OMG

I just had one of those incredible music moments tonight. Where I hear a new song and immediately have to run home and get my hands on it. All I heard was the guitar intro in Taylor's car when he dropped John and I off from a night at the coffeeshop.

Luckily, Taylor has satellite radio. So it was clearly displayed on his little device: Julian Casablancas. Tourist.

!!!

I think I downloaded it for the intro. It's a five minute song. But I ended up loving the song (though I do keep listening to the beginning over and over again). I am happy because I haven't had this happen in a while. This total WHAT IS THIS SONG? sort of giddy excitement. It is nice.

♥

Cute lyrics:

I wish that clouds could hold me up
like I thought as a child, growing up
I wish I could sound
soothing as the rainfall
but i am only a drop from the storm

Feel like a tourist out in the country
Once this whole world was all countryside
Feel like a tourist in the big city
soon I will simply evaporate

the streams up north
the drums down south
they take across afghanistan
a long time ago
you're shuffling your feet into the next dimension
soon skyscrapers will be everywhere

I feel like a tourist lost in the suburbs
soon our whole world will be urban sprawl
feel like a lover out on the ocean
feel like a teardrop streaming off your chin

some will bet against you
try even to prevent you
but not many can stop you man
if you got a perfect plan

can they possibly try
demand to know why
they would bow to you
in this sad a thousand generations

feel like a tourist out in the desert
somehow it feels like the devil's breath
feel like a tourist out in this swampland
this world is just of water and land

everywhere I go I'm a tourist
but if you stay with me I'll always be at home

Piano Stairs!

I was wary of this website link initially-it was sponsored by a car company (Volkswagen). The entire website is about exploring whether making mundane activities fun can change human behavior. One example was adding Mario sound effects to a hand sanitizer dispenser in a college dining hall. Seven times as many people used the dispenser with the fun new noises!

The example that really caught my attention, however, was the piano stairs. In a train station, they took video of how many people chose the escalator over the regular stairs. Overnight, the team installed sensors in all the stairs and white and black coverings that looked like piano keys. 66% more people chose the stairs when they had the piano sounds!

...wouldn't you?

The only downside? The black keys weren't independent notes. You can see several people throughout the video trying to add a little chromatic spice to their stepping. Perhaps piano stairs 2.0 can include all the black keys! (no, not The Black Keys)

Unforgettable Etta James

For all of my love of vintage music (swing in particular), I can't believe I had never stumbled across this gem of a song by Etta James: Something's Got A Hold on Me. I found it on a Canadian wedding blog, of all places. I found the blog linked from a pretty picture on another blog and suddenly this song was blasting at me. I found it on iTunes under the Chess Blues box set.

The first time I heard it I had one reaction: DAMN. Her voice is absolutely perfect on this track. I love every note she sings. Really, the only other Etta James I was incredibly familiar with was At Last. Which is a good song but has never been one of my absolute favorites. I knew I loved her voice but I never had many examples.

I also found this clip from 1962 where she makes the intro even more amazing. Plus, she has the most perfect eyeliner ever. I think the up-tempo section loses a little something without the backup singers on this one, but the intro is so impressive it makes up for it.

Love Me Tender

To make it up to Mary, I have to post this as apology :D


Love me Tender is one of the prettiest love songs ever written. And nobody can match the original. However, notice the relative lack of his ultra-vibrato in this performance.

Plus, if Terry Moore is going to not only use the lyrics in an issue of Strangers in Paradise, but name an entire trade paperback "Love me Tender" then it automatically wins me over.

Love me tender,
Love me sweet,
Never let me go.
You have made my life complete,
And I love you so.

Love me tender,
Love me true,
All my dreams fulfilled.
For my darlin I love you,
And I always will.

Love me tender,
Love me long,
Take me to your heart.
For it's there that I belong,
And well never part.

Love me tender,
Love me dear,
Tell me you are mine.
Ill be yours through all the years,
Till the end of time.

(when at last my dreams come true
Darling this I know
Happiness will follow you
Everywhere you go).

