As The GOP Was Calling Obama A Weak Leader, He Got The Rest Of The World To Halt Climate Change | If You Only News

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Ca să stii sa-ti fie rusine trebuie sa ai mult bun simt

Watch “Perla Batalla & Julie Christensen – Anthem” on YouTube

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Sometimes it just takes time…So be patient, as warmer times are on the way

Stunning Vintage Photos Show the History of National Parks

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151205-national-parks-vintage-photos-illustrated-history-book/

Explore the Power of Parks — National Geographic

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great compositions/performances: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Mazeppa : Act 1 Gopak

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Mazeppa : Act 1 Gopak

#KurtMasur

Published on Nov 7, 2014

Provided to YouTube by Warner Music Group

Mazeppa : Act 1 Gopak · Kurt Masur

Tchaikovsky : Symphony No.3, ‘Polish’

℗ 1987 Teldec Classics International GMBH

Released on: 1990-01-01

Conductor: Kurt Masur
Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

great compositions/performances: Khachaturian – Masquerade Suite, Neeme Järvi, Scottish National Orchestra

Khachaturian – Masquerade Suite,  Neeme Järvi,
Scottish National Orchestra

Sérgio SC

Published on Dec 1, 2013

Aram Khachaturian,
Masquerade Suite
Neeme Järvi
Scottish National Orchestra

great compositions/performances: Aram Khachaturian – Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia, London Symphony Orchestra / Aram Khachaturian

Aram Khachaturian – Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia

pianushko

London Symphony Orchestra / Aram Khachaturian

• Music

  • “Spartacus highlights (1993 Remastered Version): Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia” by London Symphony Orchestra/Aram Il’yich Khachaturian (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

historic musical bits: Beethoven Symphony No 7, A major, Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philarmoniker

Beethoven Symphony No 7 A major Leonard Bernstein Wiener Philarmoniker

Sonorum Concentus

Published on Dec 26, 2014

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 7 A major
Leonard Bernstein conducts Wiener Philarmoniker
Poco sostenuto. Vivace 0:00
Allegretto 14:45
Presto. Assai meno presto 23:50
Allegro con brio 32:59

historic musical bits: Beethoven Symphony No 1 C major Leonard Bernstein Wiener Philarmoniker

Beethoven Symphony No 1 C major Leonard Bernstein Wiener Philarmoniker

Sonorum Concentus

Published on Dec 25, 2014

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 1 C major
Leonard Bernstein conducts Wiener Philarmoniker
Adagio molto – Allegro con brio, 4/4 – 2/2
Andante cantabile con moto, 3/8 in F major 9:28
Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace, ¾ 17:50
Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace, 2/4 21:10

great compositions/performances: Mozart – Piano Sonata No. 1 in C, K. 279

Mozart – Piano Sonata No. 1 in C, K. 279

Am4d3usM0z4rt

Uploaded on Dec 18, 2011

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, K 279 (189d) (1774) is a sonata in three movements. It was composed when Mozart was only 18 years old.
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Allegro
The opening Allegro features smooth thematic material, sometimes based on sharp dynamic contrasts, with a short development (only eighteen bars long). The development sections of the remaining two movements are much more substantial. The Andante is full of expressive shading, in large measure the result of Mozart’s harmonic freedom. Some of that same freedom characterizes the concluding Allegro, which zips along in its 2/4 meter. This features an unusually active part for the left hand, another extended development section, and a surprising close: Mozart rounds the sonata off with two firm chords, which he marks Coda.
A typical performance takes about 14 minutes.
The work was written down, except for the first part of the opening movement, during the visit Mozart paid to Munich for the production of La finta giardiniera from late 1774 to the beginning of the following March.
—————————————-­————————————-
FREE .mp3 and .wav files of all Mozart’s music at: http://www.mozart-archiv.de/
FREE sheet music scores of any Mozart piece at: http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/start…
ALSO check out these cool sites: http://musopen.org/
and http://imslp.org/wiki/

great compositions/performances: Antonin Dvorak – New World Symphony

Antonin Dvorak – New World Symphony

avrilfan2213

Uploaded on Sep 19, 2011

The Symphony No. 9 in E Minor “From the New World”, Op. 95, B. 178, popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 during his visit to the United States from 1892 to 1895. It is divided in four movements:

I. Adagio 0:00
II. Largo 12:07
III. Scherzo 24:14
IV. Allegro con fuoco 31:29

No copyright infringement intended. The rights of this song go to their respective owners. **I’m talking about the recordings**
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Symphony No. 9 (Dvořák)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

“New World Symphony” redirects here. For the Miami-based orchestra, see New World Symphony (orchestra).

 

Title page of the autograph score of Dvořák’s ninth symphony

The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World”, Op. 95, B. 178 (Czech: Symfonie č. 9 e moll „Z nového světa“), popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular of all symphonies. In older literature and recordings, this symphony was often numbered as Symphony No. 5. Neil Armstrong took a recording of the New World Symphony to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969.^[1]

Instrumentation

 

Opening english horn theme from the second movement of the work

This symphony is scored for an orchestra of at least the following^{[citation needed]}:

• 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo)^[2]
• 2 oboes (one doubling English horn)
• 2 clarinets in A
• 2 bassoons
• 4 horns in E, C and F
• 2 trumpets in E, C and E♭
• 2 tenor trombones
• Bass trombone
• Tuba (second movement only)^[3]
• Timpani
• Triangle (third movement only)
• Cymbals (fourth movement only)
• Strings

Movements

	1. Adagio – Allegro molto   Menu       0:00     2. Largo   Menu       0:00     3. Scherzo: Molto vivace   Menu       0:00     4. Allegro con fuoco   Menu       0:00
Problems playing these files? See media help.

