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Comparing Violinists

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I'm not sure such a comparison by a composer is a wise decision (because performers are the people who ultimately perform our music and comparing performers means one tends to be favored and so the other may feel slighted and 'less inclined' to perform comparing composer's works). But that said, this blog is all about discussing what comes to mind - and reviewing the various violin music I've heard recently it only seems natural a comparison of the performers styles would happen. So, here I go.... Hilary Hahn has several glowing comments from me about her playing. I've listened to most of what she has recorded and find her style fresh and energetic. She likes to attack pieces and plays some of the fast sections faster than her contemporaries. This is not done at the sake of clarity, because during the Szymanowski the clarity of notes is always present, and yet the notes seems to fly at inhuman speed. Although, I think her rendition of Korngold's Violin Co...
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Living in a digital world

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I review a lot of Classical Music CD's - often before they are for sale to the general public. I get them via a special download link, listen to them (several times) and post reviews here on my blog Over the last year, I've moved, which means I spent the last 9 months working from my laptop, rather than my desktop. Not a problem. When my desktop crashed, I didn't think twice about restoring it to factory defaults. All of my personal files were stored on an external drive (or so I thought). Because I review so many CD's I generally don't have the time to go back and "enjoy" the previous CD's I've downloaded. - Well.... Nicola Benedetti is performing the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 tonight with the Pacific Symphony. I reviewed her recording of the same concerto last year. I thought the recording was on the external drive - but alas it's not! Her recording as well as many of the other amazing CD's I have enjoyed over the past f...
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The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

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When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule...
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