Wednesday, August 31, 2022

CCP stages 'Special Concert Series' for 2022

THE Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) presents the "Special Concert Series," a series of solo concerts by eminent Filipino musicians on September, October, and November 2022, 7:30 p.m. at the CCP Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (Black Box Theater).


Stefanie Quintin, a soprano with "a voice with remarkable flexibility and a truly commanding musical presence," starts the series off on September 7. She will perform music from the Renaissance to the present day and includes several world premieres in her repertoire.


Among Quintin's many accomplishments is the premier performance of works by such composers as Dr. Ramon Santos, the Philippine National Artist for Music, and the American composer Eli Marshall. She has given solo performances at the AsiaEurope New Music Festival in Vietnam, the Yilan International Arts Festival in Taiwan, the soundSCAPE Festival in Italy, the Baroque Festival in Singapore, and the International Bamboo Organ Festival in the United States (for the Philippines).


Poonin graduated from the UST in 2009 with a Bachelor of Music, Trombone Performance Major. He won first place in the UST solo competition and the National Music Competition for Young Artists Solo Category C.


Finally, guitarist Ivar Fojas will be featured on November 16. Fojas is a Fulbright scholar who, in 2011, earned a doctorate from the University of Arizona's acclaimed Bolton Guitar Studies Program.


Prior to beginning his Ph.D. studies, Fojas was a busy performer who gave solo recitals and was a featured soloist with orchestras such as the Manila Symphony Orchestra and Peace Philharmonic Philippines. He has participated in master workshops given by classical guitar greats.


Beyond simply performing, each artist will share their skills and knowledge with selected participants in Master Classes. For those who want to be part of the Masterclass, call the CCP Artist Training Division at 8832-1125 loc. 1605 or email artist.training@culturalcenter.gov.ph


For more information about the event, follow the official CCP social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Andrea Bocelli, Katherine Jenkins - I Believe

O Mio Babbino Caro

14 Beautiful Female Classical Pianists


14 Beautiful Female Classical Pianists
3,289,476 views  Nov 11, 2017  Links to the videos I used:
14. Lola Astanova: https://youtu.be/FhcidIUkCbk
13. Khatia Buniatishvili: https://youtu.be/SlTTgJau33Q
12. Dora Deliyska: https://youtu.be/JZfYb6n4ieA
11. Hélène Grimaud: https://youtu.be/Ji-a9zE4IE4
10. Anastasia Huppmann: https://youtu.be/Ej8BZa0Q_74
9. Olga Jegunova: https://youtu.be/vp_h649sZ9A
8. Eloïse Bella Kohn: https://youtu.be/UHMoSwsmdq8
7. Irina Lankova: https://youtu.be/wA0Wmnlo_Mk
6. Valentina Lisitsa: https://youtu.be/KMb_TPrqMZI
5. Olga Scheps: https://youtu.be/Kty89WmxHRA
4. Primavera Shima: https://youtu.be/rUm3dsqzXGY
3. Belle Suwanpotipra: https://youtu.be/Q9YXjUyjL00
2. Katharina Treutler: https://youtu.be/ITTbFV0VKww
1. Yuja Wang: https://youtu.be/Nyfe8y0ywAQ

*No copyright infringement intended*
*This video is purely for entertainment purpose*

Monday, August 29, 2022

Strauss ~ The Blue Danube Waltz



Four Seasons ~ Vivaldi - his life and his music


245,146,692 views Jan 31, 2011 Antonio Vivaldi - Four Seasons Budapest Strings Bela Banfalvi, Conductor You can get the exact album I have here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1I2dNNu (affiliate). Here are the times for the specific movements: Spring 0:00 Summer 10:31 Autumn 20:59 Winter 32:48 I hope you love this recording! It is my favorite one I've heard yet. Happy Listening!

Antonio Vivaldi was born 1678 in Venice (the exact date is unknown) and passed away on July 28, 1741 in Vienna/Austria. He was an Italian composer and violinist and became a violinist pupil of the great Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690). In 1703, Vivaldi was ordained as priest and has been nick-named as the "red haired priest" (Il prete rosso). 1716, he became principal of the music school for girls in Venice. He loved to travel extensively and became one of the first composers of his time. He was one of the first composers, using clarinets and composed fantastic chamber music, secular cantatas, church music, oratorio, and operas. Despite tremendous output, he was by no means a conventional composer, and much of instrumental works show a lively and fertile imagination. As with Bach, Vivaldi's music was unfashionable and unpopular or many years; however, since the 1950s, there has been enormous revival of interest in Vivaldi's music especially in Europe, and later followed also in the USA. Especially his cincerts, among which four works for violin, collectively known as "The Four Seasons", have become particularly popular. Appreciating Vivaldi's originality and diversity is to get beyond the form, and to listen to his fresh and melodic writings. Vivaldi invented a a structure for his conciertos that served him very we. No two pieces are exactly the same, and the combination of structural discipline and melody freedom is the hallmark of musical greatness from any period. Vivaldi composed 49 operas, 22 pieces only for the town of Venice. Johann Sebastian Bach admired Vivaldi so much, that he rearranged some compositions of Vivaldi and felt very much inspired for more wonderful compositions. Vivaldi died in Vienna in totally poverty.

