Composers Archive

Jean Sibelius’ D-minor Violin Concerto towers as an icy summit in the instrument’s literature. But Sibelius and the violin are connected in other ways, too. He aspired to become a violin virtuoso himself but unfortunately …

Beethoven composed 32 sonatas for solo piano during his lifetime. Each one of them is a jewel in its own right. My personal favorite is the #31, and I repeatedly return to receive amazing plaesure …

Orchestral conductor Herbert Blomstedt was born July 11, 1927. As such, he is 94 years old and still quite active as a musician. Born in the USA to Swedish parents and educated in Uppsala, New …

The German word “Widmung” means dedication. Occasionally when the public has been particularly wild with praise about a musician’s performance, the performer will dedicate this wonderful song by Schumann to her adoring public. Schumann starts …

Once the world’s most famous recorder player, Frans Brüggen was also considered among the foremost experts in the performance of eighteenth century music. He studied the recorder with Kees Otten and flute at the Amsterdam …