Blue Christmas

I have been having a really tough time with a particular Christmas song. I've been working hard at compiling a bunch of new wintery music via iTunes for various mixes and holiday background cheer, but I have always had a hard time with Blue Christmas.

You know, the one that Elvis is famous for.

I have never enjoyed listening to Elvis. I think he's sort of ridiculous. I understand that he's a pop icon. I understand how he changed how white people performed rock and roll. I understand that when he first hit the scene, he was incredibly controversial and badass with his swinging hips.

My issue with Elvis? His vocal styling. I've just always had a hard time with his vibrato. The thing is? The songs he did were all awesome songs. Love me tender, Let me be your teddy bear...and Blue Christmas. The thing is, I can't find a cover of the original that I remotely like. I love the melody of Blue Christmas, the lyrics, the entire sentiment of the song.

But my options are unctuous lounge versions (Harry Connick Jr.), country (usually too close to Elvis in style), or versions so slowed down or straight-laced that they don't interest me.

ANGST. I just want to find a version of this song that I can love. Someday, somebody is going to make a version of this song that I like.

Strange Realization

Sometimes you play a piece and you're so in the notes you miss certain fundamental things until you take a listen to a recording.

Take for example the Bartok Rumanian dances. The third movement, when not stumbled through blindly (it's entirely in false harmonics), does not even sound like a violin. The recording I have (Marc Kaplan and Bruno Canino) really highlights this for me. The movement has such a ghostly, hollow sound. In stepping away from my instrument I am always struck by it.

Examples:
1:48 in this video
2:14 in this video (Hilary Hahn!)

Ice, Ice, Baby

I saw this post and couldn't believe my eyes-ice records! They whole process starts with taking a mold of a real record, then making these delicate, incredible, working, frozen copies!

The actual sound? I think they have quite a bit more clicks and pops than what John and I tend to have in our collection, but, they are made out of ice.

I love this concept. It's the closest thing a recorded medium can come to a live performance. It's memorable, fleeting, and you absolutely have to live in the moment to appreciate it. You can't walk about the other rooms of the house while this is on. It is a ludicrous commodity, to be sure, but a fascinating statement that takes music out of the shopping mall, car radios, Muzak'd elevators, and MP3 players and places it directly in front of us.

I have an iPod now, but I rarely use it in transit. I see so many people wandering like lithe ghosts throughout their day. Disconnected from the sights and sounds around them on their morning commute or on the street at lunchtime. Perhaps as a musician, I can't relegate music to the background. I'm either listening completely or not at all. I have a hard time having that sort of accompaniment without getting sucked into the experience completely.

The icy records came at the right time; after the longest, fairest autumn in years, winter has arrived with its shatteringly cold winds. Snow finally stuck to the ground yesterday, a light dusting of white. I am remembering what it is to be truly bundled up to go outside. It's the perfect time of year for baking, twinkle lights, and big band music on the record player. Cheers! I hope you're all having a fabulous holiday season thus far.

RJD2+Dancing on Crutches=Awesome

John showed me this video, for RJD2's Work it Out. It has some of the coolest dancing I've seen in a while. Plus, I love RJD2 (particularly Ghostwriter).

Work it out is not to be confused with Walk it out, which is apparently being used on top of ridiculous children's tv shows these days: Exhibit A. There were also ones with Teletubbies, but this was the most disturbing/hilarious.

At 5:00pm tomorrow, I am free! My paper is almost done (just a few more edits and proofreading and making sure everything is in Chicago format).

See you tomorrow!

Nature-y Titles

After my big papers are in (Tuesday) I can get back to blogging about new things! In the meantime, here's some rediscovered favorites that I recommend.


Above the Treetops (Pat Metheny)
This one will give you chills. I pretty much guarantee it. Metheny is an incredible genre-crossing jazz guitarist, and this Secret Story album is a great example.  He incorporates world music into his playing. This is the first track on the album, and it opens with Cambodian children singing a traditional song called "The Buong Song". Metheny arranges the chant simply, with a minimal string accompaniment. He only joins the singing children midway through on guitar. The song has such an ethereal, powerful effect.

