Contributed by Benjamin K. Roe This month violinist Rachel Barton Pine is busy touring and promoting her brand-new recording of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, including an Easter Sunday performance of all six of the solo-violin masterworks at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. In Bach’s own autograph, he designates […]
Sonatas, Partitas, and a Testament Read More »
Contributed by Benjamin K Roe It was no easy task to compose seven adagios lasting ten minutes each, and to succeed one another without fatiguing the listeners; indeed, I found it quite impossible to confine myself to the appointed limits.                       – Franz Joseph Haydn Next to the Christmas holidays, there is no other time of
Sarasa’s “Seven Last Words” Read More »
Contributed by Benjamin K. Roe Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. – Plato From Plato’s time to the present, some of the most magnificent music is designed to accompany occasions of solemnity, ceremony,
Misere and More: Music for Maundy Thursday Read More »
Elaine Comparone with her Hubbard Double Manual Harpsichord Contributed by Benjamin K. Roe Piano competitions are a dime a dozen, from the globally iconic (think Tchaikovsky in Moscow, Chopin in Warsaw, or the Van Cliburn in Fort Worth), to the regionally charming (book your tickets now to catch the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest
Article contributed by Benjamin K. Roe Yes, ‘tis the season for shamrocks, leprechauns, and a bender or two. A good time to check in on a new program just launched by the long-running West Coast baroque ensemble Musica Pacifica – a group that plays, in the words of critic Schwartz, “with both liveliness and a
