Alexander von Zemlinsky: Symphony No. 1 Context Born in Vienna in 1871, Alexander von Zemlinsky was tutored by some of the ‘great’ composers of the Romantic period – Gustav Mahler and Johannes Brahms. After the premiere of Zemlinsky’s First Symphony, Brahms supported the young composer until his own death in 1897. Read more…
Paul Mealor: De Profundis Context Paul Mealor was born in North Wales, 1975, and as a young child he studied composition with William Mathias. He attended the University of York, and studied under John Pickard and Nicola LeFanu. For fourteen years now, Mealor has taught composition at the University of Aberdeen. Mealor Read more…
Dora Pejačević: Two Piano Sketches Context Dora Pejačević was born in Budapest on 10th September 1885, and her family descended from the old Croatian noble Pejačević family. Her mother, Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya was a very competent pianist and she gave Pejačević her first piano lessons when she was a young girl. Read more…
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No.2 ‘The Four Temperaments’ Context Carl Nielsen was born in 1865 on the island of Funen (the third-largest island that is a part of Denmark). The Nielsen family were incredibly poor, however, his parents were keen musicians, with his father playing cornet and his mother, a singer. Read more…
Jean Sibelius: Scene with Cranes Context Jean Sibelius was born on 8th December 1865 in Hämeenlinna Finland. When he was ten years old, Sibelius was given a violin by his musical uncle, who soon became his musical tutor. Before studying music at university, Sibelius studied at the Imperial Alexander University, Read more…
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Five Variants of Dives & Lazarus Context As an avid collector of English folksong, Vaughan Williams used a lot of throughout his career. As can be seen from a menagerie of his works from Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and In the Fen Country, Vaughan Read more…
Lera Auerbach: Icarus Context Lera Auerbach was born in 1973 in Chelyabinsk – a city that borders Siberia. Her mother was a piano teacher, so she received lessons from her at a young age. The Auerbach family have a history of being musical, so Lera was naturally a fast learner. Read more…
Ludwig van Beethoven: Egmont Overture Context The Egmont Overture is the opening of a set of incidental music that Beethoven was commissioned to write for a 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe. The music was composed between 1809-1810. The story centres around Dutch nobleman, Count Egmont – whose Read more…
Gordon Jacob: An Original Suite Context Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was born in 1895 in South London. He was the youngest of ten siblings, and the seventh male. He was enlisted to go to war at the age of 19, and in 1917 he was taken as a prisoner of Read more…
Malcolm Arnold: Fantasy for Trumpet Context Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton, England in October 1921. He took up playing the trumpet at age 12, and after studying and practising intensely for five years, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. Whilst at RCM, Read more…