This is such a treasure. I discovered it in my jazz history class with Paul Ferguson, and it really moved me. I hadn't listened to it in a while, but the other day my (sorority) little sis (who is now taking the same class) posted this video to Facebook. It's so striking.


By the Sea (Bobby McFerrin)
The second song I have to share is much less weighty. It will put an instant smile on your face. Again, I just about guarantee smiles. It's completely, infectiously happy.

I haven't really blogged about it, but I completely adore Bobby McFerrin. I can literally fall into youtube vortexes where I click on every video that pops up by him. I'll watch the same video again as soon as it ends. It's kind of sad. But seriously, McFerrin could sing friggin' Twinkle and I would be captivated. I just want to take a vacation in his brain and see what goes on in there.

And of course, I can't listen to one of his songs without immediately clicking on six more, so here's two more that make me practically giddy when I listen to them:

Drive
Air
My Favorite Things
I've Got a Feeling

Have a happy weekend (if those videos don't get your weekend off to an amazing start I don't know what will)!

My opera singer BFF Alana is coming and I am so excited for our shenanegans I can barely stand it! After next Tuesday, get ready for some CRAZY BLOG SESSIONS.

Another Great Song

Seriously. GO LISTEN TO THIS SONG RIGHT NOW. This makes me happy in a way that only epic Finnish speed metal can.

New Favorite Song

The new favorite song is Flugufrelsarinn by Sigur Rós off their album Ágætis Byrjun. It has such an incredible vibe to it. It has such an expansive, thoughtful sound. It's a song I can listen to and be alone with.

I don't have much else to say about this one. I was trying to get through the entire Ágætis Byrjun album, but this song stopped me dead in my tracks. Go take a listen!

Posting will increase in frequency once I get through my jury and finish my 10 page paper for my seminar. I promise. I've been doing lots of listening and I'm excited to write about all of it-once this week is over.

PS The White Stripes...I love you

When I solicited music video advice, Mary gave me some great ideas...I watched all of them. The White Stripes lego one was never one of my faves, actually. But it put me in mind of another White Stripes Video which I think is one of the most clever things I've ever seen released:


The Hardest Button to Button

I had forgotten this song for a long time until I remembered the lyric that was lovingly scrawled on the white toe of my red converse chuck-taylors in sharpie:

"I had opinions that didn't matter

I had a brain that felt like pancake batter"

Yay adolescence! 

Recital Things

So my teacher is giving me free reign over my graduate recital to choose the repertoire...so I've been listening to a lot of violin repertoire as a result. Molly suggested I create a "wishlist" of pieces I've always wanted to work on and we'll look for something cohesive from there.

So I started thinking...what are my dream pieces (excluding concerti...while they're nice and all, we're looking to go for a more intimate genre...chamber music, sonatas, showpieces, etc).

Here's what I have so far (this list will constantly be updated):

~Tabula Rasa (Arvo Part) [Link to the second movement, Silentium...it's a weird video, though]
~Chaconne from the d minor partita (J.S. Bach) [Link to Hilary Hahn's version, or at least part of it]

Also...can I please perform my entire recital in this exact outfit?

~The Rosary Sonatas (Heinrich Ignatz Franz von Biber)...still trying to decide on my favorites. They might be an interesting replacement for the Bach chaconne, which is probably performed all the time by grad students on recitals...
~Pining for Betsy (Paul Schoenfield) I just heard this piece last week and I love how it integrates blues
~The 3 Gershwin piano preludes arranged for violin and piano [1 2 3, all by Heifetz]

Hey, music people? Blog followers (all 2 of you)? Ideas?

Bernstein: Piano Trio

I went to the library on Sunday. It was liberating. I picked up things at random, Biber and Adams and Gregorian chant. I was like a child in a frikkin' candy shop. I haven't felt that way in some time, just blindly grabbing at music. I think I obtained 8 or 9 cds. I'm slowly working my way through them. But I'm not aiming for quantity. Without any time limits, restrictions, quotas of listening to attain, I want to take my time with the music.

