Franz Schubert was born in Lichtenthal, near Vienna on January 31, 1797. He was the 12th of the 14 children of his parents.

His musical formation began when he was 5 years old. His father teach him alto while his brother Ignaz teach him piano.

In 1812, he became the student of Antonio Salieri, he will stay grateful to him his whole life. In 1813, greatly influenced by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and mostly Ludwig van Beethoven, he composed his first symphony.

Schubert spent the main part of his short life in Vienna. He was a forever unsatisfied person. It’s probably what led him in his research of great quality in musical composition.

In 1822-23, Schubert got the syphilis, and his health never stopped getting worse. From his despair, he composed a music which never stopped getting deeper and full of great feelings.

He died from typhus on november 19, 1828, when he was only 31 years old. Only one year and a half after Ludwig van Beethoven for who he felt respect and a huge admiration.

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This artist, signed on the british Erased Tapes label, is a member of this huge wave of music coming from Iceland we hear about at the moment. This young men who is in his 20’s, makes some soft music with beautiful piano tracks. He makes some classical influenced post-rock which can remind us of Amiina.

The album Eulogy For Evolution by Ólafur Arnalds is quite strange: the tracks, which have only numerical titles, takes us to a loneliness and spleen-esque place. His music could be influenced by Rachmaninov or Frédéric Chopin as well as Joe Hisaishi and it can remind us of Rob Dougan, Furious Angels.

This track, 3055, have some reminiscences of Takk by Sigur Rós especially with the rising of these almost post-rock drums which gives a huge unexpected energy to the end of the track.

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Joseph Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875 in Ciboure, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, France. He is a french composer and pianist, perfectionist to the extreme extent influenced by the pioneers of jazz and Jean-Philippe Rameau. According to Le Robert (french dictionnary), his music combines “the most subtle intelligence games” and “the most secret heart effusions.”

He has produced relatively few works unlike prolific composers like Amadeus Mozart or Frédéric Chopin, only eighty-six original works and twenty-five works choreographed or arranged.

The piece Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte composed in the first place in 1899 for piano, was orchestrated in 1910. The one for piano is one of his most played pieces by amateur music lovers, although Ravel does not appreciate it because he feel it being too much influenced by the works of Emmanuel Chabrier.

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Frédéric Chopin played rarely. […] Lizst, on the other hand, was always playing, well or not. On a May Evening, between eleven and midnight, the society was held in the grand salon. […] Liszt was playing a Chopin’s Nocturne and, as he was used to, was playing it in his own way, mingling trills, tremolos, and some “points d’orgue” which were not there originally. On several occasions, Chopin gave signs of impatience ; finally, out of his nerves, he came close to the piano and said to Liszt with his english phlegm :

– Please, my dear, if you honor me by playing one of my pieces of music, play it by the book or play something else : only Chopin can change Chopin.

- Well, play it yourself ! said Liszt, standing up being a little upset.

- Certainly, said Chopin.

At that time, the light was extinguished by a dizzy butterfly which had come there to burn its wings. It was going to be relight.

- No ! exclaimed Chopin ; on the contrary, turn off all the candles ; the moonlight is enough.

Then he played… he played a complete hour. […] The Audience, in a silent ecstasy, was barely breathing, and when the spell ended, all eyes were filled in tears, particularly those of Liszt. He shook Chopin in his arms as exclaiming :

- Ah ! my friend, you were right! The work of a genius like yours are sacred, it is a desecration to touch it. You are a true poet and I am only a saltimbanque.

- Come on ! returned strongly Chopin, we each have our style, and that’s it. You do know that nobody in the world can play Weber and Beethoven as you can. Oh, I beg you, play the adagio in C-sharp minor of Beethoven, but do it seriously, as you can do when you want.

Liszt played this adagio and with all his heart. […] It was not an elegy, it was a tragedy.

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