Thanks to Randy for alerting me to this NPR segment of music by composers who immigrated to America after he read my blog entry: #4 and #6 are Stravinsky’s version of the Star Spangled Banner. The first (#4) is the orchestral arrangement, the second (#6) the choral. Randy suggests that the version on the video [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Composers category.
John Williams
(The composer, not the guitar player.) “You have a good day, you have a bad day, next week you look at what you wrote last week and it’s rubbish and you throw it out,’’ says Williams, who is the picture of refinement in a dark jacket, black knit shirt, and gray trousers, with a neatly [...]
Arvo Pärt
While Pärt might look holy and reserved, he’s actually full of mischievous humour. He talked of a crazy “happening” in the Sixties when he dressed up as a doctor with a surgical mask over his face to perform some operation on a violin which unintentionally ended up in flames. He became branded as the man [...]
Jennifer Higdon
Composer Jennifer Higdon is on a roll. Her new Piano Concerto was premiered last month by Yuja Wang and the National Symphony Orchestra. Her Percussion Concerto is up for a Grammy Award. She’s writing a concerto for the new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird to be premiered in June with the Atlanta Symphony, and she’s working [...]
Croatia’s New President …
… is also a composer. I read about it here. Have we had any US presidents who were composers as well? Hmm. I’m assuming this must be one of his works, but I don’t know how common the name “Ivo Josipovic” is … maybe I’m wrong? Let me know if I am, please!
More on Alex Prior
Do you think Classical music is broadly accessible today? And if not what would you do to encourage more people to listen, watch, and get involved in it and understand it better? I think it’s not classical music, but its image which drives people away, particularly young people. What people need to understand is that [...]
Man, I’m feeling VERY old!
Seattle Symphony is pleased to welcome 17-year-old conductor Alexander Prior to an unprecedented Chairman’s Fellow position, Assistant to the Guest Conductors. And if you think maybe he doesn’t know what he’s doing, check out the video! (To add insult to injury, check out the young soloists too): Here’s another video of the young conductor: Oh, [...]
Orchestraless Opera?
Q: Is there a next opera in the works? A: At the moment, no. I have a really interesting idea, which I’m not ready to talk about: a dramatic work, but with only voices and no orchestra. The above is from a short interview with composer John Adams. RTWT I may have mentioned this before, [...]
Music & Dance
So often dance seems to rely on music. Duh. But it’s interesting to see this one video that uses no music at all … … and I think a lot of women can relate to the “huge day” thing. I also have “ugly days” and “pretty days” and it is fully in my head, I’m [...]
MQOD
I think the sound is a very interesting phenomenon … why the people like and are so influenced with music. They don’t know how strong the music influences us, good and bad … you can kill people with sound. And if you can kill, then you can — maybe there is also the sound which [...]