The piece has four movements:

1. Adagio, 4/8 – Allegro molto, 2/4, E minor
2. Largo, common time, D-flat major, then later C-sharp minor
3. Scherzo: Molto vivace – Poco sostenuto, 3/4, E minor
4. Allegro con fuoco, common time, E minor, ends in E major

Influences

Dvořák was interested in Native American music and the African-American spirituals he heard in America. As director of the National Conservatory he encountered an African-American student, Harry T. Burleigh, later a composer himself, who sang traditional spirituals to him and said that Dvořák had absorbed their ‘spirit’ before writing his own melodies.^[4] Dvořák stated:

I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on what are called Negro melodies. These can be the foundation of a serious and original school of composition, to be developed in the United States. These beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them.^[5]

The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered on December 16, 1893, at Carnegie Hall conducted by Anton Seidl. A day earlier, in an article published in the New York Herald on December 15, 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music had been an influence on this symphony:

I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral colour.^[6]

In the same article, Dvořák stated that he regarded the symphony’s second movement as a “sketch or study for a later work, either a cantata or opera … which will be based upon Longfellow‘s [The Song of] Hiawatha“^[7] (Dvořák never actually wrote such a piece).^[7] He also wrote that the third movement scherzo was “suggested by the scene at the feast in Hiawatha where the Indians dance”.^[7]

In 1893, a newspaper interview quoted Dvořák as saying “I found that the music of the negroes and of the Indians was practically identical”, and that “the music of the two races bore a remarkable similarity to the music of Scotland“.^[8][9] Most historians agree that Dvořák is referring to the pentatonic scale, which is typical of each of these musical traditions.^[10]

In a 2008 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, prominent musicologist Joseph Horowitz asserts that African-American spirituals were a major influence on Dvořák’s music written in America, quoting him from an 1893 interview in the New York Herald as saying, “In the negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music.”^[11] Dvořák did, it seems, borrow rhythms from the music of his native Bohemia, as notably in his Slavonic Dances, and the pentatonic scale in some of his music written in America from African-American and/or Native American sources. Statements that he borrowed melodies are often made but seldom supported by specifics. One verified example is the song of the Scarlet Tanager in the Quartet. Michael Steinberg writes^[12] that a flute solo theme in the first movement of the symphony resembles the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot“.^[13] Leonard Bernstein averred that the symphony was truly multinational in its foundations.^[14]

Dvořák was influenced not only by music he had heard, but by what he had seen, in America. He wrote that he would not have composed his American pieces as he had, if he had not seen America.^[15] It has been said that Dvořák was inspired by the American “wide open spaces” such as prairies he may have seen on his trip to Iowa in the summer of 1893.^[16] Notices about several performances of the symphony include the phrase “wide open spaces” about what inspired the symphony and/or about the feelings it conveys to listeners.^[17]

Dvořák was also influenced by the style and techniques used by earlier classical composers including Beethoven and Schubert.^[18] The falling fourths and timpani strokes in the New World Symphony ’​s Scherzo movement evokes the Scherzo of Beethoven’s Choral Symphony. In his fourth movement, Dvořák’s use of flashbacks to prior movements is reminiscent of Beethoven quoting prior movements as part of the opening Presto of the last movement.^[19]

Reception

At the premiere in Carnegie Hall, the end of every movement was met with thunderous clapping and Dvořák felt obliged to stand up and bow.^[20] This was one of the greatest public triumphs of Dvořák’s career. When the symphony was published, several European orchestras soon performed it. Alexander Mackenzie conducted the London Philharmonic Society in the European premiere on June 21, 1894.^[20] Clapham says the symphony became “one of the most popular of all time” and at a time when the composer’s main works were being welcomed in no more than ten countries, this symphony reached the rest of the musical world and has become a “universal favorite.”^[20] It is performed [as of 1978] more often “than any other symphony at the Royal Festival Hall, London” and is in “tremendous demand in Japan.”^[20]

Several themes from the symphony have been used widely in films, TV shows, anime, video games, and advertisements.

The song “Goin’ Home”

The theme from the Largo was adapted into the spiritual-like song “Goin’ Home”, often mistakenly considered a folk song or traditional spiritual, by Dvořák’s pupil William Arms Fisher, who wrote the lyrics in 1922.^{[21][22][23][24][25]}

 

historic musical bits: Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition Sir Georg Solti – Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1980

Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition

mahlerman77

Published on May 22, 2013

Sir Georg Solti – Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1980
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Pictures at an Exhibition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

This article is about the original suite by Modest Mussorgsky and its orchestral arrangements. For other uses, see Pictures at an Exhibition (disambiguation).

