string

Program Notes for ESPRESSIVO by Philip Carlsen & Nokuthula Ngwenyama

Notes by Philip Carlsen Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Quartet in E-flat major, K. 493 (1786) Johannes Brahms, Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1861) Mozart settled in Vienna in 1781 at age 25, making a definitive break from Salzburg and his father’s control, determined to chart his own career path from that … Read more

Program Notes for Handel & Haydn Society by Philip Carlsen

Notes on the Program by Philip Carlsen   We are fortunate that many of Bach’s original manuscripts have survived. Most are readily available for viewing or pdf download at imslp.org, the International Music Score Library Project. The six Brandenburg concertos, notated in 1721 in Bach’s own hand as a gift for Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg, … Read more

Program Notes for “Sirocco” by Philip Carlsen

Notes on the Program by Philip Carlsen   Si-roc-co: A “hot dust-laden wind from the Libyan deserts that blows on the northern Mediterranean coast.” Si-roc-co: A musical wind blowing across the north Atlantic from Manchester, England, bearing tantalizing scents from South Africa, Mali, Denmark, and eighteenth-century Vienna, a visionary collaboration between violinist Rakhi Singh, cellist Abel … Read more