My favorite internet comment of all time was one I saw way back in middle school, or possibly my first year of high school. It was in a music discussion forum the name of which I am too lazy to recall, and it read simply “Remember everyone! Music theory is a theory and not a fact!”, as tho someone somewhere out there was taking a valiant stand against the forces of analysis in favor of some kind of sonic creationism.
Read MoreIf you’re like me and you actually read program notes and CD inserts for fun, you’ve probably run across the phrase “sonata form” (or “sonata-allegro form”) to describe many movements of the works being written about. If you’ve never taken a formal class in music theory (or, more specifically, music theory as relates to high-prestige music being written in Europe from 1750 or so to around the outbreak of World War One), this probably hasn’t been a terribly useful descriptor. Like so many pieces of jargon, “sonata form” is a clean, concise way of describing a rather complicated thing that provides all the information necessary for those in the know and almost no information at all for those who aren’t. Today I’m going to do my best to explain what sonata form is in a way that’s accessible to people with a minimum of broader music theory background.
Read MoreThis week, we pivot from the saturated world of the orchestra to the leaner, more tightly focused world of the solo piano. Dobrinka Tabakova was born in Plodiv, Bulgaria in 1980, but she moved to London in 1991 and has lived there ever since. Altho her family is full of doctors and scientists, they were also avid music-lovers, and it didn't take long for Tabakova to start gaining recognition — she won her first prize (the Jean-Frédéric Perrenoud prize) at the age of 14, and has racked up numerous accolades since, including the honor of writing an anthem for Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. All of the performances currently listed on her website are in Europe, but with her prodigious talent, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we start hearing her works played on this side of the pond as well.
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