Brahms, Trio in E-flat for Piano, Violin, and Horn Brahms’ Horn Trio stands out as unusual in several respects, for starters the mere act of inserting a horn into what otherwise might be a “piano trio.” Horn players can find themselves in various chamber ensembles, … Read more
Perhaps you’ve seen articles lamenting lower consumer spending on Halloween this year. The apparent pullback has been viewed by some economists as an indicator of a weak Christmas retail season which, in today’s America, translates into a bad economic sign. On the other hand, perhaps … Read more
You may notice a slightly new look to our emails as we migrate to a new system. Such a transition can be somewhat complicated, and we hope it goes smoothly. But if you receive some emails that you think are not meant for you, or … Read more
Holborne, Muy Linda Graduate students in music develop their own peculiar sense of humor. At least we did back in my KU days. We were thoroughly immersed in the music world. (So much so, to my chagrin, that I knew nothing of the extraordinary humanities … Read more
This week has flown. It seems just yesterday that I asked Hank to search out art for last week’s essay about the possible demise of the key. (As usually, he found terrific paintings, do you agree?) So here I am in Amsterdam, hours away from … Read more
Mozart, Papagena-Pagageno Emanuel Schikender, the librettist for Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte (“The Magic Flute”), performed the role of Papageno. This rather strange character with a bird cage on his back was drawn from the Hanswurst (or Hans Wurst) stock character in German comedy, described as … Read more
“He knew it was a key, but he didn’t know how to use it.” That comment, voiced by a woman on my tour, has stayed on my mind and provokes today’s essay. Working as a professor on tours allows me to spend significant time with … Read more
Kabalevsky, Colas Breugnon Overture I promised flash and bang for this week, and here it is. The Soviet composer Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987) wrote quite a lot of energetic music, and this overture is among his best known. Arturo Toscanini conducted it often and, since Toscanini … Read more
This weekly essay inevitably reflects whatever is on my mind (for better or worse). Right now, my mind resembles the state of a kitchen drawer containing everything from toothpicks to the tape measurer. Trapped in layers of mental miscellany, my ability to put together coherent … Read more
My Lagan Love Do not listen to this while driving. Recently, driving at night on one of our extended trips to a conference, grandkids in tow, Carol put on a recording of Jim Weiss telling bedtime stories. Same problem. I had to request one of … Read more