Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 Context Born into a lower-middle class Jewish family in Vienna in 1874, Schoenberg was a mostly self-taught composer. He learnt counterpoint with composer and pedagogue, Alexander Von Zemlinsky and was also taken under the wing by Gustav Mahler. Schoenberg is perhaps most famous for Read more…
Cindy McTee: Adagio for String Orchestra Context Cindy McTee was born in 1953 in Washington. Her father played the trumpet and her mother played the clarinet, so from an early age, McTee was involved with music. By age six she was receiving piano lessons, and her teacher at the time encouraged her Read more…
Takashi Yoshimatsu: White Landscapes Context Takashi Yoshimatsu was born in 1953 in Tokyo, Japan where he is regarded as one of Japan’s greatest Western classical composers. Interestingly, he did not learn music from a young age, in fact it wasn’t until his teens that he became interested in music at 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…