Description
There has been much debate over the years as to how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died. What had he suffered from that had taken his life at the early age of only thirty-six? Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Most of us have seen the movie Amadeus, and the scene with Salieri pestering Mozart on his deathbed. However, there is little evidence that Salieri was present during Mozart’s final hours. The cause of Mozart’s death will surely be debated for decades to come, but we do know that he was buried in a common grave at St Marx Cemetery on 7 December 1791.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
There are a myriad of animations around the world that use classical music. Sometimes to support the action and other times to be the focal point. Here are three that I wanted to touch upon. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Another Japanese anime to consider watching is Your Lie In April. It is about Kōsei Arima, a child prodigy who became famous after winning a major piano competition. However, he lost his ability to play following his mother’s passing. The story focuses on his friendship with Kaori Miyazono, who encourages Kōsei to return to the musical world and reignite his passion for playing.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
If you are a Rachmaninoff fan, his Symphonic Dances are worth a listen to gain further insight into the many shades of this dynamic composer. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
The Symphonic Dances combine energetic rhythmic sections, reminiscent of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, with some of the composer's lushest harmonies. He also may have included material intended for a ballet entitled The Scythians, begun in 1914–15 but abandoned before he left Russia.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Beethoven was both composer and businessman as he hustled to make a living on a daily basis, balancing writing with the necessity of giving private lessons and negotiating with publishers. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
The publishing industry during Beethoven’s time was in its infancy, and as such, it was quite unreliable. People of ill repute dominated the publishing business, as they stole music, “altered it, misattributed it, bribed copyists to steal it, and pasted their own name over copies bought from the original publishers.”

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony was composed amidst significant upheaval during the “Great Patriotic War” which began in 1941. No composer before Shostakovich had ever written a symphony during a raging war, “and no composer had ever attempted to describe a future victory, in music, with such power and conviction.” Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Shostakovich’s “War Symphony” was finally performed on 9 August 1942 in Leningrad. A playwright in the audience wrote, “People who no longer knew how to shed tears of sorrow and misery now cried from sheer joy. It was not an impression, but a staggering experience.” The siege of Leningrad was finally lifted two years later, but almost one million of the city’s civilian population had by then perished.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
On New Year’s eve, there are a handful of audience favourites that conductors around the world choose to perform. One such crowd-pleaser is the Die Fledermaus Overture by Johann Strauss II. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
The first London performance of Die Fledermaus did not take place until 1895, "Twenty years after its production as a lyric opera in Vienna…it was [composer and conductor Gustav] Mahler [who] raised the artistic status of Strauss's work by producing it at the Hamburg Opera House”.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is a staple of ballet stages worldwide during the holiday season. But how did it come to be? And was it a hit right off the bat? Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
In the original version of "Nutcracker and Mouse King" a little girl, Marie, worries about a beautiful nutcracker that's been broken. At night, she goes to check up on it. To her surprise, it has come alive, and a story-within-the-story begins. Armies of mice and toy soldiers battle in what is either the child's delirious nightmare or perhaps another reality into which she wanders. Alexandre Dumas altered that original version, making it lighter and less scary for the ballet version that we see today.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Franz Schubert died at the early age of only thirty-one. For a number of years, he suffered from the crippling effects of syphilis, coupled with the effects of highly toxic mercury treatment. Yet, despite this, he composed three final solo piano sonatas which are said to reflect his psychological journey of isolation and alienation. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
It is said that Schubert’s place in the history of music is equivocal, for he stands between the worlds of Classical and Romantic music. He can, however, be considered as the last of the great Classical composers. His music, subjectively emotional in the Romantic manner, poetically conceived, and revolutionary in language, is nevertheless cast in the formal moulds of the Classical school—with the result that it has become increasingly apparent that Schubert more truly belongs to the age of Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart than to that of Schumann, Chopin, and Wagner.  (Maurice J.E. Brown. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Last Updated: Nov 15, 2021)

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Flutes come in all shapes and sizes. But each one was created with a specific purpose in mind and marks a period in musical history. In Western music history, certain well-known composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Stravinsky utilized different flutes in their pieces, thus paving the way for future works. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
There are several means by which flautists breathe to blow air through the instrument and produce sound. They include diaphragmatic breathing and circular breathing. Circular breathing is quite difficult and can take performers years to master. It is a technique where players produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by breathing in through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth using air stored in the cheeks.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Glenn Gould is best remembered for his remarkable interpretations of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. But he is also fondly thought of as having been extraordinarily peculiar—in the most endearing way. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
From an early age, Gould challenged the accepted norms of the “classical music biz.” After winning the first Kiwanis festival in Canada in 1944, he swore off competitions, claiming that they were antithetical to the nature of art. (He later declared that “competition, rather than money, is the root of all evil.”) Most controversial of all, he came to detest the live concert experience – for reasons of anxiety, and more importantly, for philosophical reasons. Fundamentally, he regarded his mission as an artist as a moral one: to experience and share a state of “ecstasy,” of a higher spiritual state. (The Glenn Gould Foundation 2021)

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show