Uchida on Beethoven, Schubert and Vienna
This week, as you may have seen from yesterday’s post, is going to be a miniature Beethoven week. Actually, I don’t know what’s miniature about it; Beethoven certainly isn’t, and it’s a full seven-day week like any other. Beethoven week. … Continue reading Uchida on Beethoven, Schubert and Vienna
Concert Review: Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra in Taipei
Once in a while, there’s a thing that you look so forward to that you can’t even concentrate, the day seems to go by slowly, and you cannot wait for this thing you know will be so amazing to arrive. Perhaps it’s a dinner at a fancy restaurant, or a vacation, or some kind of meaningful thing; it’s different for everyone. But then when you get there and it starts happening, it’s more meaningful and powerful and enjoyable and moving than you had thought it could be. Even the highest of expectations were exceeded. Perhaps that sounds corny, but it’s … Continue reading Concert Review: Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra in Taipei
On this day: March, 2015
Our first full-month post. Let’s go! March 1: Births: 1810 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (May have heard of this guy…?) 1896 – Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek pianist, conductor, and composer. Early Mahler advocate 1939 – Leo Brouwer, Cuban guitarist and composer 1958 – Chosei Komatsu, Japanese conductor Deaths: 1620 – Thomas Campion, English poet and composer 1643 – Girolamo Frescobaldi, Italian pianist and composer 1777 – Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer 1882 – Theodor Kullak, German pianist, composer, and educator 1976 – Jean Martinon, French conductor and composer March 2: Births: 1755 – Antoine-Frédéric Gresnick, Belgian composer 1824 – Bedřich Smetana, Czech composer 1900 – Kurt Weill, German-American composer 1905 – Marc Blitzstein, American composer 1912 – Henry Katzman, American pianist, composer, and … Continue reading On this day: March, 2015
Centenniel Music Post: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in Dm, op. 30
performed by the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin under Riccardo Chailly; Martha Argerich, piano //player.vimeo.com/video/63725542 This is intimidating. I guess everything about this piece is except for listening to it, and sometimes even that. There’s so. much. to. say. about this piece that I almost don’t want to try. There are so many theses, recordings, liner notes, program notes, concert talks and everything else about this piece that it would be ludicrous for me to think I have anything else to add but my own opinion and feelings of the piece, so that’s pretty much all I’m going to share, aside from some basics. For the technical bits … Continue reading Centenniel Music Post: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in Dm, op. 30
100 pieces of music and filling in the gaps
This post was going to be some really detailed information about the cadenza for Thursday’s centennial piece, but then I decided I didn’t know enough about it, and that I’d like to leave Thursday’s centennial piece as it is.It was then going to be some reflections on the idea of the centennial itself, and then I thought that’s a bit silly. I’ve already had some “reflect on milestone” posts, and I’m getting the idea I’m the only one reading this thing anyway.Then I thought about not thinking about what it’s going to be about, and here we are.I’ve been doing … Continue reading 100 pieces of music and filling in the gaps
Frank Bridge: piano sonata, H. 160
performed by Ashley Wass (per the YouTube video info) The rest of the first movement (Hexameron has apparently not uploaded the second movement…) The third movement (There was another fantastic performance of this piece in its entirety up on YouTube, … Continue reading Frank Bridge: piano sonata, H. 160
Concert Review: 葉孟儒 2015 Recital
I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as rare, per se, that one sees works of Alexander Scriabin on a recital program. I’d heard his piano works on at least two other occasions before this one, and was excited then, so when I saw the program for this recital months ago with three of Scriabin’s sonatas on the program, I immediately bought a ticket. Andrei Yeh is the same gentleman that so exquisitely played Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Variations back in December with the Taipei Philharmonic. I was blown away by that performance. It was one of those few times when something feels at … Continue reading Concert Review: 葉孟儒 2015 Recital
On this day: Week of February 16, 2015
… and all the rest of February. So it marks actually more than a year now that we’ve been doing these weekly posts, and so I’ve decided that I’ll just be posting them monthly. Here’s how it’ll go. I started on February 11, 2014. I was NOT going to spend my weekend a few weeks ago (1/31) preparing two weeks of this stuff, so starting today (from the first weekly post of last year), they’ll be monthly: on the first day of the month for the entire month, divided up by week. That’s how it’s going to go now. I may change … Continue reading On this day: Week of February 16, 2015
Scriabin piano sonata no. 3 in F#m, op. 23
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy 2nd movement 3rd movement 4th movement This is such an impressive piece to be only an opus no. 23. For whatever reason, in my concerted efforts to come to love Scriabin, I gravitated more immediately to … Continue reading Scriabin piano sonata no. 3 in F#m, op. 23
If a tree falls in the forest…
…. and there isn’t a music critic around to… anyway.I have been in various series of discussions with various series of people in what is essentially a dead-end, highly subjective and rather useless dialogue with a few different people about… “what is art?”The ‘tree in the forest’ thought experiment is just kind of what comes to mind when you (‘you’ as in ‘I’) begin to think about defining something based solely on a person’s or people’s perception of it.I would embed this video in the actual post itself, but it wasn’t what actually started the debate, and it has nothing … Continue reading If a tree falls in the forest…
On this day: week of February 9, 2015
February 9 Births: 1645 – Johann Aegidius Bach, German viola player (d. 1716) 1741 – Henri-Joseph Rigel, German-French composer (d. 1799) 1751 – Antoine Bullant, Czech bassoon player and composer (d. 1821) 1864 – Miina Härma, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941) 1885 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer (d. 1935) 1909 – Harald Genzmer, German composer (d. 2007) Studied with Hindemith Deaths: 1960 – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1877) Will eventually get around to this guy’s works. 2010 – Jacques Hétu, Canadian composer and educator (b. 1938) Studied with Lukas Foss, Dutilleux, and Messiaen February 10 Births: 1696 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (d. 1765) 1935 – Theodore … Continue reading On this day: week of February 9, 2015
Prokofiev piano sonata no. 1 in Fm, op. 1
performed by Yefim Bronfman https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/z2EDk2Zsdik&source=uds It’s funny how life is. I’d planned the writing of this piece at least a month ago as a lead-in to another set of works for piano (the actual lead in was last week’s Satie piece, but this one sets up for what is to come later), and it was for a few reasons that now seem… less important than some others that have since surfaced. This piece is perhaps not as exciting to many as his other, later, more substantial works, but in a lot of (perhaps intentional, contrived ways), may have a lot to say about … Continue reading Prokofiev piano sonata no. 1 in Fm, op. 1
On Talent: Is it Enough?
