by Kenneth Woods | Jun 21, 2011 | Nuts and bolts
Conductor Christopher Zimmerman is Music Director of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra. In 1993, he and I were both newly arrived on the campus of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music: Chris as the conductor of the Concert Orchestra, me as a new...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 19, 2011 | Nuts and bolts
Vftp readers will know that Brahms’ First Symphony has been much on my mind the last few weeks. With our final performance behind us, now, I thought it might be fun to just go through the piece on a very simple, nuts and bolts level and explain some of my current...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 16, 2011 | Mahler, Nuts and bolts
There are few more contentious subjects amongst Mahlerians than the order of movements in the 6th Symphony. As part of the Performer’s Perspective series last year, I tried to explain what a big and fairly complicated question it is. More recently, as part of my...
by Kenneth Woods | Jun 7, 2011 | Nuts and bolts
Many knowledgeable musicians consider Schoenberg to be the musical successor of Brahms. Schoenberg himself thought so too. (You’ve got to hand it to Schoenberg- he managed to position himself pretty convincingly as the heir to both Brahms and Mahler,...
by Kenneth Woods | Mar 7, 2011 | Nuts and bolts
The response to our guest post from trombonist Nige Hughes has been quite overwhelming, so we thought it might be of interest to readers to offer you a window into exactly how it is done. There is also the hope that somewhere in the world, someone takes a clue from...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 17, 2011 | Nuts and bolts
Usually, studying the score of a great work is like a revelation, even when you know the piece well as a player or listener. However cool you thought the piece was before you opened the score, you can’t help but be amazed and astounded by what you discover when...
Recent Comments