Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Classical Music Minute
Plongez dans la liste complète des épisodes de The Classical Music Minute. Chaque épisode est catalogué accompagné de descriptions détaillées, ce qui facilite la recherche et l'exploration de sujets spécifiques. Suivez tous les épisodes de votre podcast préféré et ne manquez aucun contenu pertinent.
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Royal Harmonies: The Musical Splendor of France's Grand Court
Description Royal Harmonies: The Musical Splendor of France's Grand Court in 60 Seconds. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Jean-Baptiste Lully, the master of French Baroque, is best known for his opera Armide and the grand ballet Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. His work defined the court of Louis XIV, with the king himself often dancing in his productions. Lully's music, characterized by its rhythmic precision and grandeur, set the standard for French opera and ballet, making his compositions central to the opulent cultural life of the Sun King’s Versailles. __________________________________________________________________
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
Description Maestro's Magic Wand: The Art of the Baton Dance in 60 Seconds. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact One of the most difficult pieces to conduct is "Le Sacre du printemps" (The Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinsky. Its complex, irregular rhythms, sudden tempo changes, and layered dissonances demand extraordinary precision and deep understanding. The piece's primal energy and unpredictable structure make it a formidable challenge for any conductor. __________________________________________________________________
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
Description The Birth of the Modern Timpani in 60 Seconds. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Handel incorporated the timpani in several of his compositions, notably enhancing the grandeur and dramatic impact. Key pieces featuring timpani include the "Music for the Royal Fireworks" and the "Messiah." In the "Water Music," timpani are used sparingly for festive occasions. The instrument's powerful sound added a majestic and ceremonial quality, underlining important moments and contributing to the overall dynamic range of his orchestral works. __________________________________________________________________
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
Description Recently I came across a fabulous Spanish Concert Pianist on YouTube, by the name of Juan Pérez Floristán. He was playing the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 1—one of my favourites. Watching him play had me literally jumping out of my seat. So, I decided that I’ve really got to chat with him. And I did, from his home in Spain.
Juan’s YouTube Channel Tócala otra vez Juan (Play it again, Juan) My Note: I checked it out and watched (with subs) his analysis of Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto. It was fun and informative. 🤓
Here’s a little more about Juan, in his own words:
“I was born in 1993, in Seville, a city in the south of Spain, which in itself is in the south of Europe. My father, Juan Luis Pérez, is an orchestra director, and I learned how to conduct from him. My mother, María Floristán, is a pianist and pedagogue, and I learned to play the piano from her.
My orchestral activity also began when I was very young, playing Mozart's Concerto 12 with my father Juan Luis Pérez at the baton. Since then, I have played with ensembles such as the RTVE Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Spain, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Camerata, the Monterey Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Seville Royal Symphony Orchestra, & the Barcelona Orchestra.
I have also conducted Beethoven and Mozart concerts from the piano.
As for the venues I have had the privilege of playing in, I cannot forget the Royal Albert Hall (together with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the Proms), the Wigmore Hall, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Tonhalle in Zürich , the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, the Béla Bartók Hall in Budapest, & the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
Probably the greatest milestones of my professional life have been winning in 2015 the International Piano Competition "Paloma O'Shea" in Santander and in 2021 the International Piano Competition "Arthur Rubinstein" in Tel Aviv. In both I also won the public award, and to all this we must add the Gold Medal of the City of Seville and the First Prize in the Berlin Steinway Competition in 2015. But I never forget the saying that "Winning a prize does not depend on you. Deserve it, yes."
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any qu
Description John Williams is of course known for his Hollywood blockbuster orchestral music. But has also composed many incredible works, including his cello concerto for famed cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Williams has composed for a staggering number of critically acclaimed and popular movies, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, the first two Home Alone films, the Indiana Jones films, the first two Jurassic Park films, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, Seven Years In Tibet, and the first three Harry Potter films.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description One of my favorite pieces of all time is Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major. This episode is dedicated to this breathtaking composition. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact One day during the summer of 1911, Sergei Taneyev, the revered composer, asked the young Prokofiev a question that undoubtedly puzzled many musicians of his generation: “Where, Sergei Sergeyevich, do you think your predilection for dissonances comes from?”
