Music in the Philippines since 1898

Discovering the 'Paris of Negro' through the Rondalla

Music of the Philippines (Filipino: Himig ng Pilipinas) include musical performance arts in the Philippines or by Filipinos composed in various genres and styles. The compositions are often a mixture of different Asian, Spanish, Latin American, American, and indigenous influences.

Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who composed the famous "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan" that recalls the loving touch of a mother to her child. Another composer, the National Artist for Music Antonino Buenaventura, is notable for notating folk songs and dances. Buenaventura composed the music for "Pandanggo sa Ilaw".

By: CORAZON CANAVE-DIOQUINO

       Philippine Music underwent another transformation with the coming of the Americans. The three mainstreams of music during this post-colonial period include classical music, semi-classical music and popular music.

Classical Music

       In the newly established public school system, music was included in the curriculum at the elementary and later at the high school levels. At the tertiary level, music conservatories and colleges were established. The earliest such schools were St. Scholastica’s College (1906) and the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music (1916). In the 1930’s, two private music schools were established in Manila: The Academy of Music (1930) under Alexander Lippay and the Manila Conservatory of Music (1934) under Rodolfo Cornejo. Both these schools however did not last beyond a few years. Subsequently, other schools with strong music departments emerged at the University of Sto. Tomas, Silliman University, Centro Escolar Univesity, Santa Isabel, St. Paul College and the Philippine Women’s University.

       The graduates from these institutions included present-day composers and performers. Composers produced works utilizing the western idiom and forms: symphonies, chamber works, concertos, solo instrumental works, choral works, solo vocal works. The leading figures of the first generation of composers were Nicanor Abelardo, Francisco Santiago, Antonio Molina, and Juan Hernandez. Classical works written from the 1940’s to the 1970’s were mostly contributed by the first members of the League of Filipino Composers founded in 1955. The majority of these compositions were written in the style of the late 19th century European classical music. These included works by Rosalina Abejo, Alfredo Buenaventura, Antonio Buenaventura, Rodolfo Cornejo, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Hilarion Rubio, Lucino Sacramento, Lucio San Pedro, Rosendo Santos, Amada Santos-Ocampo, and Ramon Tapales.

       After studies abroad, modern methods of composition were employed by Eliseo Pajaro and Lucresia Kasilag. Both were strongly influenced by American neoclassicism. Jose Maceda is considered the first legitimate Filipino avant-garde composer. He was the first Filipino composer to succeed in liberating Philippine musical expression from the colonial European mould of symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. Among the younger generation of composers, the first to respond to the challenges of new music were Francisco Feliciano and Ramon Santos. A still younger set of composers, all students of Ramon P. Santos includes Josefino Toledo, Ruben Federizon, Verne de la Pena, Arlene Chongson, and Jonas Baes. Since the 1950’s to the present, the trend of serious musical compositions in the Philippines has been towards a synthesis of traditional concepts of  structure, of time, of space, of melody, of performance medium with the new and experimental techniques.

       In the performance field , some notable Filipino artists include Jovita Fuentes, Isang Tapales, Ramon Tapales, Dalisay Aldaba, Conchita Gaston, Mercedes Matias, Federico Elizalde, Luis Valencia, Oscar Yatco, Benjamin Tupas, Nena del Rosario Villanueva, Jose Contreras, Fides Asencio Cuyugan, Reynaldo Reyes, Jose Maceda, Ernesto Vallejo, Sergio Esmilla, Carmencita Lozada, Basilio Manalo, Evelyn Mandac, Aurelio Estanislao and Cecile Licad.

       Outstanding groups include the Manila Symphony Orchestra, the Filipino Youth Symphony Orchestra, the U.P. Symphony Orchestra, the Manila Concert Orchestra, the  Quezon City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Artists’ Guild of the Philippines, the Philippine Choral Society, the U.P. Madrigal Singers, the U.P. Concert Chorus among others.

Semi-Classical Music

       The semi-classical repertoire includes stylized folk songs, music for theater, songs and ballads, and various types of instrumental music. An awakened interest in field work produced a body of folk songs from the different regions of the Philippines. These were written in Western notation, often utilizing western harmonies. Instrumental and vocal arrangements of the songs were published and used as educational materials in schools.

