…unlike Wagner, Alkan did not seek to refashion the world through opera; nor, like Berlioz, to dazzle the crowds by putting orchestral music at the service of literary expression; nor even, as with Chopin or Liszt, to extend the field … Continue reading Charles-Valentin Alkan: Souvenirs: Trois Morceaux dans le genre pathétique, op. 15
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
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!
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
performed by the Royal Northern College of Music Wind EnsembleAwesomely cool easy to follow condensed conductor’s score with notes here (PDF)Music You Can Understand: Part 5 https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/k8oRPbjZt4Q&source=uds So this is like…. Different. And also, before you listen to it, in my experience and those of my classmates in high school, this piece is an earworm of the worst kind. In my About Me page, I mentioned band in high school. I never had any formal (or even informal, really) musical training. I remember once when our director told a percussionist to go play a C major chord and then a … Continue reading Percy A. Grainger: Children’s March (or ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’)
Music You Can Understand: Part 4 (I use this title not condescendingly, but to suggest that the featured piece is not one obscured by highbrow classical ideas or too difficult to grasp. It is easy to understand and enjoy.) performed … Continue reading Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
sung by Dietrich Fischer–Dieskau; Gerald Moore, piano Music You Can Understand: Part 3 https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/BR8_n-B8qu0&source=uds This is an actual ‘song,’ in the actual sense of having lyrics, although we could more properly call it by its German name, a Lied (rhymes with ‘need’), plural Lieder (rhymes with feeder). I was preparing for what will now be next week’s post, and it is based on this song, so I thought it only logical to get familiar with this one first. It nearly made me weep. The video above has the German text with English translation, but below is the German text. Ich komme vom Gebirge her, … Continue reading Schubert: Der Wanderer, D. 489
played by Nelson Friere and the Munich Philharmonic under Rudolph Kempe Music You Can Understand: Part 2 This is intense. Also, two videos this week. Watch the top one first (at least the first minute or so), then the second … Continue reading Liszt: Totentanz
performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet Music You Can Understand: Part 1 Eric Satie died 89 years ago this week, and it wasn’t until I saw his name come up on the history post that I actually remembered this guy. He … Continue reading Erik Satie: Gnossiennes
Fugue for Thought 