Great melodies, bold harmonies, audacious rhythms, plenty of virtuosity (Prokofiev was a piano virtuoso himself) and lots of Slavic charm and character. For the past several weeks I have been listening repeatedly to these three concertos and only finding more and more to discover and admire each time. I have been a fan of the “Third” for many years but […]
Prokofiev (Piano Concertos 1, 2 and 3) Read More »
“St. Germain Street” (Written by Reynold Philipsek, 2012 copyright) all instruments by Reynold, except drums by Michael Bissonnette June 15, 2018 marked 50 years since the untimely death of Jazz guitar great Wes Montgomery. Summer always puts me in a Wes Montgomery mood. I associate his sunny disposition with this season, and definitely with a certain period of my life.
St. Germain Street Read More »
Milstein was a Ukrainian-born American virtuoso violinist. Being a contemporary of the great Heifetz might have seemed an undue burden to some violinists, but Milstein rose to the challenge. In his early days, he toured Russia with Horowitz, and toward the end of his life he recorded some of the best solo violin I have heard. The recordings of Bach
Nathan Milstein (1904-1992) Read More »
Music history is replete with stories of artists meeting an early demise: Chopin, Django, Dinu Lipatti, William Kapell, and even Scriabin all passed on young. Perhaps Lipatti and Kapell are less well known, but they are very important musicians in my estimation. Lipatti (1917-1950) was a fantastic composer and pianist who thankfully left us some recordings, though precious few, and
Conditions of the Tournament Read More »
I first heard about Alain-Fournier while doing research on one of my favorite composers, Maurice Ravel. I was researching Ravel’s 1928 American tour at the Minnesota History Museum. I later turned over my findings to the Ravel museum in Montfort L’Amaury, near Paris. This museum was Ravel’s home until his passing in 1937, and I have visited it several times
Alain-Fournier (1886-1914) Read More »
As I have said before in this space my favorite hobby is to study the work of classic pianists of the past. The “somewhat” distant pianists of the past I have looked at encompass Cortot, Lipatti, Rubinstein, Horowitz, Schnabel, Rachmaninoff, Godowsky, Hofmann, etc. The more recent past include Gould, Ashkenazy, and “Sigi”. Born in Bulgaria and migrating to America during
Alexis “Sigi” Weissenberg (1929-2012) Read More »