I've been a fan of the BBC's Desert Island Disc series for as long as I can remember. The original premise was that if you were cast away on a desert island (presumably one with a working electrical power grid), which eight recordings would you choose to bring with you? Across the entirety of musical … Continue reading The Friday Symposium: Fifteen Albums
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The Making of an Icon: Symphony No. 5
Art is most known for its iconic images. There are many in fine art: Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night In sculpture too. Michelangelo, David Auguste Rodin, The Thinker But there are also iconic images from film: Casablanca North by Northwest The performing arts too are notable for many iconic … Continue reading The Making of an Icon: Symphony No. 5
The Friday Symposium: Music and Cocktails for the Last Days of Summer
The last days of summer don't mean as much as they used to these days. While some, no doubt, will board their last train back to the City on Monday afternoon, or otherwise brave the traffic and the dreaded LIE, come Tuesday morning I will still find myself seated here, 100 miles from the office … Continue reading The Friday Symposium: Music and Cocktails for the Last Days of Summer
The Breath of Life: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
I can't recall if my father owned a copy of Beethoven's Violin Concerto. Our resources were limited and he most concerned himself with collecting the recordings of great pianists performing the highlights of the late Classical and Romantic repertoire. So it is entirely possible that my first brush with Beethoven's Violin Concerto came in 1983 … Continue reading The Breath of Life: Beethoven’s Violin Concerto
The Friday Symposium: Thomas Tallis and White Châteauneuf-du-Pape
On this edition of the Friday Symposium, we go even further back in music history to motets composed by Thomas Tallis. One of my Desert Island Discs is certainly the Tallis Scholars' recording of Spem in Alium, along with other Tallis compositions. https://open.spotify.com/album/69n01dGwqZ5d5b1GITfP7G?si=I9ki400PSXy2UlHN957LzA One of the most complex and ethereal compositions of its or any … Continue reading The Friday Symposium: Thomas Tallis and White Châteauneuf-du-Pape
A Gertus History of Music 