Prokofiev responded: “Well, you know, Sergei Ivanovich, when I was eleven years old and I brought you my first symphony [an unpublished student work], you listened to it and said with a smile, ‘Very good, very good; except the harmony is painfully primitive…’ Those words burned themselves into my brain, I became ashamed of my primitive harmony, and tried in every possible way to make it more interesting.
This ambition has never left me, and as my musical powers developed I was always aiming at ever more complex harmony […]” Laughing, Taneyev replied, “Well, imagine that! I never knew it was I who had set you off on that path…!”
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description John Gay wrote The Beggar's Opera as an anti-opera rather than an opera, lampooning the Italian opera style and the English public's fascination with it. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Facts Fact 1 Lavinia Fenton, the first Polly Peachum, became an overnight success. Her pictures were in great demand, verses were written to her and books published about her. After appearing in several comedies, and then in numerous repetitions of The Beggar's Opera, she ran away with her married lover, Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton.
Fact 2 Bertolt Brecht adapted the work into Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) in 1928, sticking closely to the original plot and characters but with a new libretto, and mostly new music by Kurt Weill.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Igor Stravinsky was a huge proponent of Neoclassicism in music—much to the shock and dismay of some listeners and critics. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact A pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov in his native St. Petersburg, Stravinsky had inherited the style of the Russian nationalist group, the so-called kuchka or Mighty Handful, and the ballets he wrote for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes before and during the First World War – The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring, and Les Noces – are post-kuchka works, based on folk tales or rituals, using folk music or poetry, and largely ignoring the orthodox procedures of traditional classical music.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description What was Neoclassicism in music? And which composers utilized this aesthetic form? Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Sergei Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 (1917) is sometimes cited as a precursor of Neoclassicism. Prokofiev himself thought that his composition was a "passing phase" whereas Stravinsky's neoclassicism was by the 1920s "becoming the basic line of his music".
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description The tale of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 45 in F♯ minor, known as the "Farewell" Symphony was told in Haydn’s later life to his biographers Albert Christoph Dies and Georg August Griesinger. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact The symphony could not be performed without the purchase of some special equipment. Haydn signed an order for two special half-step slides for use by the horn players. These slightly lengthened the horn's tubing, permitting the instrument to be used to play in keys a semitone lower than usual. The horn of the time was the valveless natural horn, which needed to be adjusted with inserted crooks to play in different keys.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description In my past episode about Frederick The Great, I mentioned Sturm und Drang aka "storm and stress". This movement occurred in German literature and music between the late 1760s and early 1780s. It was a style of composition that evoked emotions of stress, fear, horror and anxiety. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact The clearest musical connections to the self-styled Sturm und Drang movement can be found in opera and the early predecessors of program music, such as Haydn's Farewell Symphony. Beethoven, Weber, and even Schubert also have elements of Sturm und Drang.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description King Frederick II of Prussia aka Frederick The Great was passionate about music. He particularly loved to play the flute, which he initially learned in secret due to his father being a straight-laced military man. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact King Frederick II loved operas but never wrote one himself – he did, however, contribute arias for operas by Carl Graun, and wrote the libretto for Graun’s opera Montezuma. His flute sonatas make virtuosic demands on the performer and are excellent at conveying different ranges of emotion, expressing both soulful and spirited feelings.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Some thought that the virtuoso violinist Paganini was a metaphorical musical God, others thought he literally got his virtuosity from a deal with the Devil. But what was the real story behind Niccolò Paganini’s genius? Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Known particularly for his fiendish 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Paganini helped popularise certain string techniques such as bow bounces – spiccato – as well as left-hand pizzicato and harmonics. He also purposely mistuned strings to make certain pieces easier to play. It is said he could play 12 notes per second – a feat later achieved by violinist David Garrett, who plays Paganini in The Devil’s Violinist, a 2013 film based on the composer’s life story.
