Category Archives: Music
Drums
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th January 2022The beat of a drum stirs some ancient center deep in our psyches. Opera presents numerous opportunities for percussionists. Alas, anemic conductors often fail to realize their impact. Here are a few excerpts in which the drum(s) plays an important part. First, three by Verdi. Everybody knows the Anvil Chorus from Il Trovatore. The struck…
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The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – V
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd January 2022This one is beyond great. The subject is JS Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C min BWV 582. The autograph manuscript for the piece is lost. The date of its composition is also unknown. Bach was likely in his early to mid 20s when he wrote colossal masterpiece. No one previously had written a variations…
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The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – IV
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th October 2021This one is so good that it could justify the title. Schubert’s String Quintet in C Maj was written during the last two months of his achingly short life. The composer died in 1828. Schubert’s once in a millenium genius was not widely recognized until well after his death. The quintet was not performed until…
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Trio Balkan Strings
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th August 2021The Trio Balkan Strings is a father and his two sons team – all acoustic guitar players. They are based in Belgrade. The three players are Zoran Starcevic, Nikola Starcevic, and Zeljko Starcevic. They seem to be very active in central Europe. They are virtuosos of the highest proficiency. The video below is called Stampedo….
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The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – III
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd August 2021My exercise in hyperbolic analysis continues with Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (Op 123), specifically the Benedictus. Written between 1819-23, the mass was first performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1824. It’s part of the composer’s late period that produced a series of stupendous masterpieces such as the 9th Symphony, the Diabelli Variations. the Hammerklavier Sonata, and…
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Chamber Music Kings
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd June 2021Three composers who though they wrote in many forms are particularly remembered for their chamber music. First up is George Onslow (1784-1853). He was born to an English father and a French mother. His grandfather was the first Earl of Onslow. Born to wealth he never lacked for money and was able to self-subsidize his…
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On Musical Performance
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 25th April 2021For a long time I thought that the role of the performer was simply to play (or sing) the notes exactly as they were written in the score. It gradually dawned on me that this literal approach to musical performance was rather simple minded. During my come scritto period I thought Toscanini the prince of…
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Sports
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th March 2021Sport: Vary from normal structure in a singular spontaneous manner. This is the definition of sport as applied to biology. It can be extended to include any event that is extraordinarily different from the norm. Below are a number of musical selections that could be called sports if one were generous with the appellation. If…
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The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – II
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd March 2021Joseph Haydn wrote 14 masses. The last six were written for the Esterházy family to celebrate the name day of Princess Maria Hermenegild, the wife of Prince Nikolaus II and a friend of the composer. They mark the the last period of Haydn’s enormous musical output and are among the greatest liturgical compositions in Western music. In my opinion, the…
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The Greatest Musical Composition Ever – 1
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th January 2021Obviously there’s a contradiction in my title. There can’t be more than one greatest musical composition ever written. My purpose is to list music so good that while you’re listening to it, it seems to be without peer – at least until you happen on the next greatest work. My plan for this series is…
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