Robert Schumann- Romanze op. 94 no. 2

Andre7730

Published on Nov 7, 2014

Gabriel Marin- flute
Andreea Bratu- piano
Duo Artemis 2014 Constanta
Teatru de Opera si Balet Oleg Danovski

Aram Khachaturian – Masquerade: Waltz , make music part of your life series

Aram Khachaturian – Masquerade: Waltz

rlkitterman’s channel

Aram Khachaturian – “Waltz” from the 1944 Masquerade Suite based on the Mikhail Lermontov play of the same name. André Anichanov conducts the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra in this performance on the 1997 Naxos album.

• Music

  • “Waltz” by St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra (Google Play • AmazonMP3 • iTunes • eMusic)

best classical music: , Amilcare Ponchielli – La danza delle ore / La Danse des heures / Dance of the Hours , make music part of your life series

Amilcare Ponchielli – La danza delle ore / La Danse des heures / Dance of the Hours

miljkmi

Uploaded on Dec 22, 2011

Amilcare Ponchielli (1834-1886), Italia

“La Gioconda”, opera, Act III: Dance of the Hours

Wiener Philharmoniker
Rudolf Kempe
——————————

• Music

  • “La Gioconda: Dance of the Hours (La Gioconda, Act III)” by Wiener Philharmoniker/Rudolf Kempe (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

Henryk Górecki – Symphony Nº3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). Second Movement, make music part of your life series

Henryk Górecki – Symphony Nº3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). Second Movement.

python7275

Uploaded on Apr 16, 2011

This is the second of three movements from the third symphony by Henryk Górecki.
Composer : Henryk Mikołaj Górecki – 1933 – 2010 (Polish)
Composition : Symphony nº3 – Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (1991)
Movement : II – Lento e Largo, Traquillissimo.

• Music

  • “Symphony No. 3: II. Lento E Largo – Tranquillissimo” by London Sinfonietta (Google Play • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

Fifty Three-(‘Beautiful is thy wristlet,…’), Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali (from Collection of Indian Poems)

53
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with stars and cunningly wrought in myriad-coloured jewels. But more beautiful to me thy sword with its curve of lightning like the outspread wings of the divine bird of Vishnu, perfectly poised in the angry red light of the sunset.
It quivers like the one last response of life in ecstasy of pain at the final stroke of death; it shines like the pure flame of being burning up earthly sense with one fierce flash.
Beautiful is thy wristlet, decked with starry gems; but thy sword, O lord of thunder, is wrought with uttermost beauty, terrible to behold or to think of.

Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali
(from Collection of Indian Poems)

Lazybones by Pablo Neruda (Selected Poems) (‘They will continue wandering,…I have no wish to change my planet…’)

Lazybones by Pablo Neruda

They will continue wandering,
these things of steel among the stars,
and weary men will still go up
to brutalize the placid moon.
There, they will found their pharmacies.

In this time of the swollen grape,
the wine begins to come to life
between the sea and the mountain ranges.

In Chile now, cherries are dancing,
the dark mysterious girls are singing,
and in guitars, water is shining.
The sun is touching every door
and making wonder of the wheat.

The first wine is pink in colour,
is sweet with the sweetness of a child,
the second wine is able-bodied,
strong like the voice of a sailor,
the third wine is a topaz, is
a poppy and a fire in one.

My house has both the sea and the earth,
my woman has great eyes
the colour of wild hazelnut,
when night comes down, the sea
puts on a dress of white and green,
and later the moon in the spindrift foam
dreams like a sea-green girl.

I have no wish to change my planet.

[A.R.]
379

Best Classical Music:, “Debussy: La Mer – 2. Play of the Waves (Jeux de vagues)” by London Symphony Orchestra, make music part of your life series

Debussy – La Mer

orangejamtw

Gergiev cond. LSO

• Music

  • “Debussy: La Mer – 2. Play of the Waves (Jeux de vagues)” by London Symphony Orchestra

**********************************************************************

Cover of the 1905 edition of La Mer. The illustration is based on Hokusai’s Wave.

La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre (French for The sea, three symphonic sketches for orchestra), or simply La mer (i.e. The Sea), is an orchestral composition (L 109) by the French composer Claude Debussy.

Composed between 1903 and 1905, the piece was initially not well received, but soon became one of Debussy’s most admired and frequently performed orchestral works.

Composition

The work was started in 1903 in France and completed in 1905 at Grand Hotel Eastbourne on the English Channel coast. The premiere was given on 15 October 1905 in Paris, by the Orchestre Lamoureux under the direction of Camille Chevillard.

Eastbourne was also where Frank Bridge was to complete his suite The Sea in 1911.

