b. 1941 Argentinian pianist After her success at the 1965 Warsaw International Chopin competition, Argerich’s career involved regular appearances with such conductors as Abbado and Rostropovich (who, as a cellist, also partnered her in duo repertoire). Though her recordings, especially of Chopin, Ravel and Prokofiev, continue to be held in high esteem, she now ...
(Vocal group, 1963–72) Two lucky breaks for Motown secretary Martha and friends Annette Beard and Rosalind Ashford launched their career: covering for absent backing singers on the 1962 session for Marvin Gaye’s ‘Stubborn Kind Of Fellow’, and taking the lead vocal on ‘I’ll Have To Let Him Go’ when Mary Wells did not show in 1963. Taking their name from ...
b. 1971 Russian pianist A child prodigy, he gave his first solo recital at the age of 10 and as a teenager worked with Karajan, later collaborating with Solti, Giulini, Abbado, Maazel and Ashkenazy among conductors, and with Martha Argerich, Isaac Stern and Joshua Bell in chamber music. But it is for solo performances ...
b. 1970 Norwegian pianist A Eurovision Young Musicians finalist in 1988, he performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1989, made his Proms debut in 1991, and has since appeared regularly with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and other major orchestras. Praised especially for his Grieg performances, his repertoire also embraces Mozart, Schubert, ...
Composed: 1920–25 Premiered: 1925, Monte Carlo Libretto by Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) The child has been naughty. His mother does not think he deserves more than tea without sugar and dry bread. He must think about how sad he has made her. He shouts after her, ‘I don’t love anybody! I’m naughty!’ He starts smashing and ill-treating everything ...
Lester Flatt (1914–79) was relieved when Dave ‘Stringbean’ Akeman left Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys in 1945, for Flatt felt the group was better off without a banjo, which had been hindering their efforts to play faster and cleaner than anyone had before. But Monroe agreed to audition a 21-year-old banjoist from western North Carolina, and Earl Scruggs ...
(Fre’-drikh fun Flo’-to) 1812–83 German composer Flotow was a prolific composer of operas. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire (1828–30) and was influenced by the major opera composers of the day, including Rossini, Meyerbeer and Donizetti, and later by his friendships with Charles Gounod (1818–93) and Jacques Offenbach (1819–80). His early operas are in the French lyric style, but ...
1813–83, German Though German-born, Friedrich von Flotow studied in Paris and became largely identified with French opera. His first operas in the French style were written for private salon performances. Alessandro Stradella (1844), his first international success, revealed his penchant for building a work around one ‘hit tune’, in this case ‘Jungfrau Maria’. After leaving Paris for Vienna ...
(Vocals, b. 1939) Best known for her duets with Marvin Gaye, Weston was also a successful Motown solo artist. She reached R&B No. 2 with 1965’s ‘Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)’, later covered by The Doobie Brothers, and notoriously turned down ‘Dancing In The Streets’, only to see Martha Reeves take it to ...
January Inducted Into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame In the same year as Neil Young, Frank Zappa, Al Green, Janis Joplin, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas and The Allman Brothers Band, Led Zeppelin were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on 12 January 1995. Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Steven Tyler inducted the ...
Georgia’s finest soul son, Otis Redding’s story encapsulates the history of soul music. He was a hard-working performer with special gifts who became a role model of dedication and success, an icon for his African-American peers. In the process he also won the hearts of the white audience with his music, and, by the simple act of ...
Popular music’s most influential decade saw British and American rock develop in parallel, the creative torch passing across the Atlantic to The Beatles, then returning as the West Coast rock boom reflected the influence of drugs on music. In rock, guitar was now the undisputed focus of the music with ‘axe heroes’ like Clapton, Hendrix, Townshend ...
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An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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sweep of incredible photographs.