It is now believed that Paganini’s unusual finger length, which allowed him to play three octaves in one hand span, was due to Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder. Equally, his ability to play at incredible speed could be attributed to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disorder which causes increased flexibility and a lack of coordination.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Bizet's Carmen in 60 Seconds. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Georges Bizet's "Carmen," composed in 1875, was crafted during a time when French opera was dominated by grand, serious works. Bizet, influenced by emerging realism, sought to break conventions with "Carmen," infusing it with Spanish flair, everyday characters, and a tragic storyline. Set in Seville, Spain, the opera's portrayal of a fiery, independent woman and its innovative music challenged societal norms and faced initial criticism for its perceived immorality. Despite a lukewarm premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, "Carmen" ultimately gained acclaim, becoming a landmark in operatic history for its bold narrative and rich, evocative score. __________________________________________________________________
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
Description Nowadays, ‘Für Elise’ is undoubtedly one of Beethoven’s most famous works. It seems almost strange then that, at the time it was composed, the piece was relatively incidental. It certainly didn’t provoke much of a reaction and apparently, Beethoven himself was never fully satisfied with the work, returning to it some years later and trying, unsuccessfully in his eyes, to revise and refine it. Ultimately, ‘Für Elise’ wasn’t even published until 1865, nearly forty years after Beethoven’s death on 26 March 1827. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Beethoven composed the piece on 27 April 1810. At this stage, Beethoven’s hearing was getting gradually weaker. The composer could apparently still hear some speech and music until 1812. But by the age of 44 (four years after he composed ‘Für Elise’), he was almost totally deaf and unable to hear voices. As he got progressively deafer, his pieces got higher and higher. This might account for the relatively high pitch of ‘Für Elise’, which reaches an E7 – two Es above a top soprano C.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Johann Strauss Jr. found the perfect formula for engaging with the masses. He made a killing money-wise and was considered the biggest pop star of his time. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Strauss Jr. had a passion for accumulating an awe-inspiring array of medals, decorations and honours from the world’s sovereigns. As such, the titles and dedicatees of his compositions, as has been suggested, “may be viewed as a musically illustrated guide to about 50 years of European history.”
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description This year marks the 40th anniversary of the compact disk. It’s worth giving a nod to this period in our music recording history because for many of us it was a brave new world. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact A BBC programme called Tomorrow’s World introduced British audiences to the CD in 1981 – the presenter Kieran Prendiville was skeptical about “whether there’s a market for this kind of disc”. There was indeed a huge market for this shiny little miracle worker, but alas, it wouldn’t last.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description The world of trailer music evolved composer Kati Falk-Flores’ skills beyond her classical training into writing the larger-than-life, cinematic music needed for the promotion of Hollywood’s biggest films.
From the heartwarming piece used for advertising Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns to the dark exploration of humanity used for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Kati’s music resonates with audiences for its “powerful role in storytelling” and has won both CLIO and Golden Trailer Awards.
While trailer music has given Kati well-earned skill in writing orchestral-hybrid music, emotive storytelling takes the front seat for both her concert works and music for media, just as it did in the violin-feature orchestral work Awakening, commissioned in 2015.
Currently, Kati balances composing trailer music with writing music for indie film projects. Join me for this bonus episode coffee chat!
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
It's thirsty work creating content for TCMM. Many sleepless nights spent crafting that perfect one-minute episode or editing my latest fab interview as a bonus episode for your listening pleasure. 🎙🤔📚 But a cup of coffee is always welcome to keep my creativity flowing. 🎼☕️✍🏽🙏
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Blessed with good looks, but bad teeth, Franz Liszt had a number of vices, including cigars and cognac. All of which he would indulge in to excess. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Liszt was quite the rock star of his time. They called it “Lisztomania” – women would faint and go into a frenzy when he performed, so much so that local doctors thought it was an epidemic of mental illness. And it wasn’t just women swooning for Liszt! Upon seeing Liszt, one critic, Yuri Arnold, wrote: “As soon as I reached home, I pulled off my coat, flung myself on the sofa, and wept the bitterest, sweetest tears.”
