I have come back to listening to Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) recently. He was a Russian composer who thought he was a mystic and wrote a ton of piano music. He was a sort of Russian Chopin. Harmonically he was ahead of his time. His music can be spooky, exhilarating and intense and, as I have read, is also pretty good […]
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I’ve been listening to a variety of music again these days. Here are a few I thought you might be interested in and some history about them. Fritz Kreisler – Though he passed away more than 50 years ago and his prime recordings were done before 1940 I have to say that I am, none the less, a true believer.
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For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by musicians and composers who might be classified as “obscure.” The list of such artists (in any genre) is long but I will try to compile a list of the individuals that have impressed me. Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938)- Polish virtuoso pianist and composer of some very knotty piano works.
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Among my favorite things are books and movies. I hold these two titles in especially high esteem. The book “Minutes of the Last Meeting” by Gene Fowler is a first hand account of the weekly gathering of Hollywood artists such as W.C. Fields, John Barrymore and others at the home of painter John Decker in the late 1930’s and early
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My hobby is and has been for some time to study the life and works of various concert pianists. Arthur Rubinstein is a favorite and his autobiography is wonderful. I also am interested in two pianists of the 20th century who passed away before their time. That is Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) and William Kapell (1922-1953). As of late I have
Rembrandt von Rijn painted about 50 paintings of himself as well as 32 etchings and 7 drawings he created on the same subject. In this age of the “selfie” many may be inclined to think that this predilection is self-indulgent but I don’t think this is the case with Rembrandt. First of all, in the 17th Century such artwork was
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