Ursula Mamlok: Concerto for Oboe Context Born on February 1st, 1923, Ursula Mamlok was born in Berlin, Germany into a primarily Jewish family. Her biological father, Hans Meyer, died when she was a baby, but her mother remarried fairly soon after. Mamlok composed and performed as a child in Berlin, however, Read more…
Johann Joachim Quantz: Flute Concerto No. 129 Context Born in Oberscheden, Germany in 1697, Johann Joachim Quantz was a prolific flautist, Baroque music composer and educator. It wasn’t until his early teens when Quantz began to study music formally, first with his uncle, and then with organist Johann Friedrich Kiesewetter. Read more…
J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 Context The development of the concerto, suites and recitatives were prominent throughout the baroque era, with the output of Telemann, Handel and J. S. Bach leading the way. Bach’s style, as it is often remembered, brings to life contrapuntal invention, powerful harmonic language 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…
Béla Bartók – Concerto for Orchestra Context Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is a five-movement piece of orchestral music that was written in 1943. Born in Hungary in 1881, Bartók is another composer who showed potential from a young age. Able to distinguish dance themes from a young age, his mother started Read more…
Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor Context Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor is a thrilling three-movement work that has become a staple piece for violinists all around the world. In the midst of the ‘changeover’ between classicism and romanticism, this work sees Mendelssohn at his best, writing with Read more…
Max Bruch: Scottish Fantasy Context Max Bruch was born on January 6th 1838 in Cologne. He received early musical training by pianist and composer, Ferdinand Hiller. Unlike quite a large proportion of classical musicians, Bruch’s family were very supportive of his music studies, and were often pushing him to take it Read more…
Keiko Abe: The Wave Impressions Concerto for Marimba Context Keiko Abe’s The Wave Impression Concerto for Marimba was composed in 2002 and it is written for orchestra, marimba. Abe explains in this short paragraph what this concerto is all about: “This piece consists of three contrasting musical elements and the approaches Read more…
Jennifer Higdon: Percussion Concerto Context Composed in 2005, Jennifer Higdon’s exciting Percussion Concerto has received very high acclaim from the media and from audiences around the world. Throughout the 20th Century and beyond, the growth of the percussion section is far more vast than any other section within an orchestra. Higdon writes in Read more…
Alexandra Pakhmutova: Trumpet Concerto Context Alexandra Pakhmutova was born in 1929 in Russia. She began learning the piano at a very young age and she showed much potential. World War II interrupted her studies, and in 1942 the Pakhmutova family were evacuated to Kazakstan. When the family moved back to Beketovka, Read more…