Franz Liszt’s life is the stuff of movies. He was arguably the greatest pianist in history, for many years he lived as a virtuoso performing all across Europe and having a few scandalous (for the period) love affairs in the process. Then at the height of his fame, he retired abruptly from the concert stage … Continue reading Franz Liszt : Reconsidered
Category: Overview
Articles about composers, periods and styles, methods of composing.
Was John Cage the greatest composer of the 20th century?
Who was the greatest composer of the 20th century? This was the question asked recently on a popular Classical Music forum. Many names were put forward: Bartok, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, my choice was Cage, but even some argued for Mahler. This raises the question how could a composer that died in 1911 be considered the greatest … Continue reading Was John Cage the greatest composer of the 20th century?
Antecedents of Ambient Music
It was English musician, sound designer and conceptualist Brian Eno who first officially coined the phrase “ambient music”. In the sleeve notes to his 1978 opus Ambient 1: Music For Airports he defines it as music "designed to induce calm and space to think". Eno's concept of "ambience" is music that can be either actively … Continue reading Antecedents of Ambient Music
Serialism, Indeterminacy, Musique concrète and Minimalism
Around the middle of the 20th century several new compositional styles (while not emerging entirely new) came to represent dominant streams, almost establishing a kind of “common practice”, for at least a few years. While these methods of composing have lost much of their initial momentum, their influence continues to effect composers even … Continue reading Serialism, Indeterminacy, Musique concrète and Minimalism
Spectral Music
It could be argued that Spectral Music began as an offshoot of the work being done by Jean-Claude Risset (b. 1938). Risset, French composer and mathematician, received his training under Mathews at Bell Labs between 1964 and 1969 and went on to become the first computer chef at Boulez's IRCAM (1975–79). His research specialty was the … Continue reading Spectral Music
Musica Kaleidoskopea 