(E’-zak Al-ba’-neth) 1860–1909 Spanish pianist and composer Albéniz led the revival of a Spanish national musical style at the turn of the twentieth century. He studied composition with Felipe Pedrell (1841–1922), famous for his pioneering collections of Spanish folk and classical music that also inspired Albéniz’s contemporary Enrique Granados and, a little later, Manuel de Falla (1876–1946). Aged 20, ...
(Hin’-rikh E’-zak) c. 1450–1517 Flemish composer Isaac worked in Florence from the mid-1480s until 1494, when the changing fortunes of the Medici family cost him his job. In 1497 he was hired by the Habsburg emperor Maximilian I, to the appointment of Hofkomponist (court composer). Although he remained in Maximilian’s pay for the rest of his life, he travelled ...
1920–2001 American violinist Born in Russia, Stern was taken by his parents to America when he was just a baby. He later studied in San Francisco, where he played the Brahms concerto under Pierre Monteux in 1936. He played for Allied troops during World War II, and made his European debut at the Lucerne Festival in 1948. He ...
(Saxophone, vocals, b. 1942–2008) This soul singer from Tennessee began his musical career as a saxophonist for Stax Records studio band The Mar-Keys. The album Hot Buttered Soul (1969) was his commercial breakthrough and Hayes became internationally famous with the soundtrack to the film Shaft (1971), the style of which anticipated disco. After leaving Stax, his records were ...
(Vocals, b. 1951) Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Isaacs is one of the top reggae artists of the last four decades. After a handful of records for smaller labels he started his own African Museum label with fellow singer Errol Dunkley. He also recorded for myriad other producers, and discs with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Sly and Robbie ...
1865–1935, French A contemporary of Debussy and Ravel who joined the French Wagnerian movement, Dukas is primarily known for his orchestral fantasy L’apprenti sorcier (‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’, 1897), memorably featured in Disney’s animated feature Fantasia. He was a perfectionist who spent years rewriting his partially written works. Two of Dukas’ operas remained unfinished: the Wagner-inspired Horn et Riemenhild (1892) ...
The Modern Age was characterized by rapid and radical change and political turmoil. By 1918 the Russian tsar, the Habsburg emperor and the German kaiser had lost their thrones. The two Russian revolutions of 1917 resulted in a Communist government led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was fragmented to allow self-determination to the newly formed countries of Czechoslovakia ...
In 1905, and probably for several decades before that, there were more pianos in the United States than there were bathtubs. In Europe, throughout the nineteenth century, piano sales increased at a greater rate than the population. English, French and German makers dispatched veritable armies of pianos to every corner of the Earth. It was the ...
The first African slaves arrived in America in 1619 and brought their music with them. From then until the Civil War of 1861–65, the music both fascinated and frightened the white slave owners who would flock to see the black people celebrating their weekly ‘day off’ in New Orleans’s Congo Square. At the same time, slave owners suppressed the ...
b. 1953 Hungarian-British pianist Schiff studied at the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest, before winning prizes at both the Moscow Tchaikovsky (1974) and Leeds (1975) piano competitions. Having appeared with most of the world’s major orchestras, he has focused increasingly on chamber and solo repertoire, recording the keyboard works of Bach (on the piano), the Mozart and Schubert ...
Albert King’s late 1960s and early 1970s recordings for the Stax label remain cornerstones of modern blues. Tunes like ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’, ‘Crosscut Saw’ and ‘I’ll Play the Blues For You’ are also an antidote to the over-the-top playing indulged in by so many contemporary blues guitarists. For King, a six-foot-four, 250-pound man possessed of a big ...
(Kârl Ma-re’-a fun Va’-ber) 1786–1826 German composer Weber was a central figure in the growth of the Romantic movement in Germany, and one of its most important composers. He resuscitated and spread an enthusiasm for German opera, to which his own three-act opera Der Freischütz (‘The Free-shooter’, 1812) contributed. A gifted Kapellmeister and astute critic, he raised standards of ...
(Vocals, b. 1942) Aged 17, Thomas recorded ‘Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)’, the 1960 track that put Stax Records on the national map with its first Top 10 hit. She went on to become the Queen of Memphis Soul, backed by the talents of producer Isaac Hayes, house band Booker T. And The M.G.s ...
(En-re’-ka Gra-na’-thos) 1867–1916 Spanish composer Born in Lérida, Granados studied with Pedrell in Barcelona and then in Paris. He later founded and directed a music academy in Barcelona. Like his compatriots Albéniz and Falla, he forged a new Spanish style, with strumming effects, ornamentation, modes and exuberant dance rhythms. His best-known works are the Goyescas (1911), two ...
b. 1971 Russian pianist A child prodigy, he gave his first solo recital at the age of 10 and as a teenager worked with Karajan, later collaborating with Solti, Giulini, Abbado, Maazel and Ashkenazy among conductors, and with Martha Argerich, Isaac Stern and Joshua Bell in chamber music. But it is for solo performances ...
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David Bowie
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