One of the cds I picked up was the Ahn Trio. They are a group of three Julliard-trained sisters with a passion for twentieth century music. Many of the pieces on the cd were commissioned for the trio. Trio music is not quite as heralded as the string quartet. The string quartet is the gold standard of chamber music, almost the litmus test of contrapuntal writing. Earlier composers saw the string quartet as a necessary hurdle, a genre to master before attempting a symphony. I can see that. If you told me to write a symphony now, I would choke. I think you have to learn how to create dialogue work up to it. However, for some reason, the interaction between four strings has been more compelling for many composers. My theory is that this is possibly due to temperament issues; you add a piano in and the strings can't even come close to just tuning.

Digression: Pianos are out of tune. Basically, in acoustical physics there's these Pythagorean relationships between intervals. If you've ever seen Donald in Mathmagic Land you'll know about this. The best example is the string. He plucks it then shows if you divide it exactly in half and press it down and pluck it again, it's the same note an octave higher. So all the other intervals between notes have these various proportions. HOWEVER, when you get to actually putting those on an instrument, there's an issue. If you tune all the fifths perfectly, by the time you get to the octave, it's out of tune. There's a small discrepancy. So all these tuning systems were invented to "temper" the intervals. Basically, you decide that it's ok to have one thing sound a little out of tune to preserve the other intervals. So there's all these systems.

The main one used today is called equal temperament, where you divide that octave discrepancy between all twelve notes of the octave equally. Thus, everything is out of tune. But we're used to hearing it that way, so it doesn't sound out of tune. But on a violin, you tune to perfect fifths, and generally, you are taught to hear chordal intervals as accurately as possible. So a violinist or cellist or violist has the ability to put their fingers anywhere, thus we can actually sort of avoid the whole temperament issue (assuming we have the training to really hear notes "in tune"). The problem is, you add a piano and you might be "out of tune" with it. This might be one reason why it was more popular for composers to write all-string groups. But I'm not an expert on temperament. This is just what I was able to pick up through four years at a college where they are into early music and like to utilize alternate temperaments. End of digression.

The first thing I listened to on the album was Leonard Bernstein's Piano Trio. It has a lovely questioning quality in the opening. Bernstein is one of the most fascinating men of the twentieth century. I always think of the quote from Breakfast at Tiffany's where she's trying to decide on her absolute idea man and she says "like Albert Schweitzer or Leonard Bernstein." Pretty sweet shout out. Seriously though, he was such a brilliant man. I've seen old recordings of him giving concert lectures and he just has this amazing way of speaking about music.

Bernstein wrote this piece (according to the cd liner notes) in 1937 as a third year student at Harvard. He was nineteen. The second movement in particular shows a synthesis with jazz writing. It's very smoothly integrated; at such a young age, this jazzy second movement is completely sophisticated, seamless. The liner notes had a comment from the producer of the album: "I somehow imagine the mature Bernstein might not have been too unhappy looking back on this colorful music of his youth."

The movement that really captured my heart was the third. The piece feels like three distinct movements in itself; Largo, Allegro Vivo E Molto Ritmico. Each section has its own character. The first has a sort of open-ended, questioning quality that echoes the tone of the first movement. It has this ebb and flow, swell and recession. Then the first idea dies away to one of my favorite themes I've heard ages. The allegro vivo has this incessant energy that keeps building on itself and becoming more urgent. The second theme is something that will stay with me and keep me listening to the piece in the future.

It has a rhythm and lyricism that I think are defining characteristics of Bernstein. Even in West Side Story, there's so much rhythmic complexity with these fantastic melodies. It's an incredibly hard show to pull off.

I hope I can listen to more Trios...I've never had the opportunity to play one, unless you count Corelli Concero Grosso type things. Which I don't, since it's just three soloists with orchestra. Therefore, the trio repertoire is a total gap in my knowledge.

