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Sunday, August 16, 2015
Saturday, August 15, 2015
German Swing Legend Max Greger Died Aged 89
Jazz band leader and saxophonist Max Greger has died in Munich, aged 89. He made more than 150 recordings and performed with stars such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald.
Musiker Max Greger im Alter von 89 Jahren gestorben
Greger died early on Saturday morning in a hospital in the southern German city of Munich, his wife, Johanna, told the dpa news agency.
He had given his last concert in Munich in mid-July, and had been hospitalized two days afterwards after being diagnosed with cancer, she said, adding that he had had "a wonderful old age."
Greger was born in Munich on April 2, 1926 as the son of a butcher, and learned accordion at an early age, followed by saxophone and piano.
As a saxophonist and band leader, Greger performed in hundreds of concert halls, made more than 150 recordings and produced some 3,000 pieces.
As well as performing alongside such international jazz stars as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, he was invited by Lionel Hampton to join the latter's European tour as the only white player in his big band.
Highlights of Greger's career included taking his band on the first tour for 35 years by a Western group through the Soviet Union in 1959, giving 36 sold-out concerts in what was to be his breakthrough.
He also put together an orchestra for German broadcaster ZDF, playing for many of the big TV shows for 16 years.
He was particularly proud of the theme music he wrote for ZDF's sports program "Aktuelles Sportstudio," calling it his "most famous number," despite its just 23 seconds' duration.
Greger was also known for concerts with the SWR Big Band together with two other greats of the German music scene, Hugo Strasser and Peter Kraus.
Max Greger (Germany) - Trumpet Blues -- Sentimental Journey -- In The Mood
Max Greger (Germany) - Trumpet Blues -- Sentimental Journey -- In The Mood
Richard Addinsell - His Music and His Life
Died: 1977
Nationality: British
Educated at the Royal College of Music, he began his career contributing songs to revues and incidental music for the stage, forming a notable partnership with the playwright Clemence Dane. He is best remembered now as a composer for British cinema, his career in that medium beginning in 1936 and achieving early and widespread recognition with his score for the Oscar-winning Goodbye, Mr Chips in 1939. He went on to work in revue with the legendary comedienne Joyce Grenfell (1910--79), writing songs with her for West End shows like Tuppence Coloured (1947) and Penny Plain (1951).
Undoubtedly his most successful work was to be the Warsaw Concerto, for piano and orchestra in the grand heroic style of Rachmaninov, the most memorable feature of the film Dangerous Moonlight (1941). But his fluent and versatile writing was to prove highly suitable to a whole era of British films of the mid-twentieth century, in many instances, as in all the best film scores, contributing independently to the popular success of the film. Addinsell was a match for many cinematic genres: historic drama (Fire over England, 1937, Tom Brown's Schooldays, 1950, Beau Brummel, 1954)), psychological (Gaslight, 1940), contemporary (Love on the Dole, 1941, Life at the Top, 1965) or even comedy (The Prince and the Showgirl, 1957, Waltz of the Toreadors, 1962). He was hugely influential on a generation of British film composers and established a quality and style of full scale orchestral writing that was never bettered.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Eighteen Downright Bizarre Classical Music Facts
How many pieces of wood in a violin? What's the most expensive opera costume of all time? Which orchestra was booked to sail on the Titanic? Discover these random, bizarre and thoroughly interesting facts from the world of classical music.
Picture 1 of 18
Haydn's skull
There are two skulls in Haydn’s tomb. His head was stolen by phrenologists and a replacement skull was put in his tomb. In 1954, the real skull was restored but the substitute was not removed.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
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