Antonio Vivaldi - Seine Musik und sein Leben Vivaldi wurde 1678 in Venedig geboren. Sein Vater war Barbier und spielte im Orchester der Kathedrale von San Marco Violine. Sein Leben lang hatte Vivaldi gesundheitliche Probleme. Er litt an einer chronischen Krankheit, wahrscheinlich Herzschwäche oder einer Form von Asthma. Sein musikalisches Talent trat früh hervor. Schon als Kind sprang er gelegentlich im Orchester von San Marco für seinen Vater ein. Hier geriet er auch in den Zauberbann venezianischer Musik, die ihn später bei seinen eigenen Kompositionen so sehr beeinflussen sollte. Im Alter von 14 Jahren trat Vivaldi in die Priesterlaufbahn ein, für die ihn der Vater bestimmt hatte. Mit 25 wurde er zum Priester geweiht. Zu seinen Hauptpflichten gehörte das Zelebrieren der Messe, wobei er jedesmal fast eine Stunde lang singen musste. Wegen seiner Erkrankung gab er diese Tätigkeit nach einem Jahr wieder auf. Von weitaus größerem Interesse war für ihn seine Tätigkeit als Violin-Lehrer am Ospedale della Pietà in Venedig, in dem verwaiste und unehelich geborene Mädchen erzogen wurden. Vivaldi brachte ihnen das Geigenspiel bei. Er komponierte auch neue Stücke, die die Mädchen einmal die Woche bei ihren Konzerten vortrugen. Wahrscheinlich sicherte ihm seine Priesterwürde diese Tätigkeit, da man von einem Priester erwartete, dass er die Grenzen der Schicklichkeit wahrte. Vivaldi verbrachte 12 glückliche Jahre am Ospedale. Den jungen Mädchen gefiel seine galante, charmante Art, und da von Natur aus extrovertiert, genoss Vivaldi seinerseits die Aufmerksamkeit, die ihm entgegengebracht wurde. Der Spitzname "Roter Priester" passte nicht nur zu seiner Haarfarbe, sondern auch zu seinem sprühenden Temperament. Die Konzerte, bei denen er seine Kompositionen dirigierte, waren musikalische Höhepunkte im venezianischen Kulturleben. Kaum ein Besucher der Stadt ließ sich ein Vivaldi-Konzert entgehen. Während dieser Zeit wurde Vivaldi sich seines steigenden Ansehens bewusst und beschloss, daraus Kapital zu schlagen. Als erstes suchte er sich einen Verleger in Amsterdam, der über bessere Druckmöglichkeiten von Noten verfügte als die Venezianer. Das bedeutete: Er konnte seine Werke besser verkaufen und mehr Geld verdienen. Außerdem begann er, Opern zu schreiben. Seine erste Oper "Ottone in Villa" führte er 1713 auf. Schon bald komponierte er Opern für Theater-Direktoren im ganzen Nordosten Italiens. Die langen Abwesenheiten verärgerten seine Arbeitgeber am Ospedale. 1723 wurde ein Abkommen getroffen: Es gab Vivaldi die Freiheit, an Opern zu arbeiten, vorausgesetzt, er liefere in Venedig zwei Konzerte im Monat ab und überwache ihre Aufführungen. Vivaldi arbeitete schnell. Für ein Concerto brauchte er einen Tag, eine Oper schaffte er in einer Woche. Er verdiente viel Geld und gab viel aus. Deshalb sah er sich nach weiteren Verdienstquellen um und beschloss, dass es lukrativer sei, Abschriften der Noten direkt zu verkaufen, als über seinen Verleger. Als Preis berechnete er eine Guinee pro Concerto, umgerechnet etwa 150 Euro. Den Kirchenvätern wurde die allzu weltliche Einstellung Vivaldis bald suspekt. Als Priester wurde von ihm erwartet, in einem reinen Männerhaushalt zu leben. Seine Krankheit bot ihm den idealen Vorwand, eine Schwester zu seiner Pflege einzustellen. Außerdem machte er Anna Giraud, eine bekannte Sopranistin, und ihre Schwester zu seinen Begleiterinnen. Es gab Gerüchte, aber ein Verhältnis konnte ihm nicht nachgewiesen werden. 1737, im Zuge einer Kampagne gegen den Sittenverfall im Klerus, verbot ihm der Erzbischof von Ferrara, die Stadt zu betreten. Hier sollte er die musikalische Leitung während der Opernsaison innehaben. Als Gründe wurden Vivaldis Weigerung, die Messe zu zelebrieren, und seine Beziehung zu Anna Giraud angeführt. Der 59jährige bestritt jegliches unziemliche Verhalten und brachte zur Verteidigung seine Krankheit vor, ohne Erfolg. Von nun an nahm sein Ansehen rasch ab. Bis 1740 hatte sich der venezianische Geschmack geändert. Vivaldis Musik war aus der Mode gekommen. Er ging nach Wien in der Hoffnung, den österreichischen Kaiser für neue Aufträge zu gewinnen, erhielt aber kaum Beachtung. Alt und krank starb er am 28. Juli 1741 in Wien. Er hatte zuletzt in sehr ärmlichen Verhältnissen gelebt und wurde mit einem Armenbegräbnis beigesetzt. Trotz der überragenden Qualität seines Werkes - das über 450 Concerti und 45 Opern umfasst - und Vivaldis Bestrebungen, es zu verbreiten, wurde nur ein Bruchteil zu seinen Lebzeiten veröffentlicht. Die meisten Kompositionen wurden nach seinem Tod entdeckt, viele erst in den zwanziger Jahren dieses Jahrhunderts bekannt. Seine neue Herangehensweise an die Musik des Barock hat Vivaldi in einer Reihe glanzvoller Kompositionen bewiesen. Die heitere Lebhaftigkeit seiner Musik lässt das prächtige und schillernde Venedig des 18. Jahrhunderts wieder aufleben.