The Ahn Trio's most recent album is called Lullaby for my Favorite Insomniac. I think it may be the next thing I buy on iTunes. The clips I found on youtube were lovely. Their version of My Funny Valentine is exactly how the piece should sound. They don't up the saccharine factor on it, but let the melancholy tinge in the melody come through with a latin-influenced setting. The only video of their version that I found was a live performance, so the sound quality is cloudy, but I think it is a great performance.

The other video worth a listen is the dreamy, expansive Dies Irae. The video is the album version (I love when I can find those online). I think it has a yearning quality that would be right at home in a film score. Listen and see for yourself. These were true gems and I'm glad to have stumbled upon these pieces. This album is definitely on my must-get list!

Samuel Barber Cello Sonata, op. 6

This piece was a "student" composition, completed in 1932 while Barber was in Europe. He was a student at the Curtis Institute, where, interestingly enough, he became BFF with Menotti.

If you're scratching your head going "The only Barber I know in classical music is the one from Seville," I nigh-guarantee you know him. His Adagio for Strings has been used at funerals of famous people (Einstein), to commemorate national tragedies (Sept. 11th), and, most famously, in Platoon. The Adagio for Strings, according to Wikipedia, was voted the "Saddest Classical Piece" ever written, pulling ahead of Purcell's Dido's Lament and the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th Symphony (beating Mahler in the depressing-and-angst-ridden music dept. is no easy feat).

Back to the Cello Sonata. It is in c minor, in three movements, with piano. The piano and cello parts have a broad, compelling depth of sound. An added benefit of writing a cello piece in c minor is the ability to exploit the open C string (the lowest on the cello). As a cellist I would probably really enjoy any opportunity to use the C string.

The first movement has a lovely quality. Even when it is at its most tempestuous, it still has more of a reflective tone in the cello. Longing. Insistently pleading. The second theme is particularly tender and tuneful. I've always thought of c minor as sort of a quietly sad key. It doesn't have the anguish of, say, f minor. Of course this opinion has been shaped by other pieces in c minor, particularly Chopin.

The third movement was what really caught my attention. This is where all of the turbulent emotion went. The movement opens with an awesomely dark piano solo with a left hand in the bottom of the piano that reminded me of the Chopin Revolutionary etude. It had that same energy. The cello joins it and the bottom drops out. I love the change in texture in the piano at the entrance of the cello; it jumps up to a higher register to let the cello take its melody and make an increasingly impassioned statement.

I think the great thing in this movement is Barber's exploration of textures and register, particularly in the piano. There's a cello pizzicato section against a piano-heavy theme. There's a wealth of imitation between the parts. The extremes in register are made apparent in other ways; the opening's extreme low register in the piano draws attention to itself through the incessant rhythm. The cellist uses a variety of articulations to demonstrate register, along with vibrato speed. There seems to be equal weight and dialogue between parts.

Also, the final cadence is really rewarding. It has a loud and clear "THIS PIECE IS OVER" statement with the piano block chords and the cello's low, powerful last note. I love when a piece has a satisfying ending like that.

Amazing Video and Amazing Song

90% of the time, I have no interaction with music videos. I have an ambivalent relationship with the entire medium, for several reasons:

1) I grew up without any form of music television. We didn't have cable until I was in high school. I missed out on my generation's obsession with TRL (Total Request Live). I would have been annoyed at the show anyway; in middle school I was listening to The Mamas and the Papas and The Beatles. I wasn't exactly swooning over N*Sync at that phase.

2) The song usually does not contribute to why I love the video. Case in point: I think these three Ok Go videos are some of the most brilliant concepts I've seen in music television. Do I have their album? No. Although I like "A Million Ways" (from the Backyard video). Treadmills. Wallpaper. Backyard.

3) Most music videos suck. I hate seeing girls in tight outfits shimmying around with cut scenes of the musician or band lipsynching and faking their instruments. It's tired. I never seek out music videos; the only time I see one is when somebody insists.

Enter Taylor, my film major BFF. He found a most excellent, kickass, epic song by Muse, coupled with the most intense, epic, mixed-up video.