Debussy arranged the piece for piano for four hands in 1905,^{[Grove Music Online 1]} and in 1909 his publisher Durand presented a second edition of La mer with the composer’s revisions.^[1]

Instrumentation

La mer is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tamtam, glockenspiel, 2 harps and strings.

Movements

A typical performance of this piece lasts about 23 or 24 minutes. It is in three movements:

1. (~09:00) “De l’aube à midi sur la mer” – très lent – animez peu à peu (si mineur)
2. (~06:30) “Jeux de vagues” – allegro (dans un rythme très souple) – animé (do dièse mineur)
3. (~08:00) “Dialogue du vent et de la mer” – animé et tumultueux – cédez très légérement (do dièse mineur)

Usually translated as:

1. “From dawn to noon on the sea” or “From dawn to midday on the sea” – very slow – animate little by little (B minor)
2. “Play of the Waves” – allegro (with a very versatile rhythm) – animated (C sharp minor)
3. “Dialogue of the wind and the sea” or “Dialogue between wind and waves” – animated and tumultuous – give up very slightly (C sharp minor)

Interpretation

La mer is a masterpiece of suggestion and subtlety in its rich depiction of the ocean, which combines unusual orchestration with daring impressionistic harmonies. The work has proven very influential, and its use of sensuous tonal colours and its orchestration methods have influenced many later film scores. While the structure of the work places it outside of both absolute music and programme music (see below on the title “Three symphonic sketches”) as those terms were understood in the early 20th century, it obviously uses descriptive devices to suggest wind, waves and the ambience of the sea. But structuring a piece around a nature subject without any literary or human element to it – neither people, nor mythology, nor ships are suggested in the piece – also was highly unusual at the time.

As a young boy, Debussy’s parents had plans for him to join the navy. Debussy himself even commented on his fond childhood memories of the beauties of the sea. However, as an adult composing “La mer,” he rarely visited the sea, spending most of his time far away from large bodies of water. Debussy drew inspiration from art, “preferring the seascapes available in painting and literature…”^[2] to the physical sea. This influence lends the piece its unusual nature.

Debussy called La mer “three symphonic sketches,” avoiding the loaded term symphony.^[3] Yet the work is sometimes called a symphony; it consists of two powerful outer movements framing a lighter, faster piece which acts as a type of scherzo. But the author Jean Barraqué (in “La Mer de Debussy,” Analyse musicale 12/3, June 1988,) describes La mer as the first work to have an “open” form – a devenir sonore or “sonorous becoming… a developmental process in which the very notions of exposition and development coexist in an uninterrupted burst.” Simon Trezise, in his book Debussy: La Mer (Cambridge, 1994) notes, however, that “motifs are constantly propagated by derivation from earlier motifs” (p. 52).

Simon Trezise notes that “for much of La Mer, Debussy spurns the more obvious devices associated with the sea, wind, and concomitant storm in favor of his own, highly individual vocabulary” (p. 48–49). Caroline Potter (in “Debussy and Nature” in The Cambridge Companion to Debussy, p. 149) adds that Debussy’s depiction of the sea “avoids monotony by using a multitude of water figurations that could be classified as musical onomatopoeia: they evoke the sensation of swaying movement of waves and suggest the pitter-patter of falling droplets of spray” (and so forth), and — significantly — avoid the arpeggiated triads used by Wagner and Schubert to evoke the movement of water.

The author, musicologist and pianist Roy Howat has observed, in his book Debussy in Proportion, that the formal boundaries of La mer correspond exactly to the mathematical ratios called The Golden Section. Trezise (p. 53) finds the intrinsic evidence “remarkable,” but cautions that no written or reported evidence suggests that Debussy consciously sought such proportions.

Reception

The piece was initially not well received – partly because of inadequate rehearsal and partly because of Parisian outrage over Debussy’s having recently left his first wife for the singer Emma Bardac. But it soon became one of Debussy’s most admired and frequently performed orchestral works, and became more so in the ensuing century. The first recording was made by Piero Coppola in 1928.

 The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne where La mer was completed in 1905.

In a book of interviews,^[4] the great Ukrainian/Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter called La mer “A piece that I rank alongside the St Matthew Passion and the Ring cycle as one of my favorite works”. Richter said further, on listening to his favorite recording (by Roger Désormière), “La mer again; shall I ever tire of listening to it, of contemplating it and breathing its atmosphere? And each time is like the first time! An enigma, a miracle of natural reproduction; no, even more than that, sheer magic!”^[5] Richter also mentioned two other Soviet admirers of the work: “One day, after listening to this work, Anna Ivanovna exclaimed, ‘For me, it’s exactly the same miracle as the sea itself!'”.^[6] Richter also said that for his teacher, Heinrich Neuhaus, La mer was “the work by Debussy that he loved above all others (‘Slava, put on La mer,’ he almost always used to say whenever he came round here.)”.^[7] Of the Désormière recording, which he played for Neuhaus, Richter said it is “The most beautiful in the whole history of the gramophone.”^[8]

Influence, quotation and sampling

Generally speaking, La mer has been influential to many contemporary soundtrack composers because of its highly suggestive and moody atmosphere.

