To continue our discussion of the twelve tone scheme and the Second Viennese School, we’re going to talk today about the method itself. I’m going to be up front with you, though. I’m not a professional musician, I am not … Continue reading Dodecaphony: Part 2
performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under Eugen Jochum, Maurizio Pollini, piano or below, an excellent and entertaining performance with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic from the piano In thinking about piano concertos and standard repertoire in general, it … Continue reading Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in C, op. 15
This is not a piece I’m going to spend lots of time analyzing the history of in preparation for a dissertation on the subject. It was just a passing thought I had based on this week’s music piece for Thursday, and I thought I’d talk about it. It’ll make more sense when you know what that piece is, but for now, it’s at least worth talking about in the context of Mahler.While he seemed to have garnered some praise and recognition in his time for his works, most prominently the eighth symphony, he was known during his lifetime far more … Continue reading The composer and conductor: which comes first?
– a foreword The Artist. Inspiration. Intensity. Devotion. Drama Genius. Talent. Tragedy. Success. Failure. And usually a little bit of crazy. Most of these things come to mind when people think of the typical ‘artist’ in whatever medium, be … Continue reading Hans Rott: The Real Genius?
It looks like the way in is not always from the beginning. This is also the first time I feel comfortable being so…. forwardly critical or (not indifferent but…) puzzled about the works of someone so well known and highly … Continue reading Thoughts on Bruckner: A foreword
This will be a short one, but I was just thinking, as I’m listening to next week’s piece, perhaps how critical (or not) interpretations are. In reading a review of a certain conductor’s traversal of the symphonies of the composer of next week’s piece, I was a bit surprised. If you didn’t know who the conductor was, who the (very famous) orchestra was, or perhaps even which symphony cycle of what composer it was, the review would seem no better than scathing, with a few moments of honest admiration. There was more than one like that of the same recordings. … Continue reading The scope of interpretation
The title of this video really struck my interest. I was envisioning it as something exciting and revelatory, a heretofore undiscovered secret of the music of this great artist. It’s also a TED talk, which means it will be fun … Continue reading Music and Math: The Genius of Beethoven
I tweeted about this a few weeks ago. I decided that for the month of June, I would write SOMETHING on a staff every day. The idea behind it was the idea behind my early attempts at photography (I’m colorblind, so there’s that) : if I take 30 photographs of this one thing/person/place/event, and then another 30 from a different angle, etc., there’s BOUND to be a good (or even usable) one in the bunch. Cast a wide net. Some days I only got two bars of the treble staff on the piano done, and poorly. Other days, I managed … Continue reading Completed: A month of compositional efforts
Fugue for Thought 