Knights of Cydonia is amazing. If you haven't clicked the link already, here's a teaser: It's a spaghetti western. With lasers. And unicorns. And Kung Fu fighting styles. And the band as holograms.

They don't start singing until 2:06 in the video! Holy crap! I haven't heard any album versions, so this could be just music video vamping and cutting. Have you seen Thriller before? They completely rearrange the song so that all the verses are first and the chorus doesn't kick in until Michael is dancing with zombies.

I think my favorite moment is at 1:27 when they just have a huge a close up of a crazed looking bird. It makes me laugh every time.

I also adore the evil cowboy. He has a badass outfit.

The song is very typical Muse; semi-whiny vocals (usually a big turnoff for me), lots of keyboard arpeggios. Thick, layered instrumentation as always. With lyrics like "No one's gonna take me alive/Time has come to make things right/You and I must fight for our rights/You and I must fight to survive," you have to have an epic song, and an equally epic video. I think they delivered.

The best part? The song has the same spaghetti western twang in the guitars that makes the entire video concept work with the song. Instead of a completely random concept, the two work together. That is how you're supposed to make a music video.

Any other freakin' amazing videos I should know about? Let me know!

Riu Riu Chiu

 Image from the youtube video that I thought was cool.

This piece was introduced to me by a dear sorority sister who is majoring in early music. I loved my classes on early music, but I'm not as immersed in it as she is, so I'm glad for the suggestions!

Before I can get into the actual piece, I think it would be helpful to provide the lyrics.

Riu, riu, chiu
La guarda ribera
Dios guarde el lobo
De nuestra cordera.

El lobo rabioso la quiso morder,
Mas Dios poderoso la supo defender;
Quisole hazer que no pudiesse pecar,
Ni aun original esta Virgen no tuviera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

Este qu'es nascido es el gran monarca,
Cristo patriarca de carne vestido;
Hanos redimido con se hazer chiquito,
Aunqu'era infinito, finito se hizera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

Muchas profecias lo han profetizado,
Y aun en nuestros dias lo hemos alcancado.
A Dios humanado vemos en el suelo
Y al hombre nel cielo porqu'er le quisiera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

Yo vi mil Garzones que andavan cantando,
Por aqui bolando, haciendo mil sones,
Diziendo a gascones Gloria sea en el cielo,
Y paz en el suelo qu'es Jesus nascieta.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

Este viene a dar a los muertos vida
Y viene a reparar de todos la caida;
Es la luz del dia aqueste mocuelo;
Este es el cordero que San Juan dixera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

Pues que ya tenemos lo que desseamos,
Todos juntos vamos presentes llevemos;
Todos le daremos nuestra voluntad,
Pues a se igualar con el hombre viniera.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc


And in English:

Riu, riu, chiu (nightingale's sounds)
The river bank protects it,
As God kept the wolf
from our lamb.

The rabid wolf tried to bite her,
But God Almighty knew how to defend her,
He wished to create her impervious to sin,
Nor was this maid to embody original sin.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

The newborn child is the mightiest monarch,
Christ patriarchal invested with flesh.
He made himself small and so redeemed us:
He who was infinite became finite.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

Many prophecies told of his coming,
And now in our days have we seen them fulfilled.
God became man, on earth we behold him,
And see man in heaven because he so willed.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

A thousand singing herons I saw passing,
Flying overhead, sounding a thousand voices,
Exhulting, "Glory be in the heavens, and peace on Earth, for Jesus has been born."
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

He comes to give life to the dead,
He comes to redeem the fall of man;
This child is the light of day,
He is the very lamb Saint John prophecied.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.

Now we have gotten what we were all desiring,
Go we together to bear him gifts:
Let each give his will to the God who was willing
To come down to Earth mans equal to be.
Riu, riu, chiu, etc.