       The native sarswela in the vernacular, an outgrowth of the Spanish zarzuela introduced in1879, appeared by 1900. Composers who wrote music for these dramas included Bonifacio Abdon, Alejo Carluen, Gavino Carluen, Jose Estella, Fulgencio Tolentino, Juan Hernandez, Francisco Buencamino, Leon Ignacio, and Francisco Santiago. As a general rule sarswela composers functioned as conductors of the orchestra. Often they were instrumental performers of note in their own right. Many taught in schools or gave private lessons in homes. They also appeared in large public music concerts as well as in smaller gatherings where music programs formed the main attraction of informal and semi-formal occasions.

       The sarswela solo songs became models for the classical kundiman and the lighter type of love songs and ballads used in radio and in the cinema. These songs were further popularized in the 1950’s with the advent of the recording industry, particularly the Villar Recording Company. It gave rise to the unprecedented popularity , not only of the music, but also of the performers. Outstanding instrumental groups included the Juan Silos Rondalla, the Leopoldo Silos Orchestra, and the Mabuhay Recording band. Top artists were Sylvia La Torre, Ruben Tagalog, Cely Bautista, Raye Lucero, Diomedes Maturan, Pilita Corales, Cenon Lagman, Ric Manrique, and Nora Aunor. Initially the songs were written by Abelardo, Santiago, Buencamino, later joined by Mike Velarde, Constancio de Guzman, Josefino Cenizal, Juan Silos, Manuel Velez, Leopoldo Silos, Simplicio Suarez, Minggoy Lopez, Santiago Suarez, Restie Umali, Antonio Maiquez, and Ernani Cuenco. A favorite lyricist of these major songwriters was Levi Celerio.

      In the field of semi-classical instrumental music, the band stands out. The tradition of village and town bands that proliferated during the Spanish times continued. By the turn of the century, band performances in Manila which took place at the Luneta, the Plaza Mayor, and the Calzada were highly praised for their impeccable performances. Travelogues written at this time echo the same sentiment- that nowhere had they heard such fine performances. Until today, the band tradition goes on. Marches, concert overtures, concertant pieces, tone poems, and even symphonies have been written for band. Composers of band music include Alfredo Buenaventura, Antonio Buenaventura, Francisco Feliciano, Felipe Padilla de Leon, Eliseo Pajaro, Hilarion Rubio, Lucino Sacramento, Lucio San Pedro and Rosendo Santos.

       A popular medium for light classical muse is the rondalla. Its repertoire consists mainly of native folk tunes, ballroom music as well as arrangements of classical pieces such as opera overtures. Bayani de Leon and Jerry Dadap have written more serious music for the rondalla.

Popular Music

       The third mainstream of music during the 20th century is popular music. This genre includes Pinoy Ballads, Pinoy Rock, Manila Sound, Pinoy Disco, Pinoy Folk, Mainstream Jazz, Pinoy Jazz Fusion, Pinoy Rap, Ethnic Pop, and novelty songs.

About the Author:

Corazon Canave-Dioquino musicologist, is a professor at the University of the Philippines, College of Music where she has taught for the past 42 years.She is actively involved in the collection and archiving of musical Filipiniana at the UP Center for Ethnomusicology at Diliman, Quezon City.

Who Else Needs Glasses?

By Interlude

Credit: Mike Magatagan

(C) 2021 by Interlude

Tomaso Albinoni - his music and his life

by Georg Predota

“The Professional Dilettante”

Tomaso Albinoni

There is hardly a collection of recorded Baroque favorites that does not include the “Adagio in G minor” by Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751). Although that world-famous composition is attributed to Albinoni, it was actually the creation of the mid-20th century Italian musicologist Remo Giazotto. While completing his biography on the composer, Giazotto claimed to have found a fragment of an Albinoni composition in an archive of a Germany library. That fragment supposedly contained snippets of a melody and a supporting continuo part. Relying on the stylistic features of the Italian Baroque, Giazotto “completed” the fragment, and the Italian publisher Ricordi published the “Albinoni Adagio” in 1958. So far so good, but there is one more twist to that story, as nobody has been able to locate or examine that mysterious Albinoni fragment. The attribution to Albinoni might be a clever work of fiction, but Tomaso Albinoni did exist, as he was born 350 years ago in the city of Venice.

Remo Giazotto

Albinoni’s father was a manufacturer of playing card who owned several shops and some property in Venice. Tomaso was slated to take over his father’s business, but in his spare time he took violin and singing lessons. He obviously was highly talented, but since he was independently wealthy, he never looked for employment in music. Instead, “he preferred to remain a man of independent means who delighted himself and others through music.” Initially, Albinoni dabbled in church music but failed to make a mark. However, he did step into public view at the beginning of 1694, as his first opera Zenobia, regina de Palmireni was staged at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. Dedicated to his fellow Venetian, the Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the work was popular and performances continued for several weeks. Concordantly, Albinoni published his 12 Sonatas Op. 1, and it became obvious that “instrumental ensemble music (sonatas and concertos) and secular vocal music (operas and solo cantatas) were to be his two areas of activity in a musical career that lasted the better part of 47 years.”

