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Max Bruch
Brahms and Bruch This was a comparative study of the two greatest German instrumental and choral composers of their day whose reputations have not fared equally well. Johannes Brahms and Max Bruch were two of the most celebrated composers in late nineteenth century Germany. Bruch predicted that his fame would fade as Brahms’s grew. Although…
British Museum Highlights
This new 90 minute tour of the Museum costs £12 per head and can be booked in advance via the Museum’s website. Originally we star ted in Room 2 with an introduction to the museum’s founder, Sir Hans Sloane and then one of the oldest objects in the museum, a hand axe from Olduvai Gorge,…
Mily Balakirev
The Mighty Handful The lives and music of Balakirev, Cui, Borodin, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov examining how they came together and how their careers overlapped. In 1867 the critic Stasov wrote a review of the Pan-Slav concert organised by Mily Balakirev: “God grant that our Slavonic guests may never forget today’s concert; God grant that they…
Franz Schubert
Schubert’s Finale The last 18 months of Schubert’s tragically short life saw the completion of a majority of his finest works including Winterreise, the Impromptus and Moments Musicals, the last three piano sonatas, the Piano Trios, the E flat Mass, the Great C major Symphony, the Shepherd on the Rock and the String Quintet. Like…
William Reed
William Leonard Reed 1910-2002 was a composer, pianist and teacher much loved by his family and friends and admired by all those who attended his Music Appreciation classes and recitals. A pupil of Howells, Will’s compostional style was much influenced by Delius and he was part of the English pastoralist tradition that included his older…
Zoltan Kodaly
Kodaly and Budapest This study was part of a longer course studying the history and culture of Budapest. We concentrated on Kodaly’s choral works and how they fitted in with the tradition of Hungarian choral works initiated by his greatest predecessor, Liszt. We compared Liszt’s Hungarian Coronation Mass with Kodaly’s similarly celebratory Buda Castle Te…