 

Mussorgsky in 1874

Pictures at an Exhibition (Russian: Картинки с выставки – Воспоминание о Викторе Гартмане, Kartínki s výstavki – Vospominániye o Víktore Gártmane, Pictures from an Exhibition – A Remembrance of Viktor Hartmann; French: Tableaux d’une exposition) is a suite in ten movements (plus a recurring, varied Promenade) composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.

The suite is Mussorgsky’s most famous piano composition and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists. It has become further known through various orchestrations and arrangements produced by other musicians and composers, with Maurice Ravel‘s arrangement being the most recorded and performed.

Composition history

 

Mussorgsky’s letter to Stasov, 12 June 1874, written while composing Pictures

It was probably in 1870 that Mussorgsky met artist and architect Viktor Hartmann. Both men were devoted to the cause of an intrinsically Russian art and quickly became friends. Their meeting was likely arranged by the influential critic Vladimir Stasov who followed both of their careers with interest.

Hartmann died from an aneurysm in 1873. The sudden loss of the artist, aged only 39, shook Mussorgsky along with others in Russia’s art world. Stasov helped organize an exhibition of over 400 Hartmann works in the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia in February and March 1874. Mussorgsky lent works from his personal collection to the exhibition and viewed the show in person. Fired by the experience, he composed Pictures at an Exhibition during 2–22 June 1874. The music depicts an imaginary tour of an art collection. Titles of individual movements allude to works by Hartmann; Mussorgsky used Hartmann as a working title during the work’s composition. He described the experience in a letter (see photo, right) to Stasov in June 1874:

My dear généralissime, Hartmann is seething as Boris seethed,—sounds and ideas hang in the air, I am gulping and overeating, and can barely manage to scribble them on paper. I am writing the 4th №—the transitions are good (on the ‘promenade’). I want to work more quickly and reliably. My physiognomy can be seen in the interludes. So far I think it’s well turned…^[1]

 

Viktor Hartmann (1834–1873)

Mussorgsky based his musical material on drawings and watercolours by Hartmann produced mostly during the artist’s travels abroad. Locales include Poland, France and Italy; the final movement depicts an architectural design for the capital city of Ukraine. Today most of the pictures from the Hartmann exhibition are lost, making it impossible to be sure in many cases which Hartmann works Mussorgsky had in mind. Musicologist Alfred Frankenstein, in a 1939 article for The Musical Quarterly, claimed to have identified seven pictures by catalogue number. Two Jews: Rich, and Poor (Frankenstein suggested two separate portraits, still extant, as the basis for Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuyle), Gnomus, Tuileries (now lost), Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks (a ballet costume design), Catacombae, The Hut on Hen’s Legs (Baba Yaga), and The Bogatyr Gates.

Mussorgsky links the suite’s movements in a way that depicts the viewer’s own progress through the exhibition. Two “Promenade” movements stand as portals to the suite’s main sections. Their regular pace and irregular meter depicts the act of walking. Three untitled interludes present shorter statements of this theme, varying the mood, colour and key in each to suggest reflection on a work just seen or anticipation of a new work glimpsed. A turn is taken in the work at the “Catacombae” when the Promenade theme stops functioning as merely a linking device and becomes, in “Cum mortuis”, an integral element of the movement itself. The theme reaches its apotheosis in the suite’s finale, The Bogatyr Gates.

Publication history

 

Cover of first edition of Pictures

As with most of Mussorgsky’s works, Pictures at an Exhibition has a complicated publication history. Although composed very rapidly, during June 1874, the work did not appear in print until 1886 (five years after the composer’s death), when an edition by the composer’s great friend Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was published. This publication, however, was not a completely accurate representation of Mussorgsky’s score, but presented an edited and revised text that nevertheless contained a number of errors and misreadings.

Only in 1931, more than half a century after the work’s composition, was Pictures at an Exhibition published in a scholarly edition in agreement with the composer’s manuscript. In 1940, the Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola published an important critical edition of Mussorgsky’s work with extensive commentary. Mussorgsky’s hand-written manuscript was published in facsimile in 1975.

Gallery of Hartmann’s pictures

The surviving works by Hartmann that can be shown with any certainty to have been used by Mussorgsky in assembling his suite, along with their titles, are as follows:^[2]

• 

  No. 5
  Sketch of theatre costumes for the ballet Trilby

• 

  No. 6a
  Jew in a fur cap. Sandomierz

• 

  No. 6b
  Sandomierz Jew

• 

  No. 8
  Paris catacombs
  (with the figures of V. A. Hartmann, V. A. Kenel, and a guide, holding a lantern)

• 

  No. 9
  The hut of Baba-Yaga on hen’s legs–clock in the Russian Style

• 

  No. 10
  Project for a city gate in Kiev–main façade

Note: Mussorgsky owned the two pictures that together inspired No. 6, the ‘Two Jews’. The title of No. 6b, as provided by the Soviet editors of his letters, is «Сандомирский [еврей]» (Russian: Sandomirskiy [yevrey], Sandomierz Jew). The bracketed word yevrey (‘Hebrew’) is the sanitized form of the actual word, very likely жид (zhid or yid). Mussorgsky, like many Russian intellectuals of his day, habitually used antisemitic epithets in his correspondence.^[3]

Movements

Vladimir Stasov‘s program, identified below,^[4] and the six known extant pictures suggest that the ten pieces comprising the suite correspond to eleven pictures by Hartmann, with Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle accounting for two. The five Promenade movements, consisting of an introduction and four links, are not numbered among the ten pictures. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Promenade movements are untitled in the composer’s manuscript.

