Timothy Judd 
Usually, we assume that, when writing a piece of music, the composer is firmly in control of the process as musical ideas are organized, refined, and developed. Yet, on occasion, the music seemingly comes alive, takes on a mind of its own, and dictates to the composer what it wants to be. This was Sergei Prokofiev’s experience when composing the Piano Concerto No. 5 in G Major, Op. 55. “Having accumulated a …
While recording the second book of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier as part of its All of Bach initiative, the Netherlands Bach Society chose twelve locations around the Dutch city of Utrecht. The Prelude and Fugue No. 17 in A-flat Major, BWV 886 was recorded on a top floor of the high-rise seat of Utrecht’s Provincial Council. Christine Schornsheim, the outstanding German harpsichordist who performs the entire Book II set, found the location, …
Stephen Gould, the world-renowned tenor, passed away on September 19 in Chesapeake, Virginia. After withdrawing from scheduled appearances at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany over the summer, Gould announced that he had been diagnosed with incurable bile duct cancer. He was 61. A leading interpreter of Wagner, Stephen Gould performed regularly at Bayreuth, where he was hailed as the “Wagner Marathon Man.” Following a musical theater stint which included a Broadway touring …
J.S. Bach, who could create tantalizingly sophisticated music using the most economical means, famously wrote six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, and six Suites for solo cello. Less well known is the single work Bach left behind for the solo flute. The four-movement suite which has come to be known as the Flute Partita in A minor, BWV 1013 originally was inscribed with the simple title, Solo pour la Flute traversiere. …
Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major is music rooted in nature and song. It is the work of a 28-year-old composer who was rapidly rising as one of Europe’s premier conductors, and who was coming out of a stormy love affair with Marion von Weber, the wife of the grandson of composer, Carl Maria von Weber. It is music which synthesizes the Romantic influences of Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, and Bruckner, …
Chancel is the third single to be released from Sessions, 3 A.M, the latest album by the American composer, Michael Torke. The complete recording will be available in November. Recorded last May at the Samurai Hotel Studio in Queens, New York, Sessions, 3 A.M features a collection of fifteen brief and atmospheric pieces for solo piano which are performed by the composer. The excerpts that are currently available suggest the magical, nocturnal vibe of an …
Jean Sibelius’ impressionistic tone poem, The Dryad (Dryaden), Op. 45, No. 1, is magical and fleeting. It begins with hushed, searching melodic strands which seem to drift over a dark, desolate, and frigid nordic landscape before coalescing into a high-spirited dance. At moments, the woodwinds erupt in cackling laughter and shrieks of merriment. Tonal colors capture the shimmering brilliance of sunlight on snow. The wood nymphs, upon which the piece is based, come …