a discussion with the wonderful Mitsuko Uchida This woman is just kind of a musical goddess. Not only do I love everything I’ve heard her play, from Schubert to Schoenberg, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve ever seen on YouTube of … Continue reading On Talent: Is it Enough?
On this day: Feb 1, 2015
So we’re going to start clean with a new month. February 1: February 1: 1687 – Johann Adam Birkenstock, German violinist and composer (d. 1733) I’ll resist making a joke about shoes. 1690 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1768) 1701 – Johan Agrell, Swedish-German composer (d. 1765) 1836 – Emil Hartmann, Danish composer (d. 1898) 1859 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924) 1907 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian composer (d. 1993) This guy’s given first name is “Mozart” 1952 – Jenő Jandó, Hungarian pianist Deaths: 1743 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (b. 1657) 1949 – Herbert Stothart, American conductor and composer (b. 1885) 2007 – Gian Carlo … Continue reading On this day: Feb 1, 2015
Concert Review: Hilary Hahn Violin Recital in Taipei, January 14, 2015
First, apologies. I had all intentions of posting this like, the day after the recital just to try to get in on the buzz of the Asian leg of the tour. I’m not sure where Ms. Hahn is now, but I’m still in Taipei, since I live here, and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Deeply. I was impressed and surprised and pleased and regretfully also very overwhelmed by the line for autographs. How are these so blurry? The English and Chinese programs A few things that I got to thinking of listening to Ms. Hilary Hahn in performance on Wednesday … Continue reading Concert Review: Hilary Hahn Violin Recital in Taipei, January 14, 2015
Satie: Gymnopédies
performed by Daniel Varsano MYCU: Part 7 mvt 2 here mvt 3 here I’m exhausted. Well, I was when I started writing this as a break from the last few pieces of the German(ic) Symphonies series we did for the last … Continue reading Satie: Gymnopédies
Post number 200!
If you haven’t noticed, I enjoy milestones, even the insignificant ones. We’ve had a few anniversaries here, like the 50th piece I shared, the one-year anniversary (for which was written the About Me post, the one-year-anniversary music post, and the reminiscing post, and we are coming up on the 100th music post, but for now, this is the 200th post in the blog’s history. We’ve had Thoughts posts, resources, the On This Day series, which is soon going to get shaken up a bit, the German(ic) Symphonies Series, which was extremely exciting, as well as concert reviews. There’s also been … Continue reading Post number 200!
Concert Etiquette
This is necessary. as a member of the audience, taken low and against my chest so as not to disturb others As posted last week, I attended a concert a number of months ago (that I just now got around … Continue reading Concert Etiquette
On this day: week of January 26, 2015
You’ll notice that February isn’t included in this week, even though it should go till Sunday. You’ll see what’s up with that on Sunday. January 26 Births: 1595 – Antonio Maria Abbatini, Italian composer (d. 1679) 1708 – William Hayes, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1777) 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967) 1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer (d. 2002) 1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987) 1981 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan violinist, composer, and conductor Deaths: 1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (b. 1732) 1998 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese violinist and educator (b. 1898) January 27 Births: 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791) 1806 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (d. 1826) … Continue reading On this day: week of January 26, 2015
Ravel: Bolero
performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado MYCU: Part 6 In one swift stroke of genius, I wrote a wonderful post about this piece, and then Blogger ate it. I am livid. Thankfully, I have most of it still in mind. Thanks for nothing, technologies. From Wikipedia: Ida Rubinstein, the inspiration behind Boléro. Portrait by Valentin Serov. I had to check with a friend to make sure this wouldn’t sound weird, but there’s basically two things you need to know about this piece, and they are as follows: It’s a fantastic treatise in orchestration It’s like, the sexiest piece of classical … Continue reading Ravel: Bolero
Concert Review: 2014師大音樂系交響樂團公演
or the 2014 concert of the music department of the best music school in Taiwan. I have kind of a tenuous relationship with this university. It’s the one that a lot of foreigners attend to study Chinese when they move here, but their music department is generally regarded as the best in the country. I took piano lessons for a few years with a frighteningly talented and very friendly student at this university, and have been able to meet and stay in touch with a few others; it’s also like a block away from my office and makes me feel … Continue reading Concert Review: 2014師大音樂系交響樂團公演
Fugue for Thought 