Richard Clayderman - Titanic Symphony (Live in Egypt 2016)


Richard Clayderman - Titanic Symphony (Live in Egypt 2016)
2,831,507 views  Jun 6, 2016  Richard Clayderman - Titanic Symphony | Chinese Garden (1998)
Composer: James Horner
Recorded at The Marquee, El Cairo Egypt
March 11 2016


Ennio Morricone - Cinema Paradiso (In Concerto - Venezia 10.11.07)

André Rieu - You'll Never Walk Alone

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Santana & Clapton - Jingo

Pianist in tears!!!. Most moving piano performance.

Julio Iglesias - Caruso

Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet - Joslin - Henri Mancini, Nino Rota

Very sad beautiful music! When angels cry! DJ Lava-Calling angel


Very sad beautiful music! When angels cry! DJ Lava-Calling angel
66,082,765 views  Jan 25, 2020  Looking at people, angels cry, because they are not available to what is available to us: a sense of the moment. Carlos Santana
.........................................................................
FROM the AUTHOR: Best Music Relax
I know that the world is complex and infinite... And when I get sad... anxiety creeps into my soul-I prefer beautiful sad music, because I know that when the heart cries, the soul is cleansed.
My friends, listen to this amazing melody from the composer DJ Lava - "Calling angel". This music is like an ocean that strikes us with its immense depth. At the hour of the rising sun, she sings an ode to the Earth, and at sunset-the sad music of separation. It is able to Wade into the most remote corners of our consciousness to awaken in it all the best, light and noble, thereby healing the wounded soul and dispelling all the pain and despair.

I WISH YOU ALL A WARM HEART,
ENJOY WATCHING AND RELAXING!

Friday, August 26, 2022

Pianists and Their Composers

Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas – Scaling the Pianistic Everest

Manuscript of Beethoven's Piano Sonata Op. 110

Manuscript of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 110

Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas are often referred to as the ‘New Testament’ of the pianist’s repertoire, and for many pianists they offer a remarkable, quasi-religious journey – physical, metaphorical and spiritual – through Beethoven’s creative life. This is truly “great” music, that which is endlessly fascinating and challenging, intriguing and enriching, and such is the popularity of this repertoire that you can guarantee that somewhere in the world right now there is a concert featuring these remarkable sonatas.

“There is something about the personality of Beethoven that is so overwhelming, and I think that the sonatas are the pieces that go the deepest, that show him at his most exploratory, his most inventive, and at his most spiritual.” –Jonathan Biss

Artur Schnabel

recordings of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas

Artur Schnabel listening to a playback at a recording session

The first pianist to record the complete Beethoven piano sonatas in the 1930s, just a few years after electrical recording was invented, Schnabel set the standard by which all subsequent recordings was set, and his playing is acclaimed for its intelligence and insight, emotional depth and spiritual understanding of this music. So fine were his recordings that one critic described him as ‘the man who invented Beethoven’.


Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim © Peter Adamik

“I’ve known these works for many years….but whenever I go back to this music I find something new.”

Beethoven’s piano sonatas have followed Daniel Barenboim throughout his career, and such is his affection for this music he has recorded the complete piano sonatas five times, most recently during lockdown when, during this period of enforced isolation, he decided to approach the sonatas anew. His first recording was made in 1950s when he was a young man. It is perhaps an indication of the reverence with which this music is held, and its distinctive challenges, that Barenboim has made so many recordings of the sonatas. For him, this is music which has an infinite appeal, to be taken up by other pianists who follow him. 

Annie Fischer

Annie Fischer

Annie Fischer

It is interesting to note that few women pianists have recorded the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, Annie Fischer being an exception. The music of Beethoven was central to Fischer’s career and her recordings are still much admired, nearly 30 years after her death. Her style is unaffected and self-effacing, letting the music, and composer, speak, and her playing displays great nobility, elegance and humanity. Her recording of the complete piano sonatas is regarded as her greatest legacy. 

Igor Levit

Igor Levit

Igor Levit

“Beethoven’s music kind of creates this link between the player, the music, the audience. This triangle is enormously intense.” –Igor Levit in an interview with Jon Wertheim

Igor Levit released his first recording of Beethoven piano sonatas when he was just 26, an album which received huge acclaim for its intense expressivity and Levit’s mature approach balanced with a youthful ardour. He released his recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas in 2019.