The Villancico was a poetic/musical form popular in Spain from the 15th century on. The form began with secular texts, but as Spain began to colonize Latin America, the Villancico was used for Church services. I haven't done any specific research on this piece, but it was likely performed for Christmas masses or during Advent. The titular sound effects "Riu riu chiu" are onomatopoetic; representing the song of a Nightingale.

In my opinion, a Nightingale sounds more like he is using some sort of Star Trek phaser or laser weapon. Try this video 0:30 in to see what I mean.

I tried out several versions of this piece. Many on youtube are acappella choral groups. There is even one by the Monkees (I'm not even going to link to it to spare you all from the mop top cheesefest). However, the Kalenda Maya is by far my favorite. Listening to it made me smile.

Their balance was wonderful. I saw other versions where male voices took the verses, but Kalenda Maya chose to give the verses to a solo female voice. The accompaniment adds a lot of sass with the insistent drumbeat and finger cymbals (finger cymbals? really?). I heard Chanticleer's version, which was also fabulous, and used a very similar accompaniment pattern.

I liked the open feel of the consonances; most lines ended with open fourths. The soloists' use of vibrato really drew my attention; she used a pointed, short, quick vibrato on particular words (such as tuviera in the first verse).

This was a really unexpected suggestion! I loved it! Anybody want to go Christmas caroling and attempt it? (kidding. sort of.)

Amazing Video

I saw this video today and just loved the concept-a composer was inspired by an image of birds sitting on power lines.

Check out the video here.

Chrysanthemum

My goal is to search out the unfamiliar in music, listen intently, and write about it. Thus, writing up the things I'm playing in orchestra seems a little counter-productive. But, until I can get up to a library to get cds out/collect recommendations from people, I had to start somewhere.

*On that note: On the left sidebar, I have a widget where you can submit listening suggestions to me! Please use it!*

So I started with the most recent piece to tug my heart strings out. Puccini's string quartet, Crisantemi. It was written in 1890 as an elegiac string quartet. The legend goes that Puccini wrote the piece in a single night after the death of a friend.

So why hadn't I heard this lush, mournful, wonderful piece? Well, it's just not that common as string quartet repertoire. There was an arrangement for string orchestra, and it was in this form that I was introduced to the work. So, after the initial sight-reading, I ran to my computer and hit up iTunes for a recording. The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with Sir Neville Marriner has such a dark core. The sound has so much weight and depth. I just adore this recording.

The B section at 2:55 (on the aforementioned recording) is what makes the piece for me. The beginning has a sighing quality and rich chordal voicing between the sections, but there is just something so gripping about the change in texture here. The violas switch to a low sixteenth-note ostinato pattern backed by a steady low pizz in the celli that gives the section a heavy feeling. It creates such plaintive urgency in the violins that is doubled in the second iteration of the theme, when the cello joins the first violins and the ostinato shifts to the second violins.

I'd post a youtube video demonstrating this piece, but I just couldn't find another version with quite the same depth as the St. Martin in the Fields recording.

I have a romantic side to me. I don't mean the color pink and Jane Austen novels; Romanticism with a capitol R. Highly chromatic, tension through dissonance, rich orchestration, sturm und drang. I like dark keys; f minor is a favorite. Because f minor is four flats, string instruments won't play open strings (B flat-E flat-A flat-D flat in the key signature vs. the violin tuning of E, A D, G). This creates a muffled sound which darkens the overall effect. It's a stormy little key. Try Beethoven's string quartet, op. 95. Or Mendelssohn op. 80. You'll see what I mean.

On a related note: I just tried to listen to snippets on iTunes, and in both Mendelssohn and Beethoven, the examples from the first movement were of the major key, contrasting second themes from the sonata form. Does this make any sense? I know that iTunes rarely uses the very opening of a piece in the sample, but I just find it strange, especially in classical music where people tend to recognize the first theme more than the second.

Why Blog?

My continuing mission? To fill in the gaps in my knowledge of repertoire, to discover, to listen, to document, to journal. To boldly go where no one has gone before. Or at least, to get there for myself.