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Anton Bruckner was extremely critical of his own work and often reworked his compositions. One such perplexity was his Symphony No. 0. Or was it? Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Unlike other musical radicals such as Richard Wagner and Hugo Wolf, Bruckner showed extreme humility before other musicians, Wagner in particular. This apparent dichotomy between Bruckner the man and Bruckner the composer hampers efforts to describe his life in a way that gives a straightforward context for his music. Hans von Bülow described him as "half genius, half simpleton". Bruckner was critical of his own work and often reworked his compositions.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description In defence of Ukraine and its cultural heritage, Keri-Lynn Wilson is leading the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra on its inaugural tour of Europe and America. Composed of leading Ukrainian musicians from both inside and outside of Ukraine, the orchestra was created by Ms. Wilson with support from the governments of Ukraine and Poland and the Metropolitan Opera and the Polish National Opera.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart"), commonly abbreviated "Der Hölle Rache", is an aria sung by the Queen of the Night, a coloratura soprano part, in the second act of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). But who are some of the sopranos who successfully tackled this feat of brilliance? Take a minute to get the scoop!
Four Soprano Greats with their Queen Of The Night (℅ YouTube)
…Wow! I never get tired of listening to this aria…worth checking out. 🤓🎵🌎
Fun Fact the Queen of the Night Aria is written in D minor, and is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, and trumpets, along with timpani and the string section. This is a larger orchestra than for "O zittre nicht" and comprises all the players from the opera as a whole, except the clarinets and trombones. The aria is renowned as a demanding piece to perform well. The vocal range covers two octaves, from F4 to F6 and requires a very high tessitura, A4 to C6.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description For this bonus interview episode, I chat with Canadian Media Composer, Maria Molinari. Trained as a classical guitarist, Maria Molinari began her composing career writing concert music for soloists, chamber groups, ballet and orchestras until her love of film, storytelling & collaboration drew her to film scoring. Maria recently composed the score for the bold critically acclaimed anthology film TO THE NEW GIRL. Her music can be heard in the score for the feature film END OF DAYS, INC. and the theme for the forensic series MOTIVES & MURDERS: CRACKING THE CASE. She has provided additional music for the MARVEL COMICS based sci-fi syndicated series MUTANT X and the retro musical comedy series GETTING ALONG FAMOUSLY. Enjoy!
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description The ‘Queen of the Night’ aria, "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart"), is a coloratura soprano part, in the second act of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte). Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact The story is a mixture of fun and high ideals, of Masonic philosophy and high jinx, of brotherhood and love affairs, of melodrama and serious thought. Within this context Mozart sent his final message of personal conviction and standards of living, which had been confirmed by his membership in the Freemasons, on January 7, 1785, admitted into the Zur Wohltätigkeit Lodge in Vienna. There, he was in familiar company. Other contemporary members of this Lodge were Joseph Haydn, his patron Prince Lichnowsky, his father Leopold, Michael Puchberg and Gottfried van Swieten, two of his most important patrons, Anton Stadler (clarinetist) and Angelo Solimon, a good friend.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor in 60 seconds. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, was likely composed during his early career, possibly when he was in his late teens or early twenties. This period coincides with his time as a young organist in Arnstadt (1703-1707) or Mühlhausen (1707-1708). __________________________________________________________________
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
Description Henry VIII, King of England (1491-1547) excelled at languages, literature, theology, sport and, famously, music. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact In 1515, May Day was celebrated at Greenwich with all kinds of music, including, according to this description, a mix of natural and ‘made’ music: ‘In the wood were bowers filled purposely with singing birds which carolled most sweetly, and in one of these bastions or bowers were some triumphal cars, on which were singers and musicians, who played on organ, lute and flutes for a good while, during a banquet which was served in this place.’
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description For this bonus interview episode, I chatted with world-renowned theremin player Pamelia Stickney (formerly known as Pamelia Kurstin). She has performed and recorded with many artists including David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, David Garland, Seb Rochford, Otto Lechner and Simone Dinnerstein, and was instrumental in the final design of Robert Moog's Etherwave Pro Theremin, for which she was the primary test musician.
