Debussy’s beautiful 3:28 for the Tuesday – May 5th

I’m in hot Florida this weekend, so it’s nice listening to this “cool” music.

One journey to classical music

Before Tuesday makes you run, please use 3:28 for this beautiful, somehow hypnotizing and relaxing piece. Claude Debussy’s “Des pas sur la neige” – s’il vous plaît!

More on Debussy in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy

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188 de ani de la premiera Simfoniei a 9-a de Beethoven

188 Year Anniversary of the premiere of Beethoven’s 9th. What a gift from the gods.

I love it all, but the 3rd Movement is exquisite and often overshadowed by the 4th.

Masterwork: Aeolus Quartet Plays Bartók 6

I feel ashamed for not listening to Bartok’s String Quartets until 40 years after a college friend told me about them. It’s shameful because my father was Hungarian and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra and his Roumanian Danses are two of my favorite works.

Here’s #1:

Bartok’s String Quartet #1

Here’s a great post on Bartok.

Our Invisible Cities

Hungarian militiamen parade alongside a German tank in Budapest, 1944. Source: Wikimedia

MASTERWORK: The Aeolus Quartet Performs Bartók’s 6th String Quartet

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center

Quartets by Haydn or Mozart are straightforward affairs.These works can be difficult to play and interpret, but at least know both the composers and the musical tradition that they represent. Move even a bit east of Vienna, though, and the familiar rhythms of the West become choppy and asymmetrical, strange Magyar harmonies matched with even stranger accents and beats.

The Aeolus Quartet (currently in residence at Juilliard) discussed their own struggles with the Hungarian tradition in Bartók’s melancholy Quartet No. 6 this past Thursday at Lincoln Center’s Public Library for the Performing Arts. Inspired by a performance in Cleveland that matched Bartók chamber works with songs by a Hungarian folk ensemble, the…

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A to Z: Z is for Zacara da Teramo

Today is the 26th and final day of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in which I attempted to blog every day (excepting Sundays) throughout the month of April. For this challenge, I curated a collection of “classical” music pieces, which are lesser known or by lesser known composers (to me at least).The last composer in this series is Zacara da Teramo (estimated birth between 1350 & 1360 and death between 1413 & 1416).

Though Antonius Berardi Andree de Teramo is the composer’s Latin name, he was referred to, though not by himself, as “Zacara.” This is kind of sad, considering Zacara means “a small thing of little value,” which was a cruel reference to his small stature. He rose to great heights, however, composing music that was the bridge between Medieval and Renaissance music. He came from Teramo and seems to have composed all his life. In mid-life, he went to Rome where he became a Papal secretary to Pope Boniface IX until 1404. He served the next two Popes, Innocent VII and Gregory XII during the Western Schism. His music shifted around this time and in addition to sacred music, he also wrote secular pieces that were highly satirical.

Another odd fact about him was that he only had a total of 10 digits on his two feet and hands. This is documented in a painting and in certain documents.

Here are two pieces to round out the month. Enjoy.

Ciaramella by Zacara de Teramo

Zachara : Credo Deus Deorum

The composer’s Wikipedia entry: Zacara da Teramo

A to Z: Y is for Polly Young

Today is day 25 of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in which I attempt to blog every day (excepting Sundays) throughout the month of April. For this challenge, I am curating a collection of “classical” music pieces, which are lesser known or by lesser known composers (to me at least).Today’s composer is Polly Young (1749-1799).

Polly Young came from a well-known British musical family and was born in Covent Garden. A prodigy in voice and harpsichord, I guess that would have made her “Young Polly Young.” Sorry.

At the age of 6 she traveled to Ireland with her aunt Cecilia who was married to the composer Thomas Arne, and made her debut singing in an opera, Eliza, by her uncle.

Cecilia Maria Barthélemon – Sonata in E, Op. 1/3

The composer’s Wikipedia entry: Polly Young

A to Z: X is for Spyridon Xyndas

Today is day 24 of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in which I attempt to blog every day (excepting Sundays) throughout the month of April. For this challenge, I am curating a collection of “classical” music pieces, which are lesser known or by lesser known composers (to me at least).Today’s composer is Spyridon Xyndas (1812-1896).

Spyridon Xyndas came from the island of Corfu and after completing his music studies there, he moved to Naples and then Milan where he continued. Returning to Corfu he was one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society of Corfu, where he taught for many years. He composed operas, but only one is extant, the rest of his work purportedly “destroyed during the 1943 Luftwaffe bombing of the Municipal Theatre of Corfu.”

DIMITRI PLATANIAS singing “The poor soul sat sighing” by Spyridon Xyndas

The composer’s Wikipedia entry: Spyridon Xyndas

A to Z: W is for José Silvestre White (Lafitte)

Today is day 23 of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in which I attempt to blog every day (excepting Sundays) throughout the month of April. For this challenge, I am curating a collection of “classical” music pieces, which are lesser known or by lesser known composers (to me at least).Today’s composer is José White (Lafitte) (1836-1913). White hailed from Cuban where he was born to a Spanish father and an Afro-Cuban mother. His father was an amateur violinist who taught to play. Visiting American composer, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, accompanied White on his first public performance–at the age of 18. Gottschalk advocated that the youth study violin further in Paris, and he raised funds for White to do so. He studied at the Paris Conservatory and caught the attention of Rossini.

Afterward he moved to Brazil where he was the head of the Imperial Conservatory of music. He had a rich career and returned to Paris where he lived his final days.

La Bella Cubana ( Edison recording 1924) by José White (Lafitte)

The composer’s Wikipedia entry: José White Lafitte