Featured content

The effect of audience reception on Stravinsky’s compositional process
Stravinksy on the public not particularly liking his music: Their attitude certainly cannot make me deviate from my path. I …
This music is too hard
In 1862 Brahms went to Vienna: Although he been in Vienna only a few weeks, Brahms was already making a …
The evolution of the jazz tradition
American jazz music is, in many ways, rooted in its “traditional” repertoire – the American “Songbook” of “standards”. There are, …
The technique of conducting
“Technique is communication: the two words are synonymous in conductors.” – Leonard Bernstein, conductor, composer and pianist. Cited at QuotationsBook. …
Understanding the rules
“We think we understand the rules when we become adults but what we really experience is a narrowing of the …
Bacall on imagination
“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.” – Lauren Bacall, American actress Cited at: QuotationsBook
The experience of composition
“I am not suited to ‘writing music’. All has to be experienced.” -Jean Sibelius Cited in:Goss, Glenda (2009) “Sibelius”. Chicago: …
Liszt meets Beethoven
I was about eleven years old when my respected teacher Czerny took me to see Beethoven. Already a long time …
Too much pedal
Johannes Brahms could be incredibly rude, even to his friends. While playing a Beethoven sonata with a cellist friend one …
Underrated and overrated composers
“Polls of various musical personalities (but not me) in the Times about who’s underrated and who’s overrated. Naturally Vivaldi is …
Doing what I can’t do
“I am always doing what I can’t do yet in order to learn how to do it”. – Van Gogh, …
Rising after we fall
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius, Chinese philosopher Cited …
A poet is a nightingale
A poet is a nightingale who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds; his …
Stokowski and singers
Leopold Stokowski was staging a concert version of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Natalie Bodanya, one of the finest singers at Curtis …
Stanford on Tchaikovsky
“Tchaikovsky reminded me, in more ways than one, of his countryman Tourgéniew, whom I once met at Madame Viardot’s. He …

Advance Australia Fair (Peter Dodds McCormick)

Deereeree the Wagtail, and the Rainbow

Recollections from Gallipoli

The Castle Builder

Through the Long Night

To a friend

Advance Australia Fair (Peter Dodds McCormick)

Deereeree the Wagtail, and the Rainbow

Recollections from Gallipoli

The Castle Builder

Through the Long Night

To a friend

By Greg