In 1994, Philip Glass wrote six seemingly ordinary piano etudes for conductor and pianist Dennis Russell Davies on the occasion of his 50th birthday. Glass also wrote them for himself. Etudes are traditionally studies in technique, and here they’re an ever-pragmatic composer’s exercises to improve his own playing. Davies gave the premiere in Bonn, Germany, […]

Like many American teenagers, Noah Faulkner, 16, is obsessed with music. He’ll spend hours going down rabbit holes, listening to every note played by his favorite artists and studying new discoveries. He recently came out of a monthslong deep dive on Clarence Ashley, a banjo player who recorded during the Great Depression and “makes me […]

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Holst did find a solution to his competing ambition and physical incapability, and he left traces of it on the cover of the 1911 “Fairy Queen” program, which lists 28 copyists who worked for 18 months to copy some 1,500 pages of parts. “The Planets” was similarly bold, especially as a project undertaken during wartime. […]

He joined the Italian Communist Party at the start of the so-called Years of Lead, a period of political violence and social upheaval in Italy. He justified that decision because the party’s denunciation of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 allowed him to square doctrine with democracy. He was escorted from one of his […]

When violinist Lara Michaels auditioned for a place at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), most of the faculty members remained quiet, taking notes on her playing from behind a table. Axel Strauss, a professor of violin and chamber music, was the exception.  “He stood up, he came around the table towards me,” Michaels […]

The New York Philharmonic’s spring gala is not usually of much musical interest. It tends toward mild fare — just enough to keep the donors happy before dinner and dancing. But this year, the playing will draw closer attention. The gala, on April 24, features the only appearance this season by Gustavo Dudamel, the Philharmonic’s […]

Songwriter Burt Bacharach may have died, but his music will live on, if the reaction to the news is any indication. As of Thursday afternoon, neither of Bacharach’s best-known collaborators, Elvis Costello and Dionne Warwick, has officially commented on his death. However, Costello posted a tweet on Jan. 10 promoting an upcoming album of their […]

A pioneer of modern electronic music, Morton Subotnick not only encouraged technical innovations but defined new sonic paradigms for the creation of electronic music. Approaching his 90th year in April, he remains as energized and dynamic as ever. As a tech geek and extreme music fan during my high school years in the late 1960s, […]

On Saturday night at a glittering ceremony in London, the pop star Harry Styles was named artist of the year at the Brit Awards, the highest honor at Britain’s equivalent of the Grammys. After punching the air as he headed onstage, the singer then thanked his family, his mother and his former bandmates from One […]

Madonna has been quick to say that “Ghosttown” — the second single from “Rebel Heart” — is about the apocalypse, so it makes sense that the video fi… Read more: Music, Madonna, Ghosttown, Madonna Ghosttown, Madonna Ghosttown Video, New Madonna Video, New Madonna Song, Terrence Howard, Terrence Howard Madonna, Terrence Howard Ghosttown, …