I was also joined by composer, Sasha Rapoport, who has written several works for the theremin, performed by his good friend Pamelia Stickney. Among other things, he chatted and played a clip from his 3rd Sonata, march and minuet. Sasha's principal compositions include works for Jamie Sommerville (Waldberauscht, 2016) Pamelia Stickney (Sonata for Theremin and Piano no. 1, 2014 and no. 2, 2018) The Talisker Players (And Hast Thou Glossed the Jabberwock? 2011, and The Pilgrimage of Henry Pyne, 2009), The Canadian Children’s Opera Company (Dragon in the Rocks, 2008), The Windermere Quartet (String Quartet no. 1, 2006 and no. 2, 2017), Valerie Tryon (Variations on a Theme of Chopin for Piano and Orchestra, 1999) and Judy Loman (Hymn to the Redeemer of the Nations, 1986). He is an associate professor, teaching stream, in composition and music theory at the University of Toronto.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact During the late 1940s, Copland became aware that Stravinsky and other fellow composers had begun to study Arnold Schoenberg's use of twelve-tone (serial) techniques. After he had been exposed to the works of French composer Pierre Boulez, he incorporated serial techniques into his Piano Quartet (1950), Piano Fantasy (1957), Connotations for orchestra (1961) and Inscape for orchestra (1967). Unlike Schoenberg, Copland used his tone rows in much the same fashion as his tonal material—as sources for melodies and harmonies, rather than as complete statements in their own right, except for crucial events from a structural point of view.
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description The lutenist Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687 – 1750) was one of the most prolific composers of the lute in history and was the virtuoso lutenist of his day. He was a contemporary of J.S. Bach and even competed with him in improvisation. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact In later life, Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. Bach and Weiss were said to have competed in improvisation, as the following account by Johann Friedrich Reichardt describes: "Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J.S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues."
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description The aria Nessun dorma is one of the most famous in all of operatic history and has been sung by an array of fantastic tenors—each adding their own unique technical and expressive prowess. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact "Nessun dorma", "Let no one sleep" is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot and one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera. It is sung by Calaf, il principe ignoto (the unknown prince), who falls in love at first sight with the beautiful but cold Princess Turandot. Any man who wishes to wed Turandot must first answer her three riddles; if he fails, he will be beheaded. In the aria, Calaf expresses his triumphant assurance that he will win the princess.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description I wanted to do a special two-part episode on the famous aria Nessun dorma. First the plot and lead up to the aria itself. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Although "Nessun dorma" had long been a staple of operatic recitals, Luciano Pavarotti popularized the piece beyond the opera world in the 1990s following his performance of it for the 1990 World Cup, which captivated a global audience. Both Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo released singles of the aria, with Pavarotti's reaching number 2 in the UK, and it appeared on the best-selling classical album of all time, The Three Tenors in Concert.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Need a quick refresher on the plot of Verdi’s Rigoletto? Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Rigoletto premiered on 11 March 1851 in a sold-out La Fenice as the first part of a double bill with Giacomo Panizza's ballet Faust. The opening night was a complete triumph, especially the scena drammatica and the Duke's cynical aria, "La donna è mobile", which was sung in the streets the next morning. It initially had a run of 13 performances and was revived in Venice the following year, and again in 1854.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Occasionally, I am going to release a bonus interview episode for your listening pleasure. For this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Bekah Simms who is the outgoing General Manager for the Canadian League of Composers. She is also a truly innovative composer in her own right. We chatted all about the League as well as Bekah’s compositional process and what she’s currently working on. Enjoy!
About Bekah Simms The varied output of JUNO and Gaudeamus Award-nominated composer Bekah Simms has been heralded as “cacophonous, jarring, oppressive — and totally engrossing!” (CBC Music), “tough, even gutsy...with a sure sense of original and vibrant colours” (Vancouver Sun), and lauded for its "sheer range of ingenious material, expressive range and sonic complexity" (The Journal of Music.) Propelled equally by fascination and terror toward the universe, her work is often filtered through the personal lens of her anxiety, resulting in nervous, messy, and frequently heavy musical landscapes. Foremost among her current compositional interests is quotation and the friction between recognizability and complete obfuscation.
