All Article articles – Page 91
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ArticleTchaikovsky's Song Without Words played by Alexander Sitkovetsky
Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky gives a detailed insight into his practice regime in our June issue. Over the course of single day he experiments with playing without a shoulder rest, tackles some tricky cadenzas and looks over the Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Mozart Fourth and Shostakovich First concertos.Here's an archive performance by the ...
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ArticleAmerican cellist and teacher Paul Olefsky dies aged 87
US cellist and pedagogue Paul Olefsky has died at the age of 87. During his long career he was a member of several American orchestras and a recitalist in North America and Europe. For almost four decades he taught cello and chamber music at the University of ...
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ArticleAnne-Sophie Mutter: Carmen Fantasy
French composer Georges Bizet died on 3 June 1875, exactly three months after the premiere of his most famous work, Carmen. Here's Anne-Sophie Mutter performing Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy in 2012, with the Tanglewood Youth Orchestra under conductor Andris Nelsons. Read more about Bizet and Sarasate in the ...
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ArticleSzymon Goldberg: Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto
Polish-born American violinist Szymon Goldberg (1 June 1909–19 July 1993) made this recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto on 4 September 1957, with the Concertgebouw Orchestra under Eduard van Beinum. Recorded at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh. The second volume of Szymon Goldberg's complete commercial recordings was published earlier this ...
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ArticleOistrakh plays Bartók's Violin Concerto no.1
Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto no.1 received its world premiere on 30 May 1958 – 50 years after its composition in 1907–1908. David Oistrakh was an early champion of the concerto, and performs here with the Moscow Radio Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvensky. The recording was made on 24 December ...
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ArticleKarl Roy, Mittenwald Violin Making School director, dies aged 80
Luthier and author Karl Roy has died aged 80. For two decades he was director of the Mittenwald School of Violin Making in southern Germany, which he joined as a tutor in 1960. Born in 1933 in Potsdam, Roy grew up and went to school in Hanover. ...
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ArticleVadim Repin plays a Tchaikovsky encore
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky finished writing his Souvenir d'un lieu cher on 31 May 1878 – 135 years ago. Here, Vadim Repin performs the 'Mélodie' in E flat major as an encore, with Nikolai Lugansky at the piano.
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ArticleNEC violin teacher Masuko Ushioda dies aged 71
Violinist and pedagogue Masuko Ushioda has died at the age of 71. For almost 40 years she taught at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. Born in Japan, Ushioda originally studied at the Toho Gakuen Academy and the Leningrad Conservatory before beginning private studies with ...
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ArticleJailed former Chetham's music director Michael Brewer stripped of OBE
The Queen has annulled Michael Brewer's OBE for services to music after the former music school director was convicted of sexually abusing violinist Frances Andrade more than 30 years ago. Brewer, 68, was jailed for six years in March for indecently assaulting Andrade while she was ...
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ArticleHeifetz, Piatigorsky, Primrose
On 29 May 1962 this recording of Beethoven's Serenade op.8 won a Grammy award for Best Chamber Music Performance. Recorded 15–22 August 1960 by Jascha Heifetz (violin), Gregor Piatigorsky (cello) and William Primrose (viola). Listen to Heifetz and Primrose performing Handel's Passacaglia.
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ArticleMax Bruch's String Quartet no.1
A string quartet by the 14-year-old Max Bruch has been located in an archive in Frankfurt. According to musicologist Ulrike Kienzle, who found the manuscript, the themes of the second and third movements are identical to themes in Bruch's Quartet no.1 of 1858, performed here by the ...
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ArticleLord Mayor of London launches foundation for young musicians
The Lord Mayor of London has launched a foundation to help young players at the outset of their professional careers. The City Music Foundation will give financial support and mentoring and performance opportunities to individuals or groups in classical, jazz, folk and world music genres. The ...
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ArticleShlomo Mintz plays Paganini
One of the greatest ever violinists, Niccolò Paganini, died on 27 May 1840 aged 57. Here's Shlomo Mintz performing the cadenza in Paganini's Violin Concerto no.1 at a 1997 concert with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yoel Levi. Mintz is playing Paganini's own violin, the 1743 'Cannone' ...
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ArticleCellist Emanuel Feuermann plays Dvorák and Popper
Cellist Emanuel Feuermann (22 November 1902–25 May 1942) made many recordings but very few filmed performances. Here is one of the few, made in 1939. Feuermann plays Dvorák's Rondo op.94 and Popper's Spinning Song, with Theodore Saidenberg at the piano.
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ArticleLost quartet by 14-year-old Max Bruch unearthed in Frankfurt
A musicologist based in Frankfurt has discovered the manuscript of a previously unknown string quartet by composer Max Bruch. Written when the composer was just 14 years old, the work will have its modern premiere in 2014. Researcher Ulrike Kienzle discovered the manuscript while investigating the ...
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ArticleThe world's largest viola ensemble in performance
More than 300 musicians gathered at a shopping centre in Porto, Portugal, on 19 May to break the world record for the largest ever viola ensemble. The number of players has now been confirmed by Guinness World Records as 353 violists – 32 more than the previous ...
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ArticleViolinist chosen for €15,000 Rheingau Music Festival award
Violinist Iskandar Widjaja is to receive a €15,000 career development prize at this year’s Rheingau Music Festival. The 27-year-old will receive the award during a concert at the festival on 23 July. In a statement, the judges said that Widjaja’s playing was ‘characterised by a rare artistic ...
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ArticleHospital CT scan reveals more on so-called 'Titanic violin'
A violin thought to have been played during the sinking of the RMS Titanic has undergone a hospital CT scan to determine its age and condition. The research, commissioned by auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, showed that the instrument had been damaged and restored. Radiographer Astrid ...
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ArticleInfluential composer Henri Dutilleux dies at the age of 97
The French composer Henri Dutilleux has died in Paris at the age of 97. He represented one of the very few surviving members of a generation whose music stretches back to the beginning of the 20th century. Dutilleux (pictured) wrote extensively for strings, including concertos for ...
