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Poland's Krystian Zimerman, widely regarded as one of the finest pianists in the world, created a furor Sunday night in his debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall when he announced this would be his last performance in America because of the nation's military policies overseas. Before playing the final work on his recital, Karol Szymanowski’s "Variations on a Polish Folk Theme," Zimerman sat silently at the piano for a moment, almost began to play, but then turned to the audience. In a quiet but angry voice that did not project well, he indicated that he could no longer play in...

Get 'em here: http://soniventorum.com/soniventorum_archives.html Pieces by Beethoven, Mozart, Grieg, Haydn, plus some others I hadn't heard of before. Their server seems a little slow, so be patient.

Johann Sebastian Bach Bach was born on March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, Thüringen, into a family that over seven generations produced at least 53 prominent musicians, from Veit Bach to Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach. Johann Sebastian received his first musical instruction from his father, Johann Ambrosius, a town musician. When his father died, he went to live and study with his elder brother, Johann Christoph, an organist in Ohrdruf. In 1700 Bach began to earn his own living as a chorister at the Church of Saint Michael in Lüneburg. In 1703 he became a violinist in the chamber orchestra...

 Here are some links to go to if you would like to download some wonderful music for Easter: Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music - The Musical Offering in MP3The download links at the page above look like this: Introitus: Resurrexi (Graduale Romanum)Hover your mouse cursor over the underlined / italicized text and right-click, then select 'save target as' from the right-click menu and choose your preferred download location. Hymns for the Celebrations of the Liturgical Year, Pontifical Musical Chorus of the Sistine ChapelThe download links at this page are different, they look like this: IO SONO RISORTO  For these...

Edward Elgar Elgar was born June 2, 1857, near Worcester. As a young man he filled several musical posts before succeeding his father as organist at Saint George's Roman Catholic Church, Worcester, in 1885. In 1889 he married and resigned his position to devote himself to composing. Elgar then lived alternately in London and near Worcester. The 1890 performance of his overture Froissart brought Elgar some recognition, but he did not become well known until 1899, when the Hungarian conductor Hans Richter performed Elgar's Variations on an Original Theme in London. That composition, better known as the Enigma Variations...

Maurice Ravel Born on March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées, Ravel studied at the Paris Conservatoire from 1899 to 1905, where his most influential teacher was the French composer Gabriel Fauré. Because of the tonal color, harmonies, mood, and extramusical associations of much of his music, Ravel is often associated with the French impressionistic composer Claude Debussy. Unlike Debussy, however, he was strongly attracted to abstract, logical musical structures. His vivid, transparent orchestral colors rank him as one of the modern masters of orchestration. Ravel's impressionistic leanings are foremost in the piano suites Miroirs and Gaspard de la nuit,...

They're calling it the great musical cover-up, news that Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman and the rest of their Inauguration Day ensemble pre-recorded their music for fear that cold temperatures would force their instruments out of tune. The renowned musicians did play live -- but only those closest could hear it, and that probably didn't include President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama or their daughters, Malia and Sasha. The Ticket has to say, they did sound marvelous.

Antonio Vivaldi His Life Vivaldi was born March 4, 1678, in Venice, and was trained by his father, a violinist at Saint Mark's Cathedral. Ordained a priest in 1703, Vivaldi began teaching that year at the Ospedale della Pietà, a conservatory for orphaned girls. He was associated with the Pietà, usually as music director, until 1740, training the students, composing concertos and oratorios for weekly concerts, and meanwhile establishing an international reputation. From 1713 on, Vivaldi was also active as an opera composer and producer in Venice and traveled to Rome, Mantua (Mantova), and elsewhere to oversee performances of...

The opening line of Carmina Burana “O Fortuna!” could hardly be more apt. Few composers felt themselves more at the mercy of capricious gods and twists of fate than its composer, Carl Orff. He was never a diehard Nazi; indeed, he looked with disdain on their oafish cultural values. Far from espousing the hounding of “inferior races”, he was fascinated by jazz and by what today we would call world music. Yet he rose to become one of the Third Reich’s top musicians. According to one of his four wives, he “found it impossible to love” and “despised people”. Yet...