The first two movements of the suite—one grand, one grotesque—find mirrored counterparts, and apotheoses, at the end. The suite traces a journey that begins at an art exhibition, but the line between observer and observed vanishes at the Catacombs when the journey takes on a different character. For all the variety individual movements display in musical invention, each springs from a kernel in the opening melody. The Promenade theme provides distinctive “cells” of two and three notes that generate themes and accompaniment figures throughout the piece.

The recording accompanying this explanation is by the Skidmore College Orchestra and provided courtesy of Musopen.

Promenade

	First Promenade   Menu       0:00
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Key: B-flat major

Meter: originally 11/4. Published editions alternate 5/4 and 6/4.

Tempo: Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto

Stasov comment: In this piece Mussorgsky depicts himself “roving through the exhibition, now leisurely, now briskly in order to come close to a picture that had attracted his attention, and at times sadly, thinking of his departed friend.”

The melody and rhythm resemble Russian folk songs. The piece has simple, strong rhythms in asymmetrical meter.

 

The 3rd and 4th bars of the opening movement, “Promenade”.  Play (help·info)

No. 1 “The Gnome”

(Latin, Gnomus):

Gnomus   Menu       0:00

Key: E-flat minor

Meter: 3/4

Tempo: alternating “Vivo” and “Meno mosso, pesante”

Stasov comment: “A sketch depicting a little gnome, clumsily running with crooked legs.”

Hartmann’s sketch, now lost, is thought to represent a design for a nutcracker displaying large teeth. The lurching music, in contrasting tempos with frequent stops and starts, suggests the movements of the gnome.

[Untitled] (Interlude, Promenade theme)

2nd Promenade   Menu       0:00

Key: A-flat major

Meter: alternating 5/4 and 6/4

Tempo: “Moderato commodo assai e con delicatezza”

A placid statement of the promenade melody depicts the viewer walking from one display to the next.

No. 2 “The Old Castle”

(Italian, Il vecchio castello):

Key: G-sharp minor

Meter: 6/8

Tempo: “Andante molto cantabile e con dolore”

Stasov comment: “A medieval castle before which a troubadour sings a song.”

This movement is thought to be based on a watercolor depiction of an Italian castle, and is portrayed in Ravel’s orchestration by an alto saxophone solo. Hartmann often placed appropriate human figures in his architectural renderings to suggest scale.^[5]

 

[Untitled] (Interlude, Promenade theme)

3rd Promenade   Menu       0:00

Key: B major

Meter: alternating 5/4 and 6/4

Tempo: “Moderato non tanto, pesamente”

Another brief statement of the promenade melody (8 measures) gives it more extroversion and weight than before.

No. 3 “Tuileries”

(French, Tuileries: Dispute d’enfants après jeux)

Tuileries   Menu       0:00

Key: B major

Meter: 4/4 common time

Tempo: “Allegretto non troppo, capriccioso”

Stasov comment: “An avenue in the garden of the Tuileries, with a swarm of children and nurses.”

Hartmann’s picture of the Jardin des Tuileries near the Louvre in Paris (France) is now lost. Figures of children quarrelling and playing in the garden were likely added by the artist for scale (see note on No. 2 above).

The movement is cast in through-composed ternary form (ABA).

No. 4 “Cattle”

(Polish, Bydło)

Bydlo   Menu       0:00

Key: G-sharp minor

Meter: 2/4

Tempo: Sempre moderato, pesante.

Stasov comment: “A Polish cart on enormous wheels, drawn by oxen.”

The movement is cast in through-composed ternary form (ABA) with coda. Mussorgsky’s original piano version of this movement begins fortissimo (ff), suggesting that the lumbering oxcart’s journey begins in the listener’s foreground. After reaching a climax (con tutta forza) the dynamic marking is abruptly piano (bar 47), followed by a diminuendo to a final pianississimo (ppp), suggesting the oxcart receding into the distance. Arrangements based on Rimsky-Korsakov’s edition, such as Ravel’s, begin quietly, build gradually (crescendo) to fortissimo, and then undergo a diminuendo, suggesting the oxcart approaching, passing the listener, and then receding.

[Untitled] (Interlude, Promenade theme)

4th Promenade   Menu       0:00

Key: D minor

Meter: alternating 5/4, 6/4, 7/4

Tempo: “Tranquillo”

A reflective 10-measure presentation of the promenade theme.

No. 5 “The Ballet of Unhatched Chicks in their Shells”

(Russian: Балет невылупившихся птенцов [Balet nevylupivshikhsya ptentsov])

Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques   Menu       0:00

Key: F major

Meter: 2/4 time

Tempo: “Scherzino (vivo, leggiero)”

Stasov comment: “Hartmann’s design for the décor of a picturesque scene in the ballet Trilby.”