• Luciano Berio quotes the 3rd movement ^[9] in the third movement of his Sinfonia, premiered in 1968.
• Some passages (the 3rd movement, for example) of La mer may have inspired John Williams for the score he wrote for Jaws (1975).
• In 1991, the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, who referred to Debussy as being his “first teacher”, based a work, Quotation of Dream: Say Sea, Take Me! on a theme from La mer.
• The Nine Inch Nails song “La Mer” is influenced by Debussy´s “La Mer”^{[citation needed]}
• In 2002, Norwegian composer Biosphere loosely based his ambient album Shenzhou around looped samples of La mer.^[10]

Best Classical music: Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Les Ruses d’amour, Op. 61, Introduction et Scene I, Iasi Moldova Philharmonic Orchestra, Horia Andreescu, make music part of your life series

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Les Ruses d’amour, Op. 61, Introduction et Scene I

naxosorchestral

Published on Mar 20, 2014

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov
Iasi Moldova Philharmonic Orchestra, Horia Andreescu,
Les Ruses d’amour, Op. 61
Glazunov: Ruses D’Amour, Op. 61
8.220485
http://www.classicsonline.com/catalog…
http://www.naxoslicensing.com/

today’s birthday: Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755)

Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755)

Recognized as the most important female painter of the 18th century, Vigée-Lebrun began painting portraits professionally in her early teens and went on to have a long and successful career. In 1779, she was summoned to Versailles to paint Marie Antoinette, whom she would paint at least 30 more times. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, she fled France and traveled abroad, finding acclaim and prominent sitters wherever she went. Which notable figures did she paint during her travels? More… Discuss

Best classical music , Antonín Dvořák – Serenade in D minor, Op. 44 , great compositions/performances

Antonín Dvořák – Serenade in D minor, Op. 44

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

Published on Sep 21, 2012

Nash Ensemble

Antonín Dvořák – Serenade in D minor, Op. 44
1. Moderato, alla Marcia 4’17
2. Minuetto 6’08
3. Andante con moto 8’35
4. Allegro molto 6’13

• Music

  • “Serenade in D minor Op.44: Minuetto. Tempo di Minuetto” by The Nash Ensemble (Google Play • eMusic • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

best classical music: , Mozart – Violin Sonata No. 35 in A major, K. 526 , great compositions/performances

Mozart – Violin Sonata No. 35 in A major, K. 526

oppie47

Published on Mar 30, 2011

I. Molto allegro [0:00]
II. Andante [9:30]
III. Presto [19:50]

Sigiswald Kuijken, violin
Luc Devos, fortepiano

performed on period instruments

Painting of Mozart by Barbara Krafft

• Music

  • “Sonata for Keyboard and Violin No. 35 in A Major, K. 526: III. Presto” by Sigiswald Kuijken (Google Play • eMusic • iTunes • AmazonMP3)

quotation: ‘…Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning, but…’ George Eliot

Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning, but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing.

George Eliot (1819-1880) Discuss

Champagne

The word “Champagne,” when capitalized, refers specifically to the white, sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France. Generally, production begins with the fermentation of grapes with low sugar and high acid levels to produce a still wine, which is blended with other wines, a small amount of sugar and yeast, and stored. During the second fermentation, carbon dioxide is trapped in the bottle. How should Champagne be poured in order to preserve the bubbles? More… Discuss

word: pompous

pompous

Definition:	(adjective) Characterized by excessive self-esteem or exaggerated dignity.
Synonyms:	overblown, grandiloquent, portentous
Usage:	He read the proclamation aloud in a pompous voice, although nobody was paying attention. Discuss.