In his performances of Beethoven, Levit produces a clear, lively and well-balanced sound, but he’s not afraid to roughen the edges of the music to create a more visceral impact. His concerts can be intense, almost uncompromising, but his Beethoven playing is some of the most exhilarating and adventurous to be enjoyed today.

Jonathan Biss

Jonathan Biss

Jonathan Biss

For American pianist Jonathan Biss, Beethoven has been a close companion throughout most of his life, and during the past 10 years he has fully immersed himself in Beethoven: he has recorded the complete piano sonatas, performed complete cycles around the world, and also teaches an in-depth online course about the sonatas which has attracted over 150,000 students globally.

“As individual works, each is endlessly compelling on its own merits; as a cycle, it moves from transcendence to transcendence, the basic concerns always the same, but the language impossibly varied”

Biss is a “thinking pianist”, with an acute intellectual curiosity and an ability to articulate the exigencies of learning, maintaining and performing this music. His Beethoven playing has long-spun melodic lines, well-balanced harmonies, taut, driving rhythms, rumbling tremolandos, dramatic fermatas, carefully-considered voicing, subito dynamic swerves, and colourful orchestration. It is not to everyone’s taste, but his performances can be vivid, edge-of-the-seat experiences which reveal how Beethoven took the genre to the furthest reaches of what was possible, compositionally and emotionally.

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Tchaikovsky:Waltz of the Flowers-Daniel Barenboim



This music can be listened to forever !!! The most Beautiful Music to tears


32,005,198 views .May 26, 2019  Music - the most wonderful creation of man, his eternal mystery and delight. It returns to man all the best that is in him and will remain on earth. It is indisputable that a person heard music before he learned to speak. There is a thought that at first there was a wind noise, a splash of waves, singing of birds, rustle of a grass and a ring of the falling foliage. And only taking over from nature the sound, the man resigned from his word.

My dear friends, welcome to my world! Today I want to present to your attention a wonderful composition from the repertoire of Yuri Dunchenko "Yakuro - Pink... The Color Of Love". In his musical creativity, Yuri very of well-describes its sense of to music, speaking about how that... Music is eternal. She was, is and will be. Always and everywhere. It just goes from one dimension/ time to another. All that we see around us, all that we call unreality or simply do not notice reflections of reflections (Mirrors of the mirrors) - this is music. 

About music 
__________________________________
Artist: YAKURO;
Genres: music for meditation / relaxation, New age
Album: Colors Of The Worlds.Two thousand thirteen
Track: Yakuro-Pink... The Color Of Love

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

STRONG the Most Beautiful Music To tears! You can listen forever!


FOR ALL FANS OF THE MUSIC OF RAYMOND LEFEVRE
STRONG the Most Beautiful Music To tears! You can listen forever!
⏩ Raymond Lefevre - Ave Maria (Caccini) 

WIKIPEDIA: Raymond lefèvre (FR. Raymond Lefèvre; 20 November 1929 — 27 June 2008) was a French composer, arranger and conductor. He wrote light instrumental music, the author of soundtracks for films, acted as an accompanist on the records of a number of singers in France.

BIOGRAPHY: on 27 June, arranger, conductor and composer Raymond Lefebvre died in Paris after an illness at the age of 78. Since the early 1960s, he has been a colleague and friend of Paul Moria, when they worked together as arrangers and conductors at Eddie Barclay's Studio. Lefebvre accompanied various singers, of which the most Dalide since the beginning of her career. He recorded music for several film comedies with Louis de Funes. His music is heard in all series of the famous Comedy series about the adventures of the French gendarmes, which was filmed from 1964 to 1982. Thus Lefebvre went down in history as the only composer who worked on such a long project. 
Since the mid-1960s, he was a conductor in the popular song contest television and in 1966 took up his own musical career and becomes R. Lefevre shortening the name by one letter. From this moment on, and within 30 years he recorded popular tunes. Since the 1980s, his son Michel, also a conductor and composer, helped him in his work. After the Field Moriah in the same 1968, Lefebvre came to prominence in the US with his cover version of Michel Polnareff "Ame caline" (Soul coaxing). Since that time, it has come to international fame. In 1972. his orchestra was first invited to Japan, where he toured until recently. 
In 1995, as a flutist, Lefebvre took part in the recording of a Quartet with a unique composition, which in addition to himself were Paul Moria (piano), Frank Purcell (violin) and Francis Ley (accordion). The four of them recorded a melody-Requiem "Quartet for Kobe" in memory of the victims of a major earthquake in Japan

Information site dedicated to the memory and work of Maestro Raymond Lefevre
http://www.grandorchestras.com/lefevr...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM AUTHOR: Best Music Relax 

How to learn to love the world...  The purpose of the channel is to learn to live in harmony with your inner world, to help keep the soul pure light, the original belief that the world is beautiful and that life is an invaluable gift! On my channel you can relax, get a charge of vivacity and a lot of positive emotions. Watch music videos; videos about the beauty of the soul, videos about the beauty of our world. You can always listen to good music, get acquainted with the musical works of famous artists and composers. 

P. S. All video materials presented on the channel are exclusively entertaining (introductory) nature, video editing made by me personally on the selected music, which I love, in order to convey to the viewer the image inherent in it.
I WISH YOU ALL PEACE, KINDNESS, LOVE, ENJOY AND REST!



