar, which is why he received the musical training that he did from a young age. Read more…
Fiona Bennett: ‘A Lad and a Lass’ Context Fiona Bennett (1962-present), is a Welsh composer. Born and raised in Cardiff, Bennett began receiving piano lessons at age 4. Ten years later, Bennett was awarded a scholarship to study piano performance and music theory at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Read more…
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Continuo Context Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre was born in Paris, 1665. She was born into a family full of musicians and she was deemed a child prodigy when she began learning to play the harpsichord at a very young Read more…
Joan Trimble: The Green Bough Context Joan Trimble was born in 1915 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. She, from a young age, learnt to play the piano, read music and then compose her own music. She studied piano with Annie Lord at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. She continued her Read more…
Ernest Bloch: Five Sketches in Sepia Context Born in Geneva in 1880, Ernest Bloch was surrounded by a non-musical family. However, by age ten Bloch started to take an interest in playing the violin and learning music. Bloch’s family were Jewish, and a lot of his music reflects the characteristics of Read more…
Sheila Silver: Nocturne Context Sheila Silver is an American-born composer who grew up in Seattle. She began receiving piano lessons from the age of 5 and her love and passion for music grew and grew until she earned her place at the University of California, Berkeley. She graduated with a Bachelor Read more…
Steve Reich: Piano Phase Context Steve Reich is known for his contributions to the minimalist movement of the twentieth century. As the title suggests, minimalism is a form of art music that uses minimal musical material to achieve maximum effects. Reich, with other composers such as Philip Glass and John Adams, Read more…
Erik Satie: Je te veux Erik Satie’s instantly recognisable Je te veux was originally scored for voice and piano, however, over the years this well-loved melody has also been scored for chamber orchestra, and most famously – solo piano. Translated into English, the title simply means ‘I Want You’, and the original song Read more…
Franz Liszt: Liebestraum No.3 Franz Liszt was born in 1811 in Hungary, into an already well-established musical family. His father, Adam Liszt, had been in service for Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy. This meant he was in direct contact with prolific composers such as Haydn, Beethoven and Hummel. At a young age, Liszt Read more…
Richard Peaslee: Nightsongs 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 extended techniques. Read more…