Gerald Abraham provides the following details: “Trilby or The Demon of the Heath, a ballet with choreography by Petipa, music by Julius Gerber, and décor by Hartmann, based on Charles Nodier‘s Trilby, or The Elf of Argyle, was produced at the Bolshoy Theatre, Petersburg, in 1871. The fledglings were canary chicks.”^[6]

The movement is cast in ternary form (ABA) with a literal repeat and terse extension (coda).

No. 6 “Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle”

(Yiddish, Samuel Goldenberg und Schmuÿle)

Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle   Menu       0:00

Key: B-flat minor

Meter: 4/4 time

Tempo: “Andante. Grave energico” and “Andantino”

Stasov comment: “Two Jews: Rich and Poor” (Russian: Два еврея: богатый и бедный)

Stasov’s explanatory title elucidates the personal names used in Mussorgsky’s original manuscript. Published versions display various combinations, such as “Two Polish Jews, Rich and Poor (Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle)”. The movement is thought to be based on two separate extant portraits.

The use of augmented second intervals approximates Jewish modes such as the Phrygian dominant scale. The movement is in ternary form (A|B|A+B):

1. Andante, grave energico (Theme 1 “Samuel Goldenberg”)
2. Andantino (Theme 2 “Schmuÿle”)
3. Andante, grave energico (Themes 1 and 2 in counterpoint)
4. Coda

Promenade

Key: B-flat major

Meter: originally 11/4. Published editions alternate 5/4, 6/4, and 7/4.

Tempo: Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; poco sostenuto.

A nearly bar-for-bar restatement of the opening promenade. Differences are slight: condensed second half, block chords voiced more fully. Structurally the movement acts as a reprise, giving listeners another hearing of the opening material before these are developed in the second half of the suite. Many arrangements, including Ravel’s orchestral version, omit this movement.

No. 7 “The Market at Limoges (The Great News)”

(French, Limoges, le marché (La grande nouvelle))

Limoges, le marche   Menu       0:00

Key: E-flat major

Meter: 4/4

Tempo: Allegretto vivo, sempre scherzando

Stasov comment: “French women quarrelling violently in the market.”

Limoges is a city in central France. Mussorgsky originally provided two paragraphs in French that described a marketplace discussion (the ‘great news’), but soon removed them.

The movement is a scherzo in through-composed ternary form (ABA). A scurrying coda leads without a break into the next movement.

 

No. 8 “Catacombs”

(Latin, Catacombæ (Sepulcrum romanum) and Con mortuis in lingua mortua
Note: The correct Latin would be Catacumbae and Cum mortuis.

Catacombæ, Sepulcrum romanum   Menu       0:00     Con mortuis in lingua mortua   Menu       0:00

Key: B minor

Meter: 3/4 (Sepulcrum) 6/4 (Con mortuis)

Tempo: “Largo” (Sepulcrum) “Andante non troppo con lamento” (Con mortuis)

Stasov comment: “Hartmann represented himself examining the Paris catacombs by the light of a lantern.”

The movement is in two distinct parts. Its two sections consist of a nearly static Largo consisting of a sequence of block chords, with elegiac lines adding a touch of melancholy, and a more flowing, gloomy “Andante” that introduces the “Promenade” theme into the scene.

The first section’s alternating loud and soft chords evoke the grandeur, stillness, and echo of the catacombs. The second section suggests a merging of observer and scene as the observer descends into the catacombs. Mussorgsky’s manuscript of The Catacombs displays two pencilled notes, in Russian: “NB – Latin text: With the dead in a dead language” and, along the right margin, “Well may it be in Latin! The creative spirit of the dead Hartmann leads me towards the skulls, invokes them; the skulls begin to glow softly from within.”

No. 9 “The Hut on Fowl’s Legs”

(Russian: Избушка на курьих ножках (Баба-Яга) [Izbushka na kuryikh nozhkakh (Baba-Yagá)])

La cabane sur des pattes de poule   Menu       0:00

Key: C minor

Meter: 2/4

Tempo: “Allegro con brio, feroce” and “Andante mosso”

Stasov comment: “Hartmann’s drawing depicted a clock in the form of Baba Yaga‘s hut on fowl’s legs. Mussorgsky added the witch’s flight in a mortar.”

A scherzo feroce with a slower middle section. Motives in this movement evoke the bells of a large clock and the whirlwind sounds of a chase. Structurally the movement mirrors the grotesque qualities of “Gnomus” on a grand scale.

The movement is cast in ternary form (ABA):

1. Allegro con brio, feroce
2. Andante mosso
3. Allegro molto (a nearly literal repeat)
4. Coda

The coda leads without a break to the final movement of the suite.

No. 10 “The Great Gate of Kiev”

(Russian: Богатырские ворота (В стольном городе во Киеве) [Bogatyrskiye vorota (V stolnom gorode Kiyeve)]

La grande porte de kiev   Menu       0:00

Key: E-flat major

Meter: 4/4 (allegro alla breve)

Tempo: “Maestoso, con grandezza” and broadening to the end.

Stasov comment: “Hartmann’s sketch was his design for city gates at Kiev in the ancient Russian massive style with a cupola shaped like a slavonic helmet.”

Bogatyrs are heroes that appear in Russian epics called bylinas. The title of this movement is commonly translated as “The Great Gate of Kiev” and sometimes as “The Heroes’ Gate at Kiev.”

