Wordsworthy.

Many of us are currently gorging on recordings of Beethoven’s music, with this year marking the 250th anniversary of his birth. If you’d like a brief change in anniversary diet, however, then read on. 2020 also marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the English poet, William Wordsworth (1770-1850). We’ll take a three-pronged approach Read More …

Alma. Her life, loves, lieder.

Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler was born on the date of this post, 31 August, in the year 1879. On her death in 1964, aged 85, she had become Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel. Alternatively, Alma Mahler-Werfel. She might be summed up as a Vienna-born composer and socialite who vacuumed up men’s attentions and several wedding Read More …

Multiplied by the power of one

There’s no doubting the thrill of hearing a pot-bellied orchestra going for climactic points in a score with all its might and dislodging the dust from concert hall rafters. Yet the other end of the textural spectrum can be equally telling. Mozart reminded us that silence is possibly the most powerful element in music. Equally Read More …