César Franck: Violin Sonata in A Context César Franck’s Violin Sonata in A was composed in 1886, and was offered as a wedding present for the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. The sonata has become one of the most performed violin works in the repertoire,with it still receiving regular performances. After the 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 of musicians and she was deemed a child prodigy when she began learning to play the harpsichord at a young age. Read more…
Yiruma: River Flows in You Context Yiruma, born Lee Ru-ma, is a South Korean-British composer and pianist. Born in 1978 in South Korea, Yiruma moved to England in 1988 to study at the prestigious Purcell School of Music, and then at King’s College London where he studied composition. Whilst studying Read more…
Giuseppe 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 Read more…
Paul Hindemith: Posaune Sonate Der historische Kontext Während seiner Karriere versuchte Hindemith wenigstens eine Sonate für jedes Instrument zu komponieren. Seine Posaune Sonate wurde 1941 komponiert und hat vier kleine Sätze. Es ist vorgeschlagen worden, dass Hindemith zuerst nur drei Sätze komponierte und dann der vierte Satz wurde später enthalten. Read more…
Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 Context Philip Glass’ first set of Etudes were composed in the mid 1990s. In a recent interview about this set of works he commented saying: “The point of the etudes, originally, was to strengthen my piano playing and that actually worked. I actually got 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…
Yann Tiersen: Comptine d’un autre été, l’après midi Context Composed as part of the soundtrack for the 2001 film Amélie, Comptine d’un autre été, l’après midi is one of the most iconic tracks. Composed for solo piano, the title loosely translates into ‘Nursery Rhyme from Another Summer’. Yann Tiersen composed Read more…
Morton Feldman: For Aaron Copland Context Morton Feldman was born in 1926 into a Russian-Jewish family. From a young age he began to learn piano where he found his love for music and composition. Feldman learnt with and admired a range of different German-modernist composers such as Anton Webern and Read more…
Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre Context Camille Saint-Saëns’ tone poem, Danse Macabre was composed in 1874. It started out as an art song for voice and piano, but was soon adapted as an orchestral work. The work is based on a poem by Henri Cazalis, which is based upon French superstition: Read more…