Hartmann designed a monumental gate for Tsar Alexander II to commemorate the monarch’s narrow escape from an assassination attempt on April 4, 1866. Hartmann regarded his design as the best work he had done. His design won the national competition but plans to build the structure were later cancelled.

The movement features a grand main theme that exalts the opening promenade much as “Baba Yaga” amplified “Gnomus”; also like that movement it evens out the meter of its earlier counterpart. The solemn secondary theme is based on a baptismal hymn from the repertory of Russian Orthodox chant.

The movement is cast as a broad rondo in two main sections: ABAB|CADA. The first half of the movement sets up the expectation of an ABABA pattern. The interruption of this pattern with new music just before its expected conclusion gives the rest of the movement the feeling of a vast extension. This extended leave-taking acts as a coda for the suite as a whole.

1. A Main Theme (forte); tempo Maestoso
2. B Hymn Theme (piano) (A-flat minor)
3. A Main Theme (forte); descending and ascending scale figures suggest carillons.
4. B Hymn Theme (piano) (E-flat minor)
5. C Interlude/Transition (forte); “Promenade” theme recalled. Suggestions of clockwork, bells, ascent.
6. A Main Theme (fortissimo); tempo Meno mosso, sempre maestoso. Triplet figuration.
7. D Interlude/Transition (mezzo forte with crescendo). Triplets.
8. A Main Theme (fortissimo); tempo Grave, Sempre allargando. It slows to a standstill by the final cadence.

Recording of the original manuscript

In 2014 the Russian pianist Andrej Hoteev presented (in a CD recording) a performance of “Pictures at an Exhibition” based on original manuscripts^[7] he consulted in the Russian National Library at St.Petersburg.^[8] Hoteev found numerous discrepancies with conventional sheet music editions. ^[9] He believes his recorded version expresses the composer’s original intent.^[10] The most important deviations are documented with illustrations from the manuscripts in the accompanying CD booklet.^[11]

Arrangements and interpretations

 

The opening bars of Tushmalov’s orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition.

The first musician to arrange Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition for orchestra was the Russian composer and conductor Mikhail Tushmalov. However, his version (first performed in 1891 and possibly produced as early as 1886 when he was a student of Rimsky-Korsakov) does not include the entire suite: Only seven of the ten “pictures” are present, leaving out Gnomus, Tuileries, and Bydło, and all the Promenades are omitted except for the last one, which is used in place of the first.

The next orchestration was undertaken by the British conductor Henry Wood in 1915. He recorded a few sections of his arrangement on a pair of acoustic Columbia 78rpm discs in 1920. However, he withdrew his version when Maurice Ravel‘s orchestration was published and banned every public performance in the 1930s in deference to Ravel’s work. Wood’s arrangement has also been recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Nicholas Braithwaite and issued on the Lyrita label. It omits all but the first of the Promenade-based movements and features extensive re-composition elsewhere. Wood’s orchestration was once described by Gordon Jacob as “superior in picturesqueness to the Ravel”, with its off-stage camel-bells in “Bydlo” and grand organ in “The Great Gate of Kiev”.

The first person to orchestrate the piece in its entirety was the Slovenian-born conductor and violinist Leo Funtek, who finished his version in 1922 while living and working in Finland.

The version by Maurice Ravel, produced in 1922 on a commission by Serge Koussevitzky, represents a virtuoso effort by a master colourist. The orchestration has proved the most popular in the concert hall and on record. Ravel omitted the Promenade between “Samuel” Goldenberg und “Schmuÿle” and Limoges and applied artistic license to some particulars of dynamics and notation. His instrumental colors—a trumpet solo for the opening Promenade, dark woodwind tones for passages suggesting Orthodox chant, the piccolo and high strings for the children’s “chicks in shells”—are widely admired. The influence of Ravel’s version may often be discerned in subsequent versions of the suite.

Koussevitzky’s commission, worked out with the publishers of the piano suite, gave him sole conducting rights for several years. He published Ravel’s score himself and in 1930 made the first recording of it with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The exclusive nature of his commission prompted the release of a number of contemporary versions by other arrangers until Ravel’s became generally available.

The original publisher of Mussorgsky’s piano suite, W. Bessel & Co. rushed to produce an orchestral version of its own after Ravel’s proved popular. The publisher had passed on the opportunity to publish Ravel’s arrangement, seeing no great commercial advantage in printing a score and set of parts for large orchestra; it had granted Koussevitzky permission to commission the setting and publish the score himself on the condition that no one else be allowed to perform it. Bessel turned to a Ravel student, 21-year-old Russian-born pianist Leonidas Leonardi (1901–1967), a.k.a. Leon Leonardi or Leonid Leonardi, to create an orchestral version that could meet the now burgeoning demand and help the publisher regain some of its lost advantage. Leonardi’s orchestration requires even larger forces than the version made by his mentor. The young pianist dedicated his setting of the suite to Igor Stravinsky and conducted the premiere in Paris with the Lamoureux Orchestra on 15 June 1924. The US premiere took place on 4 December 1924 when the New York Symphony Orchestra performed it under the baton of Walter Damrosch. Regardless, Leonardi’s orchestration was soon eclipsed by Ravel’s, and today only the third Promenade and “Tuileries” movement of his version may be heard on audio record (Leonard Slatkin/Saint Louis Symphony: The Slatkin Years: 6 CD Set).