Frontispiece of Albinoni’s ‘Zenobia’

Albinoni might briefly have served Ferdinando Carlo di Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, and his hugely popular suites Opus 3 are dedicated to Ferdinando de’Medici, Grand prince of Tuscany. His theatrical works soon began to be staged in other Italian cities. Rodrigo in Algeri was staged in Naples in 1702, and Griselda and Aminta in Florence in 1703. A set of comic intermezzos Vespette e Pimpinone of 1708 proofed especially popular. Albinoni reached the height of his popularity in 1722. He dedicated a set of 12 concertos to Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. In turn, he was commissioned to compose music for the wedding of Karl Albrecht to Maria Amalia, the younger daughter of the late emperor Joseph I. Albinoni wrote at least fifty operas, of which twenty-eight were produced in Venice between 1723 and 1740. The composer claimed to have created a grand total of 81 operas, but the vast majority of these stage works have been lost because they were not published during his lifetime.

Italian composers Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1750), Domenico Gizzi (Egizio or Egiziello) (1680- c. 1745) and Giuseppe Colla (1731-1806) by Pietro Bettelini (1763–1829)

Although a good many attributions to Albinoni are doubtful, he apparently did compose nearly 50 solo cantatas. However, he is primarily known as a composer of instrumental music, with almost 100 sonatas for between one and six instruments, 59 concertos and 8 sinfonias to his name. His instrumental compositions were published in Italy, Amsterdam and London, and subsequently reissued and reprinted. They were favorably compared to those of Corelli and Vivaldi, and J.S. Bach wrote at least four keyboard fugues on Albinoni themes. We also know that Bach frequently used Albinoni bass lines as foundation for harmonic exercises for his students. Sadly, substantial parts of Albinoni’s works were lost with the destruction of the Dresden State Library in World War II. Albinoni’s music has been criticized “for an over dependence on certain formal stereotypes, and a dryness and lack of harmonic finesse.” It must be said, however, that Albinoni possessed a remarkable melodic gift, and that his mature works “display an almost perfectly realized equilibrium between form and content.” From about 1730, Albinoni gradually withdrew from public life and from composition. He spent the last decade of his life in the care of his three children, and he died on 17 January 1751 from diabetic complications in Venice.

(C) 2021 by Interlude

The Pianist’s Solitude

By Francis Wilson, Interlude

Credit: https://static1.squarespace.com/

“The loneliness doesn’t worry me……I spend most of my life alone, even backstage…….I’m there completely alone. I like the time alone….”

British pianist Stephen Hough, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs programme

The pianist’s life is, by necessity, lonely. One of the main reasons pianists spend so much time alone is that we must practise more than other musicians because we have many more notes and symbols to decode, learn and upkeep. This prolonged solitary process may eventually result in a public performance, at which we exchange the loneliness of the practise room for the solitude of the concert platform.

Most of us do not choose the piano because we are loners – such decisions are usually based on our emotions, motor skills or the aural appeal of the instrument. For me, as a child – and an only child – the piano was a companion and a portal to a world of exploration, fantasy and storytelling. It remains a place to retreat to and time spent with the instrument and its literature can be therapeutic, rebalancing and uplifting. For many of us, being alone is the time when the sense of being at one with the instrument is strongest.

In addition, there is time alone spent listening to recordings – one’s own (for self-evaluation) and by others (for inspiration and ideas on interpretative possibilities, or purely for relaxation) – and time simply recovering from practising and refocusing in readiness for the next session. Many pianists tend to be loners – the career almost demands it and self-reliance is something one learns early on, as a musician – but that does not necessarily make pianists lonely or unsociable.

To me it’s always about connection – connecting with parts of myself, with the thoughts and feelings of the composer, and ultimately sharing with an audience. It’s travelling through time and space to experience other eras and cultures…..I can’t think of anything that makes me feel less lonely!

Stephen Marquiss, pianist & composer

The life of the concert soloist is a strange calling, yet many concert pianists accept the loneliness as part of the package, together with the other accessories of the trade. The concert pianist experiences a particular kind of solitude (as noted by Stephen Hough in the quote at the beginning of this article). The solitude of travelling alone – the monotony of airport lounges, the Sisyphean accumulation of air miles, nights spent alone in faceless hotels. Dining alone, sleeping alone, breakfast alone, rising early to practise alone. And there is the concert itself: waiting backstage, alone, in the green room, and then the moment when you cross the stage, entirely alone….. The pianist Martha Argerich has described the “immense” space around the piano that has always made her feel alone on stage. But it is this aloneness, this separation, which the solo pianist exploits for the purpose of captivating and seducing the audience, drawing them into his or her own private world for the duration of the performance.