Bekah hails from St. John's, Newfoundland and is currently Toronto-based. Her music has been widely performed across Canada, in over a dozen American states, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Austria, Lithuania, the UK, and Russia. Commissioning ensembles include some of the top interpreters of contemporary music in both Canada and internationally, such as Crash Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, l’Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Esprit Orchestra, Continuum Contemporary Music, Ensemble Télémaque, Ensemble Paramirabo, and Duo Concertante. Upcoming commissions include new works for Crash, But What About?, New Music Concerts, and more.
About Steven (TCMM Host) Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Medieval Western European music encompassed sacred and secular genres in the Middle Ages, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. It spans centuries and is worth considering as an integral part of our musical development. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Hildegard von Bingen was a rare Medieval female composer. Also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and as a medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most recorded in modern history. She has been considered by many in Europe to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Music has the power to arouse strong feelings and recall memories and the performer is the conduit to communicate this emotion. But it is actually far more complex than that. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact We’ve all had those ‘Proustian rush’ moments when a piece of music, or a single movement or even a phrase, provokes an involuntary memory, sometimes with physical side-effects such as goosebumps or shivers. Sometimes we want to feel uplifted or transported by music, taking us out of ourselves and the mundanity of everyday life to another place, to experience something touching or transcendent. Such moments, and the memory of them, are very special and individual.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description The Enchanting Creation of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in 60 seconds. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," formally known as "Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor 'Quasi una fantasia,' Op. 27, No. 2," was not performed publicly during Beethoven's lifetime. It was composed in 1801 and published in 1802, dedicated to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi. The piece gained popularity posthumously through various performances and publications. __________________________________________________________________
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
Description The theremin was the first electronic musical instrument invented purely by accident by a physicist and trained cellist. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact The theremin became the go-to noise for an alien encounter, most famously in the classic 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still (scored by Bernard Herrmann). Other high-profile credits, alongside lots of B-Movies, include The Lost Weekend and the Biblical blockbuster The Ten Commandments.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description After a harrowing pandemic, and shut down of the arts worldwide, the BBC Proms is back this summer. It will showcase repertoire not heard at the festival since 2019, but also lesser-known works in its ‘Cinderella’ instruments series. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact The 2022 Proms marks the centenary year of the BBC, celebrating a historic partnership between music and broadcasting that has brought the world’s largest classical music festival into people’s homes across the UK and beyond.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Franz Schubert in just eleven years (1797-1828) wrote over 600 songs. He set some of the greatest poets of his time to music. Some of them were even contemporary minor poets who were his friends. The greatest poet of Schubert’s age was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. One of the most dramatic of Schubert’s vocal works was the setting of Goethe’s poem, The Erlking, Der Erlkönig. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact More than 10,000 of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s letters are still in existence as are nearly 3,000 drawings. He was a literary celebrity by age 25. A recent reviewer of a new biography of Goethe noted wryly that if Goethe had lived during the age of Shakespeare, we’d be wondering if there were one Goethe or if there were many, now confused under one name.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description It was the passionate and sometimes tempestuous relationship between Tchaikovsky and violinist Yosif Kotek that sparked the miraculous creation of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto, a true masterpiece. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Although Yosif Kotek and Tchaikovsky were inseparable at one time, due to Kotek’s “unbelievable womanizing” the two fell apart. They would occasionally meet, love had clearly turned into contempt, and they found each other’s company “more unpleasant than pleasant,” and more “tiresome than attractive”. As it happens, contempt turned into pity when Kotek contracted tuberculosis and was sent to Switzerland for treatment. Tchaikovsky rushed to the bedside of his estranged and ailing lover, and dispensed various spiritual and physical comforts for six days. Kotek died, aged 29, and Tchaikovsky was charged with informing Kotek’s parents of their son’s untimely passing.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Teaching was part of Mozart’s lifestyle, and it was not uncommon for him to offer instruction while playing billiards or at the bowling alley. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact During the early stages of his career in Vienna, Mozart would give pupils 3 to 5 one-hour lessons per week but wasn’t particularly flexible about when the lessons could happen: he only wanted to teach during and around noon, so that he could have the mornings and evenings to write, perform and generally ponder over his own compositions.