Another arrangement appeared when Eugene Ormandy took over the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1936 following Leopold Stokowski‘s decision to resign the conductorship. Ormandy wanted a version of Pictures of his own and commissioned Lucien Cailliet, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s ‘house arranger’ and player in the woodwind section, to produce one. This version was premiered and recorded by Ormandy in 1937. Walter Goehr published a version in 1942 for smaller forces than Ravel but curiously dropped Gnomus altogether and made Limoges the first “picture”.

The conductor Leopold Stokowski had introduced Ravel’s version to Philadelphia audiences in November 1929; ten years later he produced his own very free orchestration (incorporating much re-composition), aiming for what he called a more ‘Slavic’ orchestral sound instead of Ravel’s more ‘Gallic’ approach. Stokowski revised his version over the years and made three gramophone recordings of it (1939, 1941 and 1965). The score, finally published in 1971, has since been recorded by other conductors, including Matthias Bamert, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Oliver Knussen and José Serebrier.

Although Ravel’s version is most often performed and recorded, a number of conductors have made their own changes to the scoring, including Arturo Toscanini, Nikolai Golovanov and Djong Victorin Yu. Conductor and pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy has produced his own orchestral arrangement, expressing dissatisfaction with Ravel’s interpretive liberties and perpetuation of early printing errors.^[12] The conductor Leonard Slatkin has performed ‘compendium’ versions, in which each Promenade and “picture” is interpreted by a different orchestral arranger.

Many other orchestrations and arrangements of Pictures have been made. Most show debts to Ravel; the original piano composition is, of course, frequently performed and recorded. A version for chamber orchestra exists, made by Taiwanese composer Chao Ching-Wen. Elgar Howarth arranged it for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble in 1977, subsequently recasting it for Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Kazuhito Yamashita wrote an adaptation for solo classical guitar. Excerpts have also been recorded, including a 78 rpm disc of The Old Castle and Catacombs orchestrated by Sir Granville Bantock, and a spectacular version of The Great Gate of Kiev was scored by Douglas Gamley for full symphony orchestra, male voice choir and organ. The Amadeus Orchestra (UK), taking a page from Leonard Slatkin‘s ‘compendium’ approach, commissioned ten composers to orchestrate one movement each to make a version first performed complete in 2012. Movements were provided by Alastair King, Roger May, Tolib Shakhidi, David Butterworth, Philip Mackenzie, Simon Whiteside, Daryl Griffiths, Natalia Villanueva, James McWilliam and Julian Kershaw.^[13]

The suite has inspired homages in a broad range of musical styles. A version featured in two albums by the British trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer incorporates elements of progressive rock, jazz and folk music (1971/2008). An electronic music adaptation by Isao Tomita was done in 1975. A heavy metal arrangement of the entire suite was released by German band Mekong Delta; another metal band, Armored Saint, utilised the “Great Gate of Kiev” theme as an introduction for the track “March of the Saint”. In 2002 electronic musician-composer Amon Tobin paraphrased “Gnomus” for the track “Back From Space” on his album Out from Out Where.^[14] In 2003 guitarist-composer Trevor Rabin released an electric guitar adaptation of “Promenade” originally intended for the Yes album Big Generator and later included on his demo album 90124. In 2005 Animusic 2 included a track entitled “Cathedral Pictures”. Based on the Emerson, Lake, & Palmer version, “Cathedral Pictures” included only the first Promenade and the final two movements from the suite. The Michael Jackson song ‘HIStory’ samples a short section of the Great Gate Of Kiev, longer version was played during HIStory World Tour finale in 1997. Re-issues of the HIStory album further changed the sample on the track.

Donald Trump responds to his critics ( “right now our country is s mess”)

Donald Trump responds to his critics

Fox News

Published on Dec 13, 2015

The Republican presidential frontrunner sounds off on the prospect of a brokered convention and his controversial call to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.
Watch Chris Wallace talk about Apple News, Elections, Presidential Primaries, and Republicans on Fox News Sunday

Watch “Corul Armatei – Marsul vanatorilor de munte” on YouTube

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Today is Pope Francis Birthday. Happy birthday!

Increase in industry-funded drug trials bad for public health, researcher says – STAT

http://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2015/12/16/pharmalot-nih-drug-trials/

Munții Făgăraş, Valea Viştei

Watch “TWICE(트와이스) “OOH-AHH하게(Like OOH-AHH)” M/V” on YouTube

K-pop group Oh My Girl had wrong visa, says US Customs and Border Protection – BBC Newsbeat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35101815/k-pop-group-oh-my-girl-had-wrong-visa-says-us-customs-and-border-protection?OCID=fbasia&ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook

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this pressed For our confusing: The Fed Should Clean Up Excess Reserve Rather Than Raise Rates | Foreign Affairs