Frederic Chopin - Waltz Rain

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Second Waltz - His music and his life





Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) was a Russian composer and pianist and was one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century.
Life and Music 
Despite Shostakovich's exceptional talent, it was not until he was nine that he received his first formal piano lessons from his mother, a professional pianist. 

In 1919, composer Alexander Glazunov considered the young Shostakovich ready to begin his studies at the Petrograd Conservatory, where he was director. 

The 19-year-old Shostakovich produced a First Symphony that is an astonishing act of creative prodigy. 

In 1936, Stalin attended a performance of Shostakovich's operatic grotesquerie, Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District. Dismayed by its lack of positivist flag-saving, the state newspaper, Pravda, slated this "bedlam of noise". 

With the gun of the Soviet regime pointed at his head - and Stalin's finger effectively on the trigger - Shostakovich knew he had to produce a surefire winner. 

The Fifth Symphony, with its universal message of triumph achieved out of adversity, was exactly what the State wanted, and it made him a public hero. 

In 1948, several composers, including Shostakovich and Prokofiev, were hauled over the coals by Pravda for "decadent formalism". 

In 1953 Shostakovich also composed his masterly Tenth Symphony, written - although no one was aware of it at the time - as a reaction against the Stalinist regime, and in the case of the vitriolic Scherzo, a sardonic portrait of Stalin. 

The constant psychological torture had taken its toll, and it seems that in 1960, following the completion of his Eighth String Quartet, Shostakovich contemplated suicide. In 1966 he suffered a heart attack from which he never fully recovered, and which hastened a preoccupation with death which is tangibly realised in his angst-ridden Fourteenth Symphony. 

Shostakovich died a broken man. 

Did you know? 
One of Shostakovich's songs was sung by the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin over the radio from his spacecraft to Mission Control down on earth.

WE HAD TODAY (from the Movie "One Day")


2,852 views  Jun 28, 2022  My version of " WE HAVE TODAY" by Rachel Portman. From the Movie "One Day"

arranged and played by Giorgio "Jorjo" Radaelli

Frank Sinatra - My Way (Live At Madison Square Garden, New York City / 1...



HIT-STORY: ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra
Published August 24, 2022, 2:22 PM

by Robert Requintina, Manila Bulletin



Released in March 1969, singer Paul Anka wrote the hit ballad “My Way” with crooner Frank Sinatra on his mind.

In 1968, Frank hinted to Paul that he was ready to bid showbiz goodbye.


“Kid, I’m fed up. I’m gonna do one more album, and then I’m out of here. You never wrote me that song you always promised. Don’t take too long,” said Frank, 51, to Paul, then 25, in a book entitled “The Life of A Song.”



One sleepless night, Paul sat down at a piano and sensed himself becoming Frank.

“That’s how I got the first line: ‘And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain’ I thought of him leaving the stage, the lights going out, and started typing like a madman, writing it just the way he talked: “Ate it up…spit it out.”

Paul finished writing the song at 5 a.m. He immediately called Frank to inform him about the song. “When I played the song for him, he said: “That’s kooky, kid. We’re going in.”

These days, “My Way” is still also one of the favorite karaoke songs around the world.

In the Philippines, at least 12 people were shot dead following altercations over the song from 2002 and 2012, according to the book.

In 2016, the UK’s Co-op funeral company revealed that “My Way” is now UK’s most popular choice of funeral song.

Frank passed away on May 14, 1998. He was 82. But “My Way” was never played at his funeral.


The complete lyrics to the song “My Way”:

“My Way”

And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows
I took the blows
And did it my way

Yes, it was my way.

(Courtesy of azlyrics.com)


Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Skyline Pigeon (Piano Version)

Harry Belafonte & Nana Mouskouri,Try to remember

~ Waltz of Roses ~ Eugen Doga - Gramofon¨¨˜"°º★¸.•´★¸.•*´¨)


Eugen Doga (born 1 March 1937) is a Romanian and Russian composer from the Republic of Moldova.

A creator of three ballets "Luceafărul", "Venancia", "Queen Margot", the opera "Dialogues of Love", more than 100 instrumental and choral works – symphonies, 6 quartets, "Requiem", church music, and other, plus music for 13 plays, radio shows, more than 200 movies, more than 260 songs and romances, more than 70 waltzes; he is also the author of works for children, the music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in 1980 in Moscow.

In Moldova, the years 2007 and 2017 (when the composer celebrated his 70th and 80th birthdays, respectively) were declared the Year of Eugen Doga. Chișinău's main pedestrianised thoroughfare has been named Eugen Doga Street in his honour.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) in recognition of his outstanding achievements in music awarded him with a special certificate in 2007


Since 1972 with his concerts he has traveled all over the territory of the former Soviet Union, also some foreign countries.

"The image of the person is defined by his deeds that ultimately benefit people and society. And the concerts that I give in Chișinău, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kursk or Bucharest, are aimed at precisely this idea of bringing people together, preserving the ideals that make people kinder, more tolerant, that make flowers bloom, and the sun shine brighter,"- says Eugen Doga.

