Monday, June 10, 2024

Astor Piazzolla, a life in a tango


A new episode of the Food of Love, talks around music by Roberto Nigro and Cameristi della Scala. Celebrating Astor Piazzolla and his "Tango Nuevo"

Astor Piazzolla - Libertango (1977)



Arvo Pärt - Documentary



Arvo Pärt: My Heart's in the Highlands


It is highly advisable to use headphones or good acoustic system while watching "My Heart's in the Highlands", 2000 Composer: Arvo Pärt David James (countertenor), Christopher Bowers-Broadbent (organ) Author of text: Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Anne Akiko Meyers & Akira Eguchi: Arvo Pärt 'Fratres' Encore Presentation


Recorded live at the Phillips Collection on April 23, 2017. Meyers performs Arvo Pärt's masterpiece, Fratres with pianist, Akira Eguchi. Anne Akiko Meyers is one of the most celebrated violinists embraced around the world today. Possessing a rare ability to connect with audiences from the concert stage, online, in television, and radio broadcasts, Meyers has actively maintained an extensive touring schedule for over 30 years, and regularly performs in recital and as guest soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras. She is a best-selling recording artist who has released over 40 albums and was the top-selling traditional classical instrumental soloist on Billboard’s charts in 2014.

Christina Aguilera - The Voice Within (Official HD Video)



Sunday, June 9, 2024

Christina Perri - A Thousand Years [Official Music Video]



the official music video of “a thousand years” buy/listen to 'a thousand years': https://christinaperri.lnk.to/athousa... directed by jay martin "a thousand years" is a song me + my best friend david hodges wrote for bella + edward. we wrote it after we so luckily screened the movie + i couldn't be more proud of this song. to all my fellow twihards, thanks for hearing the e/b love :) follow christina perri: - website: http://christinaperri.com - facebook:   / christinaperrimusic   - instagram:   / christinaperri   - twitter:   / christinaperri   - tiktok:   / christinaperri   #ChristinaPerri #AThousandYears

The Best of Mussorgsky


Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1839 – 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1881) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five". He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other national themes. Such works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have posthumously come into their own in their original forms, and some of the original scores are now also available. Modest Mussorgsky Tracklist: Quadros de uma exposição 1. Promenade 2. Gnomo 3. Promenade 4. O Velho Castelho 5. Promenade 6. Tulherias 7. Bydlo 8. Promenade 9. Balé dos Pintinhos n as Cascas de Ovos 10. Samuel Goldenberg e Schumyle 11. O Mercado Limoges 12. Catacumbas 13. Cum Mortius in Lingu a Morta 14. A Cabana Sobre Patas de Galinha, "Baba Yaga" 15. O Grande Portal de Kiev 16. Uma Noite no Monte Calvo 17. Síntese Sinfônica Sobre Boris Godunov

Christina Aguilera - Reflection (2020) (From "Mulan")



To Love You More - Joslin - Celine Dion Cover



Saturday, June 8, 2024

Wonderful Life -Black - Saxophone Cover by @felicitysaxophonist



Tom Jones-I I Who Have Nothing |Gigi De Lana • Jon • Jake • Romeo-Oyus



Boieldieu Harp Concerto Fragment


Boieldieu, Concerto for Harp and Orchestra. Julia Rovinsky (harp), Zubin Mehta and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Live from Tel Aviv concert, Israel,17-nov-2006

Friday, June 7, 2024

UP soprano to represent Philippines at World Youth Choir 2024 Alumni Session

Jan Milo Severo - Philstar.com

UP soprano to represent Philippines at World Youth Choir 2024 Alumni Session
Pauline Arejola is the sole participant from the Philippines at the World Youth Choir 2024 Alumni Session.
Pauline Arejola via Facebook

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A soprano from the University of the Philippines (UP) is set to represent the Philippines at the World Youth Choir 2024 Alumni Session.

Pauline Arejola is the sole participant from the Philippines who qualified from over 57 applications from 24 countries. 

Arejola is part of the chosen 32 singers by the international jury composed by a jury representative from each of the three World Youth Choir patron organizations: Victoria Liedbergius on behalf of the European Choral Association, Burak Onur Erdem on behalf of the International Federation for Choral Music and Sasho Tatarchevski on behalf of Jeunesses Musicales International. 

Arejola shared her excitement about this opportunity. 

"Finally, after what seemed almost impossible in this lifetime, I am glad to share with you that I will be representing the Philippines in the World Youth Choir Alumni Session 2024," she said. 

She expressed her gratitude for the chance to participate after facing setbacks, including the cancelation of the 2020 session due to the pandemic.

The World Youth Choir 2024 Alumni Session is set to take place in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, as part of the inaugural Harbour Voices International Festival of Collective Singing Traditions. 

Renowned Swedish conductor Cecilia Rydinger will lead the ensemble with Arejola the only participant from the Philippines. 

The program will feature a diverse range of musical works, including classical choral pieces and traditions from Scandinavian and Canadian Indigenous cultures. 

Arejola's musical journey is deeply rooted in her education and experiences at the UP College of Music, where she graduated with honors, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Music with a major in Voice in 2018. Under the guidance of esteemed mentors like Prof. Ma. Cecila O. Valeña, she honed her craft and cultivated her passion for music.

