Carmen, the habañera and El Arreglito
It wasn’t until a friend mentioned it recently (thanks Eddie) that I discovered that the most famous bit of music by Bizet, the Habañera from Carmen, isn’t actually by Bizet…
Jumping in Red Shoes
Searching for an online script of The Red Shoes I came across this great page which has all kinds of interesting details about the making of the film. One thing…
Florence Nightingale and the dangers of piano music
There’s a heartening story from the BBC today about how the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery at King’s College, London has been able to hire a composer-in-residence. The…
Musical surprises #24: What Rumanian dances sound like without the Bartók
I love Bartók’s Rumanian Dances, and indeed, I’ve just recorded them with the violinist Gillon Cameron on the album After Class 2. But I was gobsmacked when I heard my…
Musical surprises #23: Vauxhall, Strauss & Tchaikovsky
Although the light and popular dance rhythms of Johann Strauss II seem a sociocultural world away from the ‘classical’ Tchaikovsky, they’re not. It’s our own snobbery that obscures the connections…
Musical surprises #22: There’s a psychopomp in my barcarole
Next time you get to a slow bit of a ballet where there’s something a bit wafty and barcarole-ish in 6/8, look out for a psychopomp. A psychopomp, explains the…