Eugen Doga's concerts took place in the biggest concert halls. They "gathered huge audiences", and they still do so today. "...There were so many offenses because of Eugen Doga's concerts; people just did not want to talk to me. They told me: "I have been asking you for three years, and you can't arrange Eugen Doga's concert." And I really couldn't, because he was very busy. In Leningrad there was a concert orchestra conducted by Anatoly Badhen, a wonderful orchestra, unequaled in the Soviet Union, which played high-quality music. This orchestra for many years gave a lot of concerts with Eugen Doga's music everywhere, throughout the Soviet Union" – Mikhail Murzak. Philharmonic Director of Chișinău (1972–1988 years).

His music was performed by the Choir of TV and radio Moldova, the Russian state Symphony orchestra of cinematography, Academic Choir "Doina", The George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra,the Moscow chamber orchestra "The seasons", Leningrad Concert Orchestra,Academic Grand choir "Masters of choral singing", Orchestra of the Moldavian Philharmonic "Sergei Lonkevich", Moscow city Symphony orchestra "Russian Philharmonic", The national Symphony orchestra of the public company "Teleradio-Moldova", the Presidential orchestra of the Republic of Moldova, Children's choir "Liya Ciocarlia", Large children's choir of the USSR Gosteleradio, Orchestra of the Romanian National Opera Ias and other groups.




(HD 720p) "Autumn Rose" by Ernesto Cortazar - His music and his life


Ernesto Cortazar II was born in Mexico City into a family of composers. Ernesto's father, Ernesto Cortazar Sr., was an accomplished composer respected in his field and was named president of the Society of Authors and Composers.
When Ernesto Cortazar II was 13 he tragically lost both of his parents in a horrible auto accident. Despite tragedy Ernesto preceded with his intense studies by attending a music academy, and by age 17, he began scoring for movies.
At age 18, Ernesto completed his very first musical score for the motion picture "La Risa de la Ciudad". The main musical composition for this film was Ernesto's piano piece titled "River of Dreams." With this film, Ernesto Cortazar won the award for Best Background Music for a Latin American Film at The Cartagena Festival. Since then, Ernesto has composed musical scores for more than 500 motion pictures.
Ernesto traveled to more than 25 countries and performed his original compositions for political figures such as President Menem of Argentina, Nikita Krushev of the USSR and entertained in such prestigious venues including The Kremlin (USSR) and The Mexican Presidential House.
Ernesto's incredible performance was requested and enjoyed by many of Hollywood's biggest celebrities including Charlton Heston, Danny de Vito, Michael Bolton, Octavio Paz, and The Rolling Stones.
Ernesto Cortazar found even bigger fame being the #1 artist on the #1 music website in the world. Out of 130,000 artists Ernesto leaded the way with over 14,000,000 downloads to his compositions on MP3.com fromm 1999 to 2001 and his sites were visited for more than 4,000,000 viewers.
Including the U.S., Ernesto sold over 30,000 CD's to 69 countries without any record label, management company or agency.

In 2001, Ernesto moved from Los Angeles to Tampico, Mexico to live his last years near his family. Ernesto Cortazar II died in 2004 but his legacy remains with his music and his two sons, Ernesto Cortazar III and Edgar Cortazar, who are succesfull songwriters on the Latin Market.

Monday, August 22, 2022

Deutscher Jazzmusiker Rolf Kühn gestorben


Rolf Kühn galt als einer der wenigen deutschen Jazzmusiker von internationalem Ruf.


Er spielte mit Benny Goodman, John Coltrane und Chick Corea, leitete das NDR-Fernsehorchester und komponierte zudem die Musik zahlreicher Filme. 


Der Jazzmusiker Rolf Kühn ist tot. Er starb im Alter von 92 Jahren in Berlin, wie die Familie, die Agentur und die Plattenfirma des Klarinettisten am Montag bekannt gaben. Kühn galt als einer der wenigen deutschen Jazzmusiker von internationalem Ruf. Der gebürtige Kölner spielte mit Benny Goodman, John Coltrane und Chick Corea und gründete mehrere Bands. Kühn leitete das NDR-Fernsehorchester und war Musikalischer Leiter im Berliner Theater des Westens. Neben seinen Alben komponierte Kühn zahlreiche Film- und Fernsehmusiken.


In den nächsten Monaten sollte der Klarinettist noch in mehreren deutschen Städten Konzerte geben, unter anderem mit seinem Bruder, dem Jazz-Pianisten Joachim Kühn. Rolf Kühn starb den Angaben zufolge am 18. August.


„Rolf wird immer als der inspirierende, sanfte, innovative und jung gebliebene Künstler und Mensch in Erinnerung bleiben, der er war“, teilten Kühns Ehefrau Melanie, sein Bruder sowie die Agentur Jazzhaus Artists und das Label Edel/MPS mit. „Er lebte ein erfülltes Leben, das bis zu seinem letzten Tag der Musik, der Kultur und der Freude gewidmet war.“

Quelle: dpa/Gregor Fischer

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Jules Massenet / Thais / Meditation - His music and his life




Alternate titles: Jules-Émile-Frédéric Massenet


Born: May 12, 1842 France
Died: August 13, 1912 (aged 70) Paris France

Jules Massenet, in full Jules-Émile-Frédéric Massenet, (born May 12, 1842, Montaud, near Saint-Étienne, France—died August 13, 1912, Paris), leading French opera composer, whose music is admired for its lyricism, sensuality, occasional sentimentality, and theatrical aptness.

