Viewing profile — ivancdg

I agree that there are pieces which sound pretty quirky, which can put people off a bit. But I have yet to find someone who doesn't like this one (which I can assure you has nothin…

I'm still alive! Actually it's a brilliant novella and I recommend everyone read it. Biting social critique of bourgeois values: http://www.classicallibrary.org/tolstoy/ivan/1.htm

This is an interesting comment, on multiple levels. If there is one factor on which Beethoven's reputation rests, it is his claim to being the "universal" composer, whose music spe…

“I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition." …

I second the recommendation for Richter's book, which is a fascinating look into the mind of a pianist who musicians pretty much unanimously consider to be the greatest of the 20th…

To what extent the composers you mentioned broke completely with Beethoven (and/or the past) is arguable. All of them wrote works in sonata form, all of them wrote fugues, all of t…

The 2nd paragraph is really the crux of the matter. Whereas Beethoven's music draws attention to its unusual features, Reicha in his memoirs states unequivocally that Haydn and Moz…

Many of the things we take for granted as Beethovenian inventions (obsessive motivic development, sonata form in symphonies and quartets, abrupt harmonic disruption, fugues in fina…

The wind quintets are extraordinarily well-written for their instruments, something easy to take for granted today as so many composers followed Reicha's lead. He was not the very …

It is indeed intriguing to imagine music history if composers had followed Reicha's lead rather than Beethoven's. There would have been a lot more metrically interesting music earl…

Your tempo is a little slow. It's in cut time (2/2) not 4/4. OK, I'm being churlish. I recorded this piece for Chandos Records last year, so I have an opinion. Excerpt here: https:…

Where I live Uber drivers often use it as a loss leader. They chat people up, and if they strike up a rapport they suggest customers contact them directly, cutting out the middle m…

Notezilla ( http://notezilla.io ) is working on doing this for piano (and vocal/chamber/orchestral music). It launched on HN a little over 2 months ago and garnered considerable in…

This brings up an interesting question: if Steinway were liquidated, would the patents be up for sale? It is my understanding that much of their unique quality comes from over 100 …