I suppose being an introvert in a ‘public performance’ profession has been my greatest challenge. It isn’t straightforward, of course – I seem to have a deep need to communicate music to an audience and get their reaction, and I love to be appreciated, but there are many other aspects of being ‘on show’ that don’t come naturally. I’m very interested in people, but I’m quite a private person and need lots of time to myself.

Susan Tomes, pianist and writer

The traditional positioning of the piano on stage, so that the pianist sits side on to the audience, heightens this sense of separation and aloneness. In a concert, the pianist must navigate a path between private, subjective feelings and public expression in a curious display of both isolation and exhibitionism. The power of performer, and performance, is this separateness from the mass of audience. Some performers may exploit this to create a sense of “us and them”, while others are adept at creating an intensity or intimacy of sound and gesture during which the audience may feel as if they have a private window onto the pianist’s unique world, in that moment.

Up there on the stage, one can feel more alone than anyone would ever care to be, yet it can make one better than one thinks possible because one’s ego is constantly being tested when one plays. To meet a Beethoven sonata head on, for example, it stops being about you – how fast you can play, how technically accomplished you are. Instead it is about getting beyond oneself, becoming ego-less, humble in the face of this great music, developing a sense of oneness with the composer…..

After the performance, when the greeting of the audience and CD signing is over, the pianist may happily retreat to his or her solitary practise room or studio. Many of us long for this special solitude and actively relish the time spent practising alone.

The internet and social media have, for many of us, been a huge support in relieving feelings of loneliness and separation. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms enable us to connect with pianists and other musicians around the world, allowing us to preserve our solitude, while also engaging meaningfully with others when required.

(C) 2017-2021 by Interlude.

Khatia Buniatishvili: “Beyond the Eccentricity of Planet Pogorelich”

 By: Georg Predota

(C) 2021 Interlude

Khatia Buniatishvili

One of the most visually glittering pianists today, Khatia Buniatishvili steadily appears on television sets, front covers of glossy magazines and every imaginable social media outlet. She certainly attracts attention; on the cover of a recent Schubert release, Khatia takes on the physical persona of the famous corpse Ophelia, prompting a critic to sheepishly ask, “artistic or airheaded?” Unquestionably, she is one of the most highly sought after pianists, and readily appears in the world’s most prestigious concert halls. And it is her appearance in outfits with often plunging necklines that have earned her various nicknames, including the “Betty Boop” of the piano, and “the pop star of the classical music world.” For some, Khatia is a phenomenon “titillating the classical public… shaking and disrupting this fragile world.” To others, she is a “Lady Gaga or Beyoncé craving attention, with fashion as the best kind of projection.” To me, this simply begs the question of what makes Khatia Buniatishvili tickhatia Buniatishvili was born in the town of Batoumi near the Black Sea on 21 June 1987. At that time, Georgia was still under Soviet authority, and life was anything but placid. When Georgia declared independence in 1991, every day became a struggle for survival and for keeping poverty at bay. “Early on, I got a taste of what real discipline is,” she explains, “and of how a human being can develop their imaginary world amidst a schedule that’s busy and difficult both mentally and physically.” Khatia was introduced to music by her mother, who apparently also instilled her with a sense of fashion by “sewing together magnificent dresses for her two daughters from bits of cloth she had managed to scavenge.” Khatia had discovered the piano at the age of three, and her mother would leave a new musical score on the piano each day. By age 6, Khatia first appeared publically with the Tbilisi Chamber Orchestra in the Concerto Op. 44 by Isaac Berkovich, a composer closely associated with the Soviet regime. That highly successful debut resulted in the invitation to tour internationally with the orchestra.

In Tbilisi, Khatia took lessons with the renowned Georgian Chopin interpreter Tengiz Amirejibi, and it was during a local piano competition that she met Oleg Maisenberg. He convinced her to come to Vienna and study with him. She arrived in Vienna full of enthusiasm, and became an eager student. “I wanted to absorb everything I could, and the University had virtually unlimited knowledge on offer.” She still has only praise for Oleg Maisenberg, whom she describes as a magnificent musician of unlimited imagination and depth. “Every lesson was a work of art and remains deeply engraved in my memory.” Khatia’s rise to fame began in earnest in 2008, when she was awarded the 3rd prize and the Public prize by the prestigious Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master competition in Tel-Aviv. In the same year she was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, and she issued her first album in 2011 with works by Franz Liszt. Concurrently with her rapid rise to fame, Khatia is determined to follow her own path. And once she sits down at the piano, everything goes, including attitude, emotion, and outfit.