In Music History 303 we had to do listening journals about the new music we encountered. When I was reflecting on what was missing from my life in graduate school, I realized that I have been so wrapped up in technique and practicing that I don't let myself discover, obsess, listen. I became closed off. Bjork gave me good advice: "You have to tightrope walk all the time, to keep yourself open enough to communicate and retreat enough to plant new seeds and grow."

It is utter necessity at this point to find that balance. If I spend my days in a practice room, I will be no better for it. I need to experience music, to let it wash over me. I hope that through my efforts with this blog, I will be able to understand it a little better.

The Coolest Musical Themed Christmas Cards

Didn't you know that it's officially Christmas now? Halloween is over. It's time for those commercials where the Penguins and Polar Bears share Coca-Cola while wearing scarves. It's time for you to start freaking out that there's only 58 shopping days left!



















Anyways, I saw these adorable letterpress cards on Etsy, and I sort of want a giant set of them. Vintage Jukebox holiday cards: Brilliant!

I would send them to everybody I know!

The plan would be to include a copy of my now-annual Christmas mix cd. The cds range from warm and fuzzy (Bing Crosby) to muppets (I hate Christmas by Oscar the Grouch) with every kitschy, fun gem of a song I can find. Any suggestions for this year's mix? What is your favorite cheesy Christmas music?

......I don't have any readers yet. But in the event I get one, leave a comment with your suggestions!




....I knew I shouldn't have brought up Coca-Cola. Now I have that stupid "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony..." in my head.

Musical Pet Peeves: Compilation Cds

I try my hardest not to be a music snob, but certain things just get under my skin (and not in a fun, Cole Porter, "I've got you under my skin/I've got you, deep in the heart of me/So deep in my heart, that you're really a part of me" kind of way).

Cole Porter trying to decide if "I've got you under my skin" sounds creepy

However, one of the biggest peeves of mine: compilation cds of classical music meant to induce a certain mood. "Rachmaninoff for Lovers," "Classical Music for Romantic Reading Evenings" (what does that even mean?!?!?), "Mozart so your baby will get a higher SAT score," "Penderecki for Relaxation" (I'm joking about two of those). Also, an amazon search provided me with about 12 different "relaxation" compilations: Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. Yikes. I hate the stereotype of classical music putting people to sleep. All of the examples on those cds are second movements; slow, lulling, beautiful.

I want to see more interesting collections at the local Barnes & Noble or Borders:

"Even-Numbered Beethoven Symphonies"
"Shostakovich to Contemplate Communism"
"Mozart that hasn't been made into a ringtone"
"Serialism to Sing in the Shower"
"Stravinsky to Riot To"

I'm thinking I should make some of these cds, make professional labels, and leave some in a music store. Guerrilla art! Who's with me?

Lacrimosa

I long for my own musical history. There was a time when I only had a handful of silvery discs to document my musical conquests. I used to lay on my bed in combat boots, staring at the ceiling light, absorbing pure sound through every pore of my body. I used to assimilate the music into my veins until it was as crucial as the blood flowing to my fingertips. I used to know music.

I fear that I have become stagnant. In the notes of a hundred etudes, a dozen concerti, I learned to follow symbols like a map to a musical destination-a key, a melody, a harmonic structure. Bjork said "I really believe in the 12 notes on the piano. It's so magical. You kind of hit note two and you do note nine and note seven three times, and that's a map to a certain emotional location." I have been struggling for control of my technique for so long that I left my passion somewhere behind the curtain of sheet music.

I was a poor tourist to these musical sights; hiding behind a camera to capture the forms without stopping to let it stir my spirit. I lost myself in rhythms and tritones. I sold my soul to the inner demons of accuracy. You would think that after such intense study-after becoming "classically trained" I should understand music better than most.

But this is not a story of defeat, of becoming jaded, disillusioned. I am going to find myself where I have lost myself-in music.

There are holes in my knowledge of repertoire. I plan to fill them. But I need to spread across my interests, explore in any genre of sound. I think the sheer newness and momentum might inject me with new instincts. I think it will make connections between disparate mediums. I think this is my path to my musical salvation.