Best Classical Music Series: Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 21, K.467 / Yeol Eum Son,

Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 21, K.467 / Yeol Eum Son

alddo3

Published on Dec 18, 2014

2011 Tchaikovsky Competition – Piano Round II, Phase II

Mozart – Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 21 in C major, K.467

Yeol Eum Son (South Korea)
***************************************************************

Structure

The concerto has three movements:

1. Allegro maestoso; in common time. The tempo marking is in Mozart’s catalog of his own works, but not in the autograph manuscript.^[3]
2. Andante in F major. In both the autograph score and in his personal catalog, Mozart notated the meter as Alla breve. ^[4]
3. Allegro vivace assai

The opening movement begins quietly with a march figure, but quickly moves to a more lyrical melody interspersed with a fanfare in the winds. The music grows abruptly in volume, with the violins taking up the principal melody over the march theme, which is now played by the brass. This uplifting theme transitions to a brief, quieter interlude distinguished by a sighing motif in the brass. The march returns, eventually transitioning to the entrance of the soloist. The soloist plays a brief Eingang (a type of abbreviated Cadenza) before resolving to a trill on the dominant G while the strings play the march in C major. The piano then introduces new material in C major and begins transitioning to the dominant key of G major. Immediately after an orchestral cadence finally announces the arrival of the dominant, the music abruptly shifts to G minor in a passage that is reminiscent of the main theme of the Symphony No. 40 in that key.^[5] A series of rising and falling chromatic scales then transition the music to the true second theme of the piece, an ebullient G major theme which Mozart had previously used in his Third Horn Concerto. The usual development and recapitulation follow. There is a cadenza at the end of the movement, although Mozart’s original has been lost.

The famous Andante is in three parts. The opening section is for orchestra only and features muted strings. The first violins play with a dreamlike melody over an accompaniment consisting of second violins and violas playing repeated-note triplets and the cellos and bass playing pizzicato arpeggios. All of the major melodic material of the movement is contained in this orchestral introduction, in either F major or F minor. The second section introduces the solo piano and starts off in F major. It is not a literal repeat, though, as after the first few phrases, new material is interjected which ventures off into different keys. When familiar material returns, the music is now in the dominant keys of C minor and C major. More new material in distant keys is added, which transitions to the third section of the movement. The third section begins with the dreamlike melody again, but this time in A-flat major. Over the course of this final section, the music makes it way back to the tonic keys of F minor and then F major and a short coda concludes the movement.

The final rondo movement begins with the full orchestra espousing a joyous “jumping” theme. After a short cadenza, the piano joins in and further elaborates. A “call and response” style is apparent, with the piano and ensemble exchanging parts fluidly. The soloist gets scale and arpeggio figurations that enhance the themes, as well as a short cadenza that leads right back to the main theme. The main theme appears one final time, leading to an upward rush of scales that ends on a triumphant note.

Recordings

This work has been recorded numerous times by many famous pianists including Géza Anda, Piotr Anderszewski, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Malcolm Bilson, Alfred Brendel, Robert Casadesus, Ivan Drenikov, Annie Fischer, Walter Gieseking, Friedrich Gulda, Stephen Hough, Keith Jarrett, Wilhelm Kempff, Walter Klien, Alicia de Larrocha, Giorgi Latsabidze, Rosina Lhevinne, Dinu Lipatti, Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Maria João Pires, Maurizio Pollini, Arthur Rubinstein, Fazil Say, András Schiff, Artur Schnabel, Rudolf Serkin, Howard Shelley, Mitsuko Uchida, and Christian Zacharias.

Cultural references

The second movement was featured in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan.^[1][6] This has led to an anachronistic nickname of Elvira Madigan for the concerto.^[7][8][9]

Neil Diamond’s 1972 song “Song Sung Blue” was based on a theme from the andante movement of the concerto.^[10]

An electronic arrangement of the concerto’s first movement was used as the main theme of the TV series Whiz Kids.

Gioachino Rossini – La Cenerentola (Cinderella) – Ouverture (Alberto Zedda)

Gioachino Rossini – La Cenerentola – Ouverture (Alberto Zedda)

LindoroRossini

Uploaded on Nov 16, 2008

It has been a while since I’ve replenished my current collection of Rossini’s comical music, so I decided to return to it with my personal favorite excepts from the maestro’s version of the archetypal story of a young woman living through impossible torment before being rewarded for constance: Cinderella.

“La Cenerentola”, premiered in 1817, was almost immediately (after an initially lukewarm first night, though) a popular success and, moreover, never entirely passed out of the operatic repertoire during the time when operas of Rossini’s period were out of favor, reaffirming its’ charm over audiences of both centuries. It still remains one of Rossini’s best known works and for good reason: the piece provides us with tauntingly realistic treatment of the original story made only more stunning by some of Rossini’s most lyrical passages and explosive comical moments.