OLIVIER-EUGENE-PROSPER-CHARLES MESSIAEN (b. Dec. 10, 1908, Avignon, France.d. April 27, 1992, Clichy, near Paris), Olivier Messiaen was the son of Pierre Messiaen, a scholar of English literature, and of the poet Cecile Sauvage. Soon after his birth the family moved to Ambert (the birthplace of Chabrier) where his brother, Alain was born in 1913. Around the time of the outbreak of World War 1, Cecile Sauvage took her two sons to live with her brother in Grenoble where Olivier Messiaen spent his early childhood, began composing at the age of seven, and taught himself to play the piano. On...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart His Childhood Born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, and baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, he was educated by his father, Leopold Mozart, who was concertmaster in the court orchestra of the archbishop of Salzburg and a celebrated violinist, composer, and author. By the age of six Mozart had become an accomplished performer on the clavier, violin, and organ and was highly skilled in sight-reading and improvisation. Five short piano pieces composed by Mozart when he was six years old are still frequently played. Leopold took Wolfgang on the first of many successful concert tours through...

      Here are two links at the Vatican's website that you can go to for downloading free music for Christmas as well as other occasions.  Hymns for the Celebrations of the Liturgical Year, Pontifical Musical Chorus of the Sistine ChapelOn this page, the links to the MP3 files look like this    It will probably be easiest to hover your mouse cursor over the note picture, right-click your mouse and select "save target as" to define where you want the file saved.When the file is finished downloading it will be available to be played on your computer's MP3 player. ...

What would happen if a leading British-based music magazine ranked the world's leading orchestras and the "winning" U.S. ensemble didn't care? That's basically what's happened when leaders of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra shrugged their collective shoulders over the London monthly the Gramophone saying that it's the top classical outfit in the United States. "I think it is safe to say that we are not advocates or necessarily firm believers in lists of this sort, given the subjective nature of these types of rankings," said CSO President Deborah Rutter, using the sort of language that one usually hears from someone who's...

Joseph Haydn His Life Born in Rohrau in 1732, the son of a wheelwright, he was trained as a chorister at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he made his early living, before appointment to the small musical establishment of Count Morzin in 1759. In 1760 he entered the service of the Esterházy Princes, and succeeded to the position of Kapellmeister on the death of his predecessor and immediate superior Gregorius Werner in 1766. Much of Haydn's life now centred on the magnificent palace and estate at Esterháza, where his employer Prince Nikolaus Esterházy had moved his entourage for...

John Adams, one of the most revered living classical composers, has claimed that he is blacklisted in his native America and is being followed by the security services. The 61-year-old musician has accused the United States of being in the grip of a political and moral panic and has complained that he is now grilled by airport immigration officers whenever he flies home because of his controversial reputation.

Man refuses offer to reduce fine in exchange for tuning into classical music URBANA, Ohio - A defendant had a hard time facing the music. Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. Vactor, 24, lasted only about 15 minutes, a probation officer said.

Anton Bruckner His Life Anton Bruckner was born in Ansfelden, Austria in 1824 to a schoolmaster and organist father with whom he first studied music. He worked for a few years as a teacher's assistant, fiddling at village dances at night to supplement his income. He studied at the Augustinian monastery in St. Florian, becoming an organist there in 1851. He continued his studies to the age of 40, under Simon Sechter and Otto Kitzler, the latter introducing him to the music of Richard Wagner, which Bruckner studied extensively from 1863 onwards. Soon after ending his studies, he wrote...

Vernon Handley, one of the best-loved and most respected of British conductors, has died. Throughout his life he was a devoted champion of British repertoire, making some of the most intuitive and masterful recordings of works by Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Holst.

Celebrating Music in Religion Some History Several types of Christian chant, which is often called plainsong, developed during the first 1000 years of the Christian era. A repertory called Ambrosian chant developed at Milan, Italy; named after St. Ambrose, it is still used in some Roman Catholic services in Milan. In Spain, until about the 11th century, there was a chant repertory called Mozarabic chant, named after the Mozarab Christians who lived in Arab-dominated Spain during the Middle Ages. Today Mozarabic chant survives in a few Spanish cathedrals. Until the 9th century, France had its own chant repertory, called...

Johannes Brahms Introduction Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg on May 7, 1833. After studying the violin and cello with his father, a double bass player in the city theater, Brahms mastered the piano and began to compose under the guidance of the German music teacher Eduard Marxsen, whose conservative tastes left a lasting imprint on him. In 1853 Brahms went on a concert tour as accompanist to the Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi. In the course of the tour he met the Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, who introduced him in turn to the German composer Robert Schumann. Schumann was...