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart loved to eat. His favourites included a variety of dishes to fuel his creativity. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact With Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and numerous other composers hanging around, Vienna was clearly a musical center. Concurrently, it was an epicurean center that created and established the Viennese cuisine we still enjoy today.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Dating back over one thousand years, it is said that Ukrainian choral music embodies a cultural identity and is truly a reflection of the soul of a nation. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact With ever-changing borders and territories, Ukraine became a truly independent state only in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet choral art in the Ukrainian lands stretches back for over 1,000 years. The so-called “Znamenny Chant” stood at the core of Eastern Byzantium church music and rites, but a good number of the early sources have not been fully deciphered to date. Eventually, responding to Western European developments, notation was reformed by the Kyiv square notation.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Sergei Rachmaninoff had an unmistakable connection to writing in minor keys. In fact, his three symphonies, Symphonic Dances, four piano concertos, and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini are all written in minor keys. But why you may ask? Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact By 1900 Rachmaninoff was paralyzed with self-doubt and unable to compose. After professional help, his creative juices were rekindled. The Piano Concerto No. 2, completed in 1901 and performed by Rachmaninoff himself, was a success and led to a Glinka Award.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Vladimir Horowitz is considered one of the greatest pianists of all time. What is less known is that Horowitz was born in Kiev, the capital of modern-day Ukraine and at the time this was part of the Russian Empire. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Horowitz was acclaimed for his recordings of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, and his performance before Rachmaninoff awed the composer, who proclaimed "he swallowed it whole. He had the courage, the intensity, the daring."
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Sergei Bortkiewicz, a Ukrainian composer and pianist, was oppressed by the Soviets and the Nazis, a refugee and survivor of two World Wars, yet he composed wonderfully rich, appealing and colourful music. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact The outbreak of World War I in 1914 changed Bortkiewicz's life: Being a citizen of the Russian Empire, he was—together with his wife—initially put under house arrest and later deported from Germany to Russia. He returned to Kharkov, where he established himself as a music teacher, and also gave concerts. Hear his 3rd Piano Concerto.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description How The Blue Danube Cast Its Spell in 60 seconds. Take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact "The Blue Danube," composed by Johann Strauss II in 1866, was first performed in February 1867 in Vienna, Austria. Originally a choral work, it gained greater popularity as an orchestral piece and is now one of the most famous waltzes in classical music. Its debut took place at a concert of the Vienna Men's Choral Association. __________________________________________________________________
About Steven, Host Steven is a Canadian composer & actor living in Toronto. Through his music, he creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his music website for more. Member of the Canadian League Of Composers. __________________________________________________________________
Description Luciano Pavarotti was one of the most remarkable tenors of all time. Born into a humble working-class family, he attained worldwide fame, and eventually the honorific title of "King of the High Cs". Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Though praised for his voice, Pavarotti was often criticized for his inability to read music well and was unpopular with conductors due to telling them the correct tempo he believed was appropriate.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Alexina Louie is one of my favourite Canadian composers of contemporary classical music. I first heard her work “Music For Heaven and Earth” in 1990, which was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony. This is one composer you should definitely get to know. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Alexina Louie settled in Toronto in 1980, and over the subsequent four decades, she created a brilliant and ongoing career whose highlights are far too many to mention. Some of the most notable ones include her work O Magnum Mysterium: In Memoriam Glenn Gould, composed in response to the tragic and untimely death of Gould in 1982; two JUNO awards, as well as numerous JUNO nominations; her opera, The Scarlet Princess, commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company; her 2005 appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada; and esteemed awards like the 1999 Jules Leger Prize for New Chamber Music and the 2019 Canada Council Molson Prize in the Arts.
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.
Description Esprit Orchestra is one of the few full-sized orchestras devoted to performing the work of living composers. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!
Fun Fact Conductor, Alex Pauk, is married to composer Alexina Louie. Over the years, both have collaborated on several film scores including Don McKellar's Last Night, which received a Genie nomination for Best Original Score in 1998, and The Five Senses, a film by Jeremy Podeswa that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival the following year. In conjunction with David Henry Hwang, Louie composed a full-length opera, The Scarlet Princess (1996–2002).
About Steven Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.
A Note To Music Students et al. All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.