Interestingly enough, the work strays as far away from the original prototypical story: don’t expect fairy godmothers and glass slippers here (the slipper is replaced by a bracelet (in order to comply with current moral standards and not show the ankle), by which the Prince recognizes Cinderella at the end of the opera); Perrault’s famous fairy tale is stripped of virtually all supernatural characters and events in this very loose adaptation of it, making for a much more down-to-earth but nonetheless rewarding story of how “goodness triumphs”. On a side note, the replacement “fairy godmother” – Alindoro – actually seems to be a sort of an echo of the original supernatural calling forth, in Act Two, a storm that forces Ramiro to seek shelter in the castle of Don Magnifico, so the question of just how much is the story “realistic” remains very much alive. Still, we are faced by a much more truthful reexamination that only serves to highlight the sheer immorality of what Cinderella has to suffer through. The original story itself is no piece of Christmas pie: the heroine (or to cite her proper name as used in the work, Angelina) suffers continuous indignities from her relatives (here, her father and two stepsisters) during the whole work, only being acknowledged, rather unsatisfyingly, at the very end when her family has no other options. But Rossini’s adaptation uses an even more heart-breaking story: the gorgeous Act One quintet has Don Magnifico, Angelina’s own father, swearing, right before his daughter, that she is dead. We are not shown how Cinderella’s life was before the beginning of action but this episode alone paints such a deeply moving tragedy: the young woman simply wants acceptance, nothing more, and her final triumph is rather enigmatic, what will come of her relationship with her family? Still, Rossini’s music, in spite of this, paints a story that one believes from the beginning to the end, one truly hopes, by the very final coda, that all will end in happiness.

I’m going for a recording that is perhaps not as common as, for example, renditions centered on the heroines of Berganza, Baltsa, Larmore or Bartoli: a 2004 live recording under the leadership of the Rossini trouper, Alberto Zedda. Featuring good sound and clear orchestration, as well as a balanced ensemble, it remains my personal favorite, in spite of all the other renditions available. As I’m trying to concentrate on relatively obscure pieces or, at the very least, on the pieces not as often cited as the “hits” :), the selections include the following: the overture (to set up a suitable opening for the other pieces), the superb Quartet/Quintet and the magnificent Finale from Act One; Don Magnifico’s third aria and, finally, the first movement of the penultimate Sextet. Let us press on forward to the first piece.

The overture, like several other famous orchestral piece by Rossini (including the seemingly hand-in-glove “Il Barbiere” opening), includes material recycled from earlier operas – in this case “La gazzetta”, “Il turco in Italia” (which I will post after I’ve finished posting all the pieces from the present work) and “La pietra del paragone”. But it doesn’t really matter. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable confection that seems fully appropriate for this slightly sentimental, slightly comical opera. The overture falls into the usual Rossini shape with a slow introduction followed by a little symphonic allegro that, though lacking a development section, is loaded with surprises, including an extended crescendo that serves as the closing theme, an opening theme that proceeds stagily in fits and starts and a delightful turn on the piccolo in the recapitulation of the second theme.

this day in the yesteryear: The Rumble in the Jungle (1974)

The Rumble in the Jungle (1974)

The “Rumble in the Jungle” pitted boxer Muhammad Ali against heavyweight champion George Foreman in Zaire—now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The match is remembered for Ali’s incredible performance in regaining the heavyweight title. Surrounded by spellbound fans, he used a strategy later dubbed the “rope-a-dope” to tire Foreman before winning in the eighth round. This fight was Don King‘s first major venture as a professional boxing promoter. What musical acts were booked for the event? More… Discuss

Related articles

• Rumble in the Jungle: Ali was truly the greatest
• Why Rumble in the Jungle is one of the greatest fights of all time
• Kinshasa still rumbles with Ali-Foreman boxing bout
• As Muhammad Ali’s health deteriorates, Sportsmail looks back at his most famous fight of all The Rumble in the Jungle
• History notes: This Week in Black History (Oct. 26th-Nov.1st)

today’s holiday: African World Festival

African World Festival

The African World Festival is a cultural festival held annually on the third weekend of August in Detroit, Michigan. Sponsored by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, the African World Festival includes entertainment, arts, education, and cultural exhibits. Traditional African dancers and drummers perform, and musicians entertain audiences with various styles of African-influenced music. The African Family Village offers arts, crafts, games, spoken word performances, and music for families with children. More… Discuss

just a thought: Robin Williams

“Robin Williams was one of the people who actively fought for what he believed in (with the vast majority of people), and had the courage to make politicians to see their real reflection in the mirror of history…”

memento: Robin Williams “Good Morning Vietnam”

FROM:

  BadfishKoo
Good Morning Vietnam-Best Scenes

Robin Williams Walk of Fame (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Related articles

• Robin Williams dead: Celebrities, athletes turn to Twitter to mourn
• Robin Williams’ Best Movie Scenes
• Robin Williams: Goodbye Vietnam

JOHN BARRY: “GIVE ME A SMILE”: make music part of your life series

FROM:
    John Dunlea

JOHN BARRY:   “GIVE ME A SMILE”
(A tribute to the musical genius of John Barry)