Khatia Buniatishvili is adamant about the freedom of her performances, and she defends her right to “re-appropriate each work and to perform them without necessarily respecting the tradition or model imposed by her predecessors.” The human being stands squarely in the center of her art, as “we can subtly reveal our emotions all the while staying perfectly intimate with our instrument.” Emotion is her guiding and motivating force, and she is in love with complexity and paradoxes, not complications and oppositions. Her music is fundamentally bound to political activism, as she is involved in numerous social rights project, including among others the DLDwomen13 Conference in Munich, or the United Nation’s 70th Anniversary Humanitarian Concert benefiting Syrian refuges. Khatia Buniatishvili refuses all invitations to perform in Russia as long as president Putin is in power. As to Khatia’s musical performances, they have either been called “hauntingly original” or “beyond the eccentricity of Planet Pogorelich.” This fundamental disagreement depends on how commentators interpret the communicative aspects of music, and that surely includes attire and all other performative aspects. 

Forgotten Pianists: Aldo Ciccolini

By: Anson Yeung 

Aldo Ciccolini © WRTI

A celebrated interpreter of Erik Satie’s music, Aldo Ciccolini (1925 – 2015) was born and raised in Naples, Italy. Enrolled at the Naples Conservatory at the age of 9 as an exceptional case, he studied with Paolo Denza, a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni, and became the youngest professor at the Conservatory at 22. Despite his aristocratic roots, he had to support his family by performing in bars after World War II.

His victory in Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition in 1949 (first prize shared with the Bulgarian pianist Ventsislav Yankov) opened the international performing stage to him. Subsequently settled in Paris, Ciccolini studied with masters of the French school (if such generalisation is allowed), including Marguerite Long, Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat. He also proved himself to be an outstanding pedagogue, having taught students like Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Akiko Ebi and Fabio Luisi at the Conservatoire de Paris.

© Wikipedia

Although he spent the earlier part of his life in Italy, he considered himself to possess a “French soul”. This could also be seen through his fondness for French music amongst his vast repertoire, including Satie, Debussy, Saint-Saëns and the lesser-known composers Déodat de Séverac and Alexis de Castillon.

His choice of repertoire, together with his understated style (a combination of non-flashy demeanour and emotional restraint), probably explained why he didn’t receive the acclaim of some of his peers. That said, he was of course capable of handling the “warhorse” repertoire, including piano concerti by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff and complete Beethoven piano sonatas. Always noble and lyrical, his playing possessed a rare quality that countless pianists aspire to achieve – that is, to deceive listeners into perceiving piano not as a percussive instrument but instead a human voice with nuances and intonations.

He continued to actively concertise until the very end of his life, with no discernible decline in technical command and perhaps even greater authority. In this extravagant Tarantella, he revealed his virtuosic temperament with his electrifying reading. It’s hard to imagine how an 85-year-old could pull off such an unfailingly impressive performance. It had everything – exuberance, brilliance and elegance. The underlying pulse was steady with spontaneous rubato, while passagework was tackled with clarity and filigree.

Erik Satie: 3 Gnossiennes (Aldo Ciccolini, piano)

Abstract music like this requires a kind of musical instinct to make sense of it. Ciccolini, having championed Satie’s works like no other pianist, certainly had that. It can easily sound bland and uninspired in the wrong hands, but he brought out the nonchalance characteristic of Satie’s music so finely without over-interpretation.

This article wouldn’t be complete without visiting this timeless rendition of Elgar’s Salut d’Amour.

This is not youthful love, but an aged man reminiscing about the bittersweet memories – full of affectation, remembrance and yearning. The first few seconds could give goosebumps and reduce one to tears with its purity and serenity. It’s unbelievable how Ciccolini gently stroke the keys and conjured up not only a plethora of colours but also memories and emotions from the bottom of our hearts. It’s so simple yet at the same time so sophisticated – in its richness of tonal colours, suppleness of phrasing and wealth of emotions – distilling the complex facets of love into this ethereal performance, from which his artistry truly emanated.

Aldo Ciccolini, what a legendary pianist!

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Best pieces of minimalist classical music for ultimate relaxation

10 