Her versatility as a performer spans classical and contemporary operas, as well as musical theater. Beyond her solo endeavors, Pauline  has performed with prestigious groups, such as the UP Los Baños Choral Ensemble and Collegium Vocale Manila, with the latter known for recently performing at the 49th International Bamboo Organ Festival.

As she prepares to represent her country on the global stage, she held a special send off-cum-fundraising concert in the Philippines. 

Titled "Handog," the concert serves as both a celebration of her musical journey and a thanksgiving.

"This concert is very special to my heart as it represented the culmination of years of my musical journey," Arejola said. "This evening was my 'handog' to everyone who’s been there in that journey!"

The concert featured performances by Arejola herself, accompanied by pianist Darren Vega, and special appearances by Canticum Amoris Music Ministry, DSSTCJ Children's Choir, Mikee Baskiñas and UPLB Choral Ensemble. The event took place last May 18 in the Diocesan Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in UP Los Baños, Laguna.

The Orchestra in a Box: The Accordion

by Maureen Buja, Interlude

Piano Accordion (Startone 72 MKII)

Piano Accordion (Startone 72 MKII)

The button accordion.

Chromatic Button Accordion (Hohner Mattia IV)

Chromatic Button Accordion (Hohner Mattia IV)

The instrument is held by two straps around the shoulders and is played in front of the body. For most accordions, the same pitch is played when you open or close the bellows, but some instruments will play different notes depending on the direction of the bellows’ motion.

The accordion is a 19th-century instrument invented in Germany by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann around 1822.

Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann

Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann

From Germany, the instrument went to Russia, with the earliest known ones being made in the 1830s. By the late 1840s, two Russian manufacturers were producing some 10,000 instruments a year. By 1828, the instrument was in England and in New York by the mid-1840s.

For classical music, it wasn’t until the 1960s that works for accordion and orchestra were being written, and Poland has been a particular center for this genre.

Bronisław Kazimierz Przybylski’s Concerto polacco was completed in 1973 and is one of the most popular of the accordion concertos. 

In Denmark, the composer Per Nørgård has been an important contributor to the genre. His 1964 work, Introduction and Toccata, developed from a first version in 1952 that accordionists agreed as being unplayable on current instruments. The 1964 revision captured the idiosyncratic methods needed for performances. 

Maltese composer Charles Camilleri (1931–2009) was also an accordion virtuoso and international performer. His 1968 Concerto for Accordion and String Orchestra was originally intended as a didactic work for his students. The work includes both classical forms (a first movement sonata-allegro) and local references (the main subject of the first movement is close to a Maltese traditional melody). The final movement was intended to be not only a brilliant finish but also a nod to the 12-music of the time. 

Finnish composer Erkki-Sven Tüür (b. 1959) had to be urged for five years to consider the accordion as a solo instrument for a concerto. He had to change his thinking of the instrument as purely for folk dances to something that had an orchestral connection. In its upper register, the accordion can sound like the wind instruments, and in its middle register, is closer to the strings and the composer used these sounds in different combinations. 

For many people, it was the Tango Nuevo of Astor Piazzolla that brought the accordion (or in Piazzolla’s case, the bandoneon) to the performing stage.

The bandoneon is a middle instrument between the hand-sized concertina and a full accordion. It is named for its inventor, Heinrich Band, who intended it for religious or popular music accompaniment. It made its way to Argentina around 1870, where it became one of the distinctive sounds of tango music.

Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla

His Concerto for Bandoneon, Percussion, and String Orchestra of 1979 is very different from the European concertos we’ve heard above—it immediately incorporates the rhythm of tango and its melancholic alternation between major and minor, expressive solo lines and other emotive details.

The accordion has long been associated with France, be it from French accordionists on street corners or the accordionist Yvette Horner, who played her accordion along the route of the Tour du France in the 1950s and 1960s (and who was caricatured in Les Triplettes de Belleville).

Yvette Horner

Yvette Horner

A new work in the French tradition is Thibault Perrine’s Capriccio for Accordion and Orchestra. The work makes reference to the former music activities on the Place de la Bastille where musicians from the Auvergne encountered accordionists coming up from Italy. Together, they created a new dance music known as the musette and Perrine makes that the center of his work. 

The lack of repertoire has made transcriptions central to the performance of classical music by accordionists. Satie’s Gnossienne No. 1, originally for piano, takes on a different life with accordion, vocals, trombone, and three melodicas (another free-reed instrument that mixes the harmonica with a keyboard).

Melodica

Melodica



Or some Bach for accordion and saxophone.


And Rameau keyboard music arranged for accordion.

Japanese accordionist Mie Miki has been very active in bringing not only Baroque keyboard music to the accordion but also vocal music, such as this Dowland work, arranged for viola and accordion.

As a new instrument to the classical stage, the accordion has had to fight for recognition as a serious instrument. Its versatility in sound, melding with elements of the orchestra, has been a benefit, and as composers begin to understand how many ways it can contribute to the orchestral sound world, its repertoire will grow. Rethink the accordion – it’s more than polkas and popular music. It has become a real voice of serious music.