An English Christmas Carol, “All In the Morning” gives us this verse: It was on Holy Wednesday And all in the morning, That Judas Betrayed Our dear Heavenly King And was this not a woeful thing? And sweet Jesus we’ll … Continue reading
Mode, tempo, instrumentation. They make the difference between a piece of music that breathes and has life and one that qualifies as a dirge. I was looking over my Advent/Christmas repertoire some months ago, thinking of some addition of plainchant–something … Continue reading
Home from retreat, and I see Liam’s link from a few days ago on composers at work. I don’t pay close attention to how others do it. I occasionally hear stories. One published composer once told of “how we did … Continue reading
I was lurking on another site and saw a piece of some interest, a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of playing a dual role as conductor and accompanist. It’s personally relevant because I bounce between these roles on occasion. … Continue reading
John Williams is massively known for his massive body of film music. But one of my favorite modern works is his concerto The Five Sacred Trees. I have the disk of the London Symphony performance with Judith LeClair. It is … Continue reading
For now, I live at least a half a continent away from the performances. As a consolation, the soundtrack is greatly enjoyable. And nearly so is this book, which arrived from Amazon last summer. Having a readable libretto is nice; some … Continue reading
A sonata for harp and guitar, “The Spirit of the Trees,” has long been on my cd shelf. This recording by Yolanda Kondonassi on harp and David Leisner on guitar is the only release of which I’m aware. Reviewer Steve Schwartz, … Continue reading
