Happy October!

October 1, 2016 at 5:04 pm

Fall is my favorite time of year. The cooler weather, the colorful leaves, the smell of decomposing leaves (seriously, I like that), and of course, pumpkin spiced everything (not a fan …)

Asa composer, Ottorino Respighi isn’t exactly a one-hit-wonder – instead, more of a three-hit-wonder. He wrote three orchestral suites, all based on Rome – The Pines of Rome, The Fountains of Rome, and Roman Festivals. One of the festivals that he paints with music is called “The Harvest of October.” In it you can hear horn calls, signaling a festive hunt; later, a mandolin plays a folk melody, painting peasants working to bring in the last harvest; the piece ends with the exhausted festival goers slipping off into a lovely, quiet sleep.

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Happy Fall!

September 23, 2016 at 10:26 am

Fall is here – and to celebrate, here is the iconic fall composition, “Autumn” from Vivaldi‘s “Four Seasons“.

Vivaldi wrote 500 concertos, though musicians will say that he actually wrote the same concerto 500 times. Most of these concertos are given really interesting titles – for example, “Violin Concerto in D” or “Violin Concerto in E” or maybe even “Violin Concerto in F.” In a sea of compositions with very similar names, four of his concertos stand out above the rest (not surprisingly) because they bear a title that suggests something extra-musical. The Four Seasons (having nothing to do with Franki Valli) are four Baroque concertos that musically capture the spirit of the respective times of year – Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. This sort of use of extra-musical influences is known as Program Music, and is commonplace nowadays. If a composer today wrote a piece called “A Cold Winter’s Day” or “The Ice Storm”, we wouldn’t think twice about it; in fact, we would probably begin making assumptions as to how the piece would sound, built on the musical ideas handed down through generations of wintery composers. But in 1720, for Vivaldi to write a Concerto that captures the spirit of the harvest AND to title it “Fall” was out of the ordinary.

Actually, there is more to say. Julia Fischer is awesome!

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Working Hard

August 23, 2016 at 12:00 pm

Every profession has easy weeks and hard weeks. For musicians, December is simply exhausting (but also, a big money-maker!) For me, the last week of August means Choir Camp – which means managing 60+ young choristers for a week of music making.

I am beat.

But at the same time, there’s something satisfying about completing hard work. Verdi knew this (he composed a huge amount of opera music), and so did the Gypsies who sang the famous Anvil Chorus:

So, to work now!
—Lift up your hammers!

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