The son of an ironmaster, Massenet entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 11, subsequently studying composition under the noted opera composer Ambroise Thomas. In 1863 he won the Prix de Rome with his cantata David Rizzio. With the production in 1867 of his opera La Grand’ Tante (The Great Aunt), he embarked on a career as a composer of operas and incidental music. His 24 operas are characterized by a graceful, thoroughly French melodic style. Manon (1884; after Antoine-François, Abbé Prévost d’Exiles) is considered by many to be his masterpiece. The opera, marked by sensuous melody and skilled personification, uses leitmotifs to identify and characterize the protagonists and their emotions. In the recitatives (dialogue) it employs the unusual device of spoken words over a light orchestral accompaniment. Also among his finest and most successful operas are Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame (1902), Werther (1892; after J.W. von Goethe), and Thaïs (1894). The famous “Méditation” for violin and orchestra from Thaïs remains part of the standard violin repertory.

Several of Massenet’s operas reflect the succession of contemporary operatic fashions. Thus, Le Cid (1885) has the characteristics of French grand opera; Le Roi de Lahore (1877; The King of Lahore) reflects the Orientalism—a fascination with Asian exotica—that was also prevalent in the 19th-century European and American art market; Esclarmonde (1889) shows the influence of Richard Wagner; and La Navarraise (1894; The Woman of Navarre) is influenced by the end-of-the-century style of verismo, or realism. Also prominent among Massenet’s operas are Hérodiade (1881) and Don Quichotte (1910).

Of Massenet’s incidental music, particularly notable is that for Leconte de Lisle’s play Les Érinnyes (1873; The Furies), which contains the widely performed song “Élégie.” In 1873 he also produced his oratorio, Marie-Magdeleine, later performed as an opera. This work exemplifies the mingling of religious feeling and eroticism often found in Massenet’s music. Massenet also composed more than 200 songs, a piano concerto, and several orchestral suites.

As a teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatoire from 1878, Massenet was highly influential. His autobiography was entitled Mes Souvenirs (1912; My Recollections).

How I Love You - Engelbert Humperdinck

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore


That's how I grew up. And later during my radio shows with the best of the 60's, 70's, 80's.

Raymond Lefevre & Orchestra - La reine de Saba (Live, 1987) (HQ)

I Girasoli (ひまわり/Sunflower)-Henry Mancini

Saturday, August 20, 2022

We Praise Thee, O God from Handel's Dettingen Te Deum



Franck Pourcel - Morir de Amor

James Last - Abide With Me


Abide With Me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me. 

Swift to its close ebbs out lifes little day;
Earths joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwellst with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and thus bide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempters power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is deaths sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heavens morning breaks, and earths vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

James Last - Abide With Me
Words: Henry Lyte, 1847.

The Stage Manager- A Musician’s Best Friend

 by Janet Horvath, Interlude

Cello being left behind after concert

Cello

Stage managers of orchestras have a very important role. A good one takes expert care of our instruments and the musicians, soloists and conductors— meeting their every wish and whim. The stage manager is the one who announces, “Orchestra… On stage please. Orchestra on stage.” They’re the ones that proffer a towel to a sweating conductor and indicate to the soloists how to maneuver through the string section to get to center stage. They’re the ones who set up the stage and who know exactly the instrumentation for every piece. Different set-ups often occur in one program.

Not the least of their duties is packing up all the instruments and equipment when the orchestra is on tour— a huge job. Our stage manager, Tim Eickholt, now retired, was someone we trusted implicitly with our instruments. From a family of stagehands, he has an impeccable background as a master designer and builder and he had lots of experience with showbiz. He understood that musicians often hastily exit after performances to get some food and a beer. Tim was so conscientious that after concerts, especially on tour, he would check backstage for any belongings that might have been left behind. He’d find items of clothing like cummerbunds, shoes, belts or socks and worse— instruments, even unpacked. Once I woke up in the middle of the night in a panic, realizing that I had left my cello backstage! Fortunately, it was a local concert and Tim took my cello home with him.

Tim, the stage manager, at the ready at the Musikverien Vienna

Tim at the ready at the Musikverien Vienna

One concert night the temperature dipped well below zero, as happens often in Minnesota. My warmest down coat was in for repairs. I borrowed my mother’s full-length mink coat to get to Orchestra Hall for that evening’s performance. I lugged the cello outside and into my car, which sputtered in protest when I tried to start it. On the highway my car lit up like a Christmas tree. Everything flashed. Then the car went dead. Somehow I got the car onto the shoulder.

Stranded. For a few moments I sat dumbfounded wondering what I was going to do. I couldn’t be late for the concert! But more important, I knew I couldn’t walk in this frigid weather carrying the cello. With trepidation I left the cello. I started running, in my full-length black mink coat, along the shoulder of the highway towards the nearest exit. A car pulled up and a man said, “Get in. It’s much too cold outside.” So I did, more worried about the cello than for my own safety. The driver took me to the Orchestra Hall. I literally flew down the stairs directly to our stage manager’s office. In tears I told Tim that I had left my cello on the highway. We made a hasty exit and jumped into Tim’s car to find where I left my car, despite the fact that it was almost 8:00 p.m. There was no time to lose. The tow truck had already pulled up beside my car to take it away. Believe it or not we made it back in time for the concert.