For the Fed, Mop Not HikeCleaning Up Excess Reserves Rather Than Raising RatesBy Richard C. KooBy the most recent forecast, the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to raise interet rates on December 16. That it’s happening in the midst of a global economic slowdown is bad news for markets and economies around the world. Even China’s yuan, which had remained stable alongside the strengthening U.S. dollar until recently, had to decouple from it in August to bolster the country’s faltering export industries; it was another decision that shook markets worldwide.Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has been warning of the coming interest rate hike for some time now. She wanted to sound the alarm sooner rather than later because the Fed has injected some $2.5 trillion in excess reserves—17.6 times more than the statutory reserves needed to support the present level of U.S. money supply and lending activity. When a central bank has created such an unprecedented degree of liquidity, particularly with the U.S. economy doing relatively well, inflation could accelerate much sooner than in the past once the private sector is ready to borrow money again. That could force the Fed into an abrupt tightening, which could be very damaging to the market and the economy. The Fed must also avoid creating the impression of being behind the curve on inflation lest it trigger a bond market crash that could send long-term interest rates rocketing.Kevin Lamarque / ReutersU.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen testifies before the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2014.In spite of the United States’ relatively strong economy, inflation remained subdued because the private sector still maintained a financial surplus of over six percent of GDP, at least through the year ending in the third quarter of 2015, according to the flow of funds data. This is worrying because it means that the private sector continued to save in spite of zero interest rates, a disturbing trend that began when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. It also indicates that businesses and households are still recovering their balance sheets, which may have been hurt when the housing bubble burst in 2008. Their refusal to borrow means that the liquidity injected by the Fed remained with the financial institutions that received them and has not entered the real economy.The fact that the private sector as a whole is still saving money at zero interest rates is worrying because both Japan in 2000 and Europe in 2011 tried to raise rates under similar conditions but were ultimately forced to take them back to zero. In both cases, the economies turned out to be much weaker than some macro indicators had suggested.The Fed’s need to appear vigilant against inflation while facing a still weak global economy suggests that it should reverse the order of monetary policy normalization set forth in September 2014. At that time, it was decided to raise interest rates first before draining excess reserves because the market is more familiar with rate hikes, while a reserve-draining operation would be the first in history and might create unpredictable disruptions.Since the Fed’s September announcement, however, the dollar has skyrocketed and oil prices have collapsed. This means that inflation is likely to stay subdued, undermining the rationale behind rate hikes.Toru Hanai / ReutersA man is reflected on an electronic board displaying exchange rates, August 11, 2010.Meanwhile, reserve-draining operations generally require the Fed to sell bonds. Although that would tend to push bond prices lower and yields higher, the Bank of Japan’s decision in October 2014 to expand its liquidity injections and the European Central Bank’s decision to do so earlier this year have pushed interest rates in many countries to zero or subzero levels. That move boosted Japanese and European investors’ demand for higher-yielding dollar bonds.This means the Fed has the perfect opportunity right now to sell bonds to drain excess reserves—there is robust overseas demand for U.S. bonds, plenty of domestic savings (at least according to the flow of funds data) to absorb the bonds unloaded by the Fed, and a strong dollar and cheap oil keeping inflation concerns in check. These factors all suggest that any pressures that drive down bond prices and drive up bond yields from a reserve mop-up operation are likely to be modest.In other words, the Fed should drain excess reserves first before raising interest rates. If bond yields do climb excessively because the Fed unloads the bonds, the Fed could always calm the markets by announcing an extension of the zero interest rate policy. When the market realizes that the Fed has this fallback option to keep short-term rates low, long-term interest rates (that is, bond yields) are not likely to go that much higher.Enjoy this free article from Foreign AffairsAll visitors get access to one full-length article each month. Register for free to continue readi

Source: The Fed Should Clean Up Excess Reserve Rather Than Raise Rates | Foreign Affairs

This Pressed for Reality Check: Turkish MP reveals that ISIS used Turkey to access sarin gas for chemical attack— David Icke (@davidicke) December 16, 2015

Turkish MP reveals that ISIS used Turkey to access sarin gas for chemical attack: https://t.co/ZY8qt6a6Kr pic.twitter.com/gBNkhs6LxL

— David Icke (@davidicke) December 16, 2015

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this pressed: Republican debate: Tweeters mock Trump’s internet call – BBC News |(No WIFI PASSWORD FOR ISIS, Donald Trump)

As the candidates in Tuesday’s Republican debate grappled over how to tackle the growing threat of the Islamic State group (also known as Isis), Donald Trump calmly reassured them “the answer is simple”.Rather than focus on a bombing campaign in Syria, or sending in ground troops, the billionaire offered a more novel, technological strategy: to “close off areas of the internet”.”Isis is using the internet better than we are using the internet, and it was our idea,” the 69-year-old entrepreneur told the audience in Las Vegas.”We should be able to penetrate the internet and find out exactly where Isis is and everything about Isis. “We can do that if we use our good people.”And indeed, the good people of the internet were quick to offer their help:

Source: Republican debate: Tweeters mock Trump’s internet call – BBC News

this pressed for remembering: 10 Rankings That Tell Us Everything We Need to Know About Los Angeles in 2015 — L.A. Weekly (@LAWeekly) December 16, 2015

10 Rankings That Tell Us Everything We Need to Know About Los Angeles in 2015 https://t.co/coBzgZLRT4 pic.twitter.com/ReQRXaYj35

— L.A. Weekly (@LAWeekly) December 16, 2015

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Zermatt, Switzerland