Boris Lyatoshynsky was a Ukrainian who spent a large part of his career working in Soviet Russia. It’s an important distinction. Soviet composers had to write music that followed political guidelines. In the case of Lyatoshynsky’s 1951 Third Symphony, it meant rewriting the finale. The programmatic symphony was a reaction to the horrors of the […]
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
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George Dyson – Choral Symphony Shows Composer’s Promise
George Dyson’s Choral Symphony is a remarkable rediscovery. The work was written for Dyson’s Doctor of Music examination in 1917. It was dutifully evaluated (he passed), then filed away and forgotten with countless other such examination pieces. There it remained until Paul Spicer ran across it while researching Dyson’s biography. It’s an impressive work for […]
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Ferdinand Ries: A Kinder, Gentler Beethoven
Ferdinand Ries is best remembered today (if at all) as Beethoven’s personal assistant. Although he served that role well – securing performances, publication deals and more – that wasn’t originally why their paths crossed. Ries came to Beethoven in 1803 to study composition. Like his mentor, Ries was a piano virtuoso as well as a […]