Buy “Barry: Give me a smile – Give me a smile” on

Google Play, iTunes, AmazonMP3,

• Artist
  English Chamber Orchestra

Ovidiu BADILA @ PAGANINI/BADILA ‘Moses’ Fantasy – live 2000

[youtube.com/watch?v=7Z2GJmTVDn0]

Niccolò PAGANINI: Variations on G string, “Moses Fantasy”, from Rossini’s ‘Mosé in Egitto’ (arr. Badila) [6’47”]
(6:57 applause; Ovidiu Badila jokes and speaks about his Rossini’s paraphrase)
Ovidiu BADILA, doublebass – unknown, piano
(Live, 26 Nov.2000 – Brechemin Auditorium, UW School of Music, Seattle)
________________________________________­
Ovidiu Badila – The Memorial Recordings
2CDs Live: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…
SUPPORT ARTISTS, BY BUYING ORIGINAL CDs
________________________________________­__________
complete Ovidiu Badila recordings: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…

ARTICLE: GEISHA: “ART PERSON”

Geisha: “Art Person”

A geisha is a traditional Japanese artist-entertainer skilled at conversation, singing, and dancing. The geisha system likely originated in the 17th century to provide a class of well-trained entertainers separate from courtesans and prostitutes. Even though geisha are usually women, the first ones were actually men. The numbers of geisha have declined from some 80,000 in the 1920s to a few thousand today. Why did geisha often paint their teeth black as part of their formal make-up? More… Discuss

Related articles

• Comfronting the Geisha Stereotype
• Memoirs of a Geisha (Movie review)
• GEISHA or SHIRABYOSHI? WEDDING RING or PAINTED TEETH?
• Geisha Code of Silence
• Memories of the 1950s geisha: Stunning photos celebrate how the ancient oriental art of the hostess found its place in modern Japan

 

Fabulous Composers/Compositions: Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks, Overture.

A spectacular fireworks display set to the ever so apropos Handel: Music for the Royal fireworks. Album details can be found here;http://musicalconcepts.net//component…

• Buy “Music for the Royal Fireworks” on
  

  Google Play, Amazon, MP3, eMusic

• Artist
  Minnesota Orchestra, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski

Related articles

• George Frideric Handel
• Handel research database

Word: NATTER

natter 

Definition:	(verb) Talk socially without exchanging too much information.
Synonyms:	chew the fat, chitchat, claver, confab, chat, jaw, shoot the breeze, confabulate, gossip, chaffer, chatter, visit
Usage:	My teenage daughter can natter on the phone for hours.Discuss.

 

Henryk Wieniawski Scherzo Tarantelle Op. 16 Igor Oistrakh – violin, Inna Kallegorskaya – piano

… from CD album attached to a book “Henryk Wieniawski. Klasyka na CD” [Henryk Wieniawski. Classics on CD]. Recorded in 1952 by Radio Merkury and published by Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society in 2001. 

Igor Oistrakh – violin
[1st Prize Winner at 2nd International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition, 
1952]
Inna Kallegorskaya – piano

______________________________________
Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society
http://www.wieniawski.com
Towarzystwo Muzyczne im. Henryka Wieniawskiego
http://www.wieniawski.pl

 

Quotation: John Filson about felicity

Felicity, the companion of content, is rather found in our own breasts than in the enjoyment of external things; And I firmly believe it requires but a little philosophy to make a man happy in whatsoever state he is. This consists in a full resignation to the will of Providence.

John Filson (1747-1788)

Mozart – Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K. 216

The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775. Mozart was only 19 at the time. The piece is in three movements:
1. Allegro
2. Adagio
and 3. Rondeau, Allegro.
The Allegro is in sonata form, opening with a brilliant G major theme, played by the orchestra. The main theme is a bright and happy discussion between the solo violin and the accompanist, followed by a modulation to the dominant D major, then its parallel key D minor. It experiments in other keys but does not settle and eventually heads back to the tonic, G major, in the recapitulation with the help of the cadenza.

