From the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his last symphony with left hand alone. A heart attack in 1966, followed by several falls and fractures, left him heavily disabled. His solution was to train one hand to do the work of two, and to economise on physical effort. This may explain the expanses of blank staves in some pages of his 15th symphony …
Read on here.
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From my monthly essay in The Critic (new issue out today) … Nothing in opera surpasses that single scenic blow to the seat of emotions. The effect is so visceral that I have seen cellists […]
The veteran Estonian conductor, 88, suffered a fall in the podium while conducting at the national song festival yesterday. He told local media from his hospital bed today that he’s feeling fine but ‘will need […]
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: Comparisons in music are unfair. An ephemeral art cannot be measured and pinned, like a butterfly, to the page without risking mortal damage. Nevertheless, human beings possess critical […]
