Music

Ravel’s Curious Piano Concerto for the Left Hand

Maurice Ravel I suppose it’s not all that curious. If you are a concert pianist and your right arm is a casualty in World War I, afterwards you have two options. One: give up your music career...

“Coffee Cantata”

Editor's Note: Johann Sebastian Bach composed his comic "Coffee Cantata" in 1735. Likely first premiered in a Leipzig coffee house, it depicts a scene in which a father berates his daughter for drinking the intoxicating beverage. She in turn protests: Ah! how sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than...

A Candid Conversation With Architect Allan Greenberg

Editor's Note: Andrew Balio of the Future Symphony Institute interviews architect Allan Greenberg, whose  philosophy of "canonical classicism" challenges the postmodernist school of architecture.  ANDREW BALIO: Among America’s music schools, Rice University’s Shepard School of Music...

Tales From the Realm of Faerie: Michael Kurek’s New Symphony

Michael Kurek These are exciting days, at least for those who are aware of the vibrant Christian revival in the arts which seems to be growing with each passing year. The quantity and quality of new...

“Ave Maris Stella”

Editor’s Note: Edvard Grieg composed his "Ave Maris Stella" ("Hail Star of the Sea"), for mixed choir, in 1898. It is based on a plainsong Vespers hymn to the Virgin Mary that dates to the eighth century. Its lyrics, in Latin and English, are below the embedded video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmFFYZID4rg   Ave, maris stella, Dei mater alma, atque semper...

Is Classical Music a Dying Tradition?

If Mozart and Wagner and Puccini and Respighi are “dead art,” I would suggest we’ve forgotten how to properly live. In an age of brainless media that celebrates victims, some of us actually seem to believe that we...

O Sting, Where Is Thy Death?

In a somewhat bizarre recent interview with the National Catholic Register, the aging rock star, Sting, who eons ago had been lead singer of the rock band The Police, waxed in a bemused and confused way about his...

Five Great Classical Pieces for Cello

Having played the cello for more than thirty years, I am often asked what I would recommend for listeners, especially for those who aren’t necessarily concertgoers. As a cellist, it’s hard to categorize what to listen to. Some...

“A Fanfare for Paratroopers”

Editor's Note: During World War Two, the famed English conductor Eugene Goossens, music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, commissioned various American composers to submit patriotic pieces to celebrate the Allied war effort against Germany, Italy, and Japan. Eighteen compositions (including one by Goossens himself), brief fanfares...

Aram Khachaturian’s Sizzling Piano Concerto

With its driving rhythms, distinct flavors, accessibility, and charm, Aram Khachaturian's piano concerto was an instant success in 1936. Have no doubt, it’s a sizzler. It’s decisive, flamboyant, and arrives and departs in a pyrotechnic dazzle... Aram Khachaturian

“Hymn for the Dormition of the Mother of God”

Editor's Note: Scored for a cappella choir, John Tavener's "Hymn for the Dormition of the Mother of God" was composed in 1985 as the second part of a pair of Marian devotions. Its  text is taken from the Feast of the Dormition (or slumber) of the Mother of...

A Call to the Joy of Life: Why Beethoven’s Ninth Matters to Me

Western civilization and culture have been under attack for quite some time now, primarily thanks to one form or another of political correctness and identity politics. These two ideological forces have not only been rejecting the...

Deep Listening

The capacity to “enter” the imaginary landscape of the musical narrative—or to have the musical narrative take possession of our inner space, to say it differently—is what musical perception really means. We can call this “deep listening:” the alert attention which puts, for the duration of the...

The Element of the Unexpected in Beethoven

The element of the unexpected is so often associated with Beethoven. But surprise is not enough; what makes it so great is that no matter how shocking and unexpected the surprise is, it always somehow gives the impression—as...