L. Boccherini: Guitar-Quintet No. 1, I. Allegro moderato – “Boccherini Ensemble”

Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805)

Guitar-Quintet No. 1 in D-Minor (G. 445)
I. Allegro moderato

Boccherini Ensemble:
Gerald Smrzek (Austria) – Guitar, 
Valbona Naku (Albania) – Violin, 
Armando Toledo (Cuba) – Violin, 
Lina Jihye Kim (Korea) – Viola, 
M. d. G. (Italy) – Violoncello
[June 25, 2010 – Salvatorsaal (Vienna/Austria)]

 

MUSICIANS JUDGED BY THEIR PERFORMANCES, BUT NOT AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT

In the classical music world, sound is considered the most important element of a musical performance, yet it appears that competition judges are actually most heavily influenced by how performers look, their stage presence, passion, uniqueness, and creativity. More than 1,000 people ranging from musical novices to professional musicians were asked to identify the top three finalists from 10 international classical music competitions using audio, video, or silent video samples from those competitions. The only participants whose accuracy was above chance levels were those assigned the silent videos. More… Discuss

 

ANTONIN DVORÁK – SINFONIE NO. 8 IN G-DUR OP. 88 – WIENER PHILHARMONIKER – HERBERT VON KARAJAN

I. Allegro con brio – [0:06]
II. Adagio – [9:57]
III. Allegretto grazioso, molto vivace – [21:28]
IV. Allegro ma non troppo – [27:05]
Wiener Philharmoniker – 
Herbert von Karajan, Leitung –
Großer Musikvereinssaal Wien –
Januar/Februar 1985

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

Symphony No. 8
by Antonín Dvořák
Title page of the autograph score
Key	G major
Catalogue	Op. 88 B. 163
Style	Romantic
Composed	26 August 1889 – 8 November 1889 –Vysoká u Příbramě
Dedication	Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts
Published	1890
Movements	4
Premiere
Date	2 February 1890
Location	Prague
Conductor	Antonín Dvořák
Performers	Orchestra of the National Theatre

The Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, B. 163, is a symphony by Antonín Dvořák, composed in 1889 at Vysoká u Příbramě, Bohemia, on the occasion of his election to the Bohemian Academy of Science, Literature and Arts.

Today’s Birthday: MAURICE CHEVALIER (1888)

Maurice Chevalier (1888)

Chevalier was a French actor, singer, and vaudeville entertainer known for his trademark tuxedo and straw hat. While a prisoner of war during World War I, Chevalier studied English. After the war, he began acting in the US, where he appeared in movies that helped establish the musical as a film genre. Though he put on a heavy French accent while performing in English, he actually spoke the language quite fluently with only a subtle accent. Why did his popularity dwindle during World War II? More…Discuss

 

Beethoven – The Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Op 43 – Barbirolli

Ludwig van Beethoven
The Creatures of Prometheus Overture, Op 43
Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, Op 43

Hallé Orchestra
Sir John Barbirolli, conductor

Live recording, April 1969

Saint-Saëns: Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 18 in F major – II. Andante

Saint-Saëns was a romantic French composer. The music of video is the second movement of the Opus 18, played for Florestan Trio and was written in 1863.

 

F.MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY- PIANO QUARTET in F minor Op.2- Adagio

Please watch in (1080) HD !
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847 ) Piano Quartet in F minor op.2 – Adagio.
The Schubert Ensemble of London:
William Howard : Piano .
Simon Blendis : Violin.
Douglas Paterson : Viola.
Jane Salmon : Cello.
Recording 1998, St,George”s Brandon Hill, Bristol.
———————————-
Photography / Artwork and Video :
PETER SCHNEIDER.
2012 .

 

JSO Hochtaunus plays: Amerikanische Suite Op. 98 (Antonin Dvorak) (American Suite) (I love the bird singin gin the trees, it add so much to the music!)

‘Amerikanische Suite Op. 98 (Antonin Dvorak)’ (American Suite)
Open-Air performance -Session 2013- of the’Jugend-Sinfonie-Orchester Hochtaunus’ ( Youth Symphony Orchestra ‘Hochtaunus’).
http://www.jso-jc-hochtaunus.de/
Location: Open-Air Museum ‘Hessenpark‘ , Neu-Anspach
http://www.hessenpark.de/
05 July 2013
Director: Lars Keitel http://www.lars-keitel.de/

 

André Rieu: Gold and Silver Waltz by Franz Lehár

Gold and Silver Waltz Op. 79 played by André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.

Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Komárno, Slovakia), the eldest son of a bandmaster in the Infantry Regiment No. 50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army.

Franz studied violin and composition at the Prague Conservatory, where his violin teacher was Antonín Bennewitz, but was advised by Antonín Dvořák to focus on composing music. 

After graduation in 1899 he joined his father’s band in Vienna, as assistant bandmaster. In 1902 he became conductor at the historic Vienna Theater an der Wien, where his first opera Wiener Frauen was performed in November of that year.

He is most famous for his operettas — the most successful of which is The Merry Widow (Die lustige Witwe) — but he also wrote sonatas, symphonic poems, marches, and a number of waltzes (the most popular being Gold und Silber, composed for Princess Pauline von Metternich‘s “Gold and Silver” Ball, January 1902), some of which were drawn from his famous operettas. 