There are endless stories of the idiosyncratic behaviors of soloists and conductors. Some artists demand peculiar foods to be brought in backstage. Others need their outfits pressed, fresh towels delivered, ice buckets with drinks, even stationary bikes (as in the case of Christian Tetzlaff) or personal chefs (as in the case of Vladimir Horowitz) and every soloist was personally escorted to the wings of the stage. Tim, always respectful, handled it all.

I remember when renowned violinist Henryk Szeryng came to play the Beethoven Violin Concerto—impeccably, I might add. During the rehearsal he found the stage much too bright. Over and over he said, “The lights, the lights…” Tim turned the lights down and down until the musicians on the periphery of the stage couldn’t see their music. Post haste, Tim had stand lights for all the bass players affixed to their stands.

Ottorino Respighi: Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome), P. 14 – II. Pini presso una catacomba (Pines Near a Catacomb) (Philadelphia Orchestra; Eugene Ormandy, cond.)

Manny at the top of the catwalk rehearsing the Pines of Rome

Manny at the top of the catwalk rehearsing the Pines of Rome

Other soloists need the heat turned up perhaps due to revealing dresses as well as trying to keep fingers warm. Tim would be the guy to take care of it. And when an offstage musician was required, he’d make sure everyone was set up in the audience balconies or stairwells backstage. Unless, as was the case recently with Ottorino Respighi’s Pines of Rome, for the spooky ancient catacombs movement the solo trumpet, Manny Laureano, was requested to play from the fourth level—a system of catwalks about one-hundred feet above the stage. Manny had to race up the narrow flight of stairs to dizzying heights, where there is no room for even a music stand, just a TV monitor hooked up so could get his cue.

The stage manager duties in an orchestraTim relates that as a very young man he was one of the stagehands at Northrop Auditorium for a new production of a Mozart opera when the Metropolitan Opera still came annually to Minneapolis. Tim was asked to hang enormous, brilliantly painted murals, which he had to install in the middle of the night. Little did he know that these were the very Chagall paintings that now hang at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, which one can see through the windows as you approach the hall. He had no idea what he had in his hands.

Tim never failed to sit in the audience during rehearsals or concerts whenever he could. He always has perceptive opinion about the pieces being performed. And did I tell you that he’s a decorated Vietnam War veteran with a great ear and passion for classical music and the musicians? He especially loves Shostakovich.

Friday, August 19, 2022

THE ROSE / SOMEWHERE IN TIME - Roger Williams


37,332 views Mar 27, 2018 Roger Williams' recording, "Somewhere in Time" is the mesmerizing music score of the 1980 film. This performance, in 2009 was 3 days after his 85th birthday, is Roger Williams' exquisite medley of "The Rose" and "Somewhere In Time," and the epitome of his artistry. Marc Riley conducted the Crystal Cathedral Orchestra. Website: https://rogerwilliamsmusic.com

Mozart Piano Concerto No 9 E flat major K 271 Jeunehomme Maria / his music and his life


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Dmitri Shostakovich - his music and his life



Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) was a Russian composer and pianist and was one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century.

Life and Music 
Despite Shostakovich's exceptional talent, it was not until he was nine that he received his first formal piano lessons from his mother, a professional pianist. 

In 1919, composer Alexander Glazunov considered the young Shostakovich ready to begin his studies at the Petrograd Conservatory, where he was director. 

The 19-year-old Shostakovich produced a First Symphony that is an astonishing act of creative prodigy. 

In 1936, Stalin attended a performance of Shostakovich's operatic grotesquerie, Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District. Dismayed by its lack of positivist flag-saving, the state newspaper, Pravda, slated this "bedlam of noise". 

With the gun of the Soviet regime pointed at his head - and Stalin's finger effectively on the trigger - Shostakovich knew he had to produce a surefire winner. 

The Fifth Symphony, with its universal message of triumph achieved out of adversity, was exactly what the State wanted, and it made him a public hero. 

In 1948, several composers, including Shostakovich and Prokofiev, were hauled over the coals by Pravda for "decadent formalism". 

In 1953 Shostakovich also composed his masterly Tenth Symphony, written - although no one was aware of it at the time - as a reaction against the Stalinist regime, and in the case of the vitriolic Scherzo, a sardonic portrait of Stalin. 

The constant psychological torture had taken its toll, and it seems that in 1960, following the completion of his Eighth String Quartet, Shostakovich contemplated suicide. In 1966 he suffered a heart attack from which he never fully recovered, and which hastened a preoccupation with death which is tangibly realised in his angst-ridden Fourteenth Symphony. 

Shostakovich died a broken man. 

Did you know? 
One of Shostakovich's songs was sung by the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin over the radio from his spacecraft to Mission Control down on earth.

(C) ClassicFM London

Mantovani & His Orchestra - I Only Know I Love You [1959]



Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Braveheart Theme (For the love of a Princess)