Individual songs from some of the operettas have become standards, notably “Vilja” from The Merry Widow and “You Are My Heart’s Delight” (“Dein ist mein ganzes Herz“) from The Land of Smiles (Das Land des Lächelns).

 

Edvard Grieg – Lyric Suite / Suite Lyrique

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), Norge

Lyric Suite, Op. 54

– Shepherd Boy
– Bell-Ringing
– Norwegian March
– Notturno
– March of the Trolls

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Neeme Järvi

 

Frederic Chopin – Variations on a Theme by Rossini – Flute & Piano

Flutist Jonathan Brahms and pianist Kenneth Gartner perform Chopin’s Variations on a Theme of Rossini, opus posthumous, at The Kosciusko Foundation in New York City on February 18, 1989. The theme is from “La Cenerentola” (Cinderella).

Tema: Andantino
Variation 1: Allegretto
Variation 2: Andante
Variation 3: Allegretto 
Variation 4: Allegro assai

 

Slavonic Dance No. 2, Op. 46 Antonin Dvorak (and the Lesser Traveled Road…A perfect marriage!)

“Lesser Traveled Road’-oil painting (my Art Collection)

This song is performed by the “Berlin Festival Orchestra”, and Composed by Antonin Dvorak. He was a Czech composer of Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. His works include operas, symphonic, choral and chamber music. His best-known works include his New World Symphony, the Slavonic Dances, “American” String Quartet, and Cello Concerto in B minor.

Dvorak was commissioned by the publisher Simrock to compose a sequel to the Brahms “Hungarian Dances“, since that collection had put a considerable chunk of change into his pocket, and he relished the idea of repeating the pleasurable experience with the less expensive composer.

 

Soggy Bottom Boys- I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow

Soggy Bottom Boys- I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow

 

The Elegance of Pachelbel-Serenade~~~~~~~TGIF FRIENDS!~~~~~~~

Paul Dukas : The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Paul Dukas : The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Yutaka Sado Conducts 
World Philharmonic Orchestra
( Live recording )

Antonio Vivaldi – Mandolin Concerti

Ugo Orlandi, Dorina Frati; Claudio Scimone: I Solisti Veneti

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

http://playingforchange.com – From the award-winning documentary, “Playing For Change: Peace Through Music“, comes the first of many “songs around the world” being released independently. Featured is a cover of the Ben E. King classic by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe. 
Order the CD/DVD Playing For Change “Songs Around The World” now at http://playingforchange.spinshop.com/

Order the “Stand By Me,” “Don’t Worry,” “One Love,” and “War/No More Trouble” videos and the new Songs Around The World album now at http://playingforchange.spinshop.com/

Sign up at http://playingforchange.com for updates and exclusive content. You can also buy cool stuff in our new online store!

Join the movement to help inspire people from around the world to come together through music.

 

Philip Glass – The Grid …..Playing at Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles on Oct 12, 2013….

Composer: Philip Glass
Album: Koyaanisqatsi
Track: The Grid

Playing at Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles on Oct 12, 2013

Philip Glass – The Light (1987)

Written in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Michelson-Morley experiment on the properties of light, this is the first work for full symphony orchestra to be composed by the immortal Philip Glass.

BERLIOZ – Prière du matin (Alphonse de Lamartine) – duo lyrique Laplante-Duval

Enregistré en 1998 – Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur à Québec – France Duval, mezzo-soprano et Bruno Laplante, baryton – info@laplanteduval.com – http://www.laplanteduval.com

Joseph Haydn – Missa brevis, Hob. XXII:1

Stuttgart Chamber Choir. Wurttemberg Chamber Orechestra Heilbronn, Frieder Bernius.

Robert Schumann – KINDERSZENEN Op.15, by Vadim Chaimovich

Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)

Kinderszenen Op. 15
(“Scenes from Childhood”)

01. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Of Foreign Lands and Peoples G major)
02. Kuriose Geschichte (A Curious Story D major)
03. Hasche-Mann (Blind Man’s Bluff B minor)
04. Bittendes Kind (Pleading Child D major)
05. Glückes genug (Happy Enough D major)
06. Wichtige Begebenheit (An Important Event A major)
07. Träumerei (Dreaming F major)
08. Am Kamin (At the Fireside F major)
09. Ritter vom Steckenpferd (Knight of the Hobbyhorse C major)
10. Fast zu ernst (Almost Too Serious G-sharp minor)
11. Fürchtenmachen (Frightening E minor)
12. Kind im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep E minor)
13. Der Dichter spricht (The Poet Speaks G major)

Vadim Chaimovich, piano
Live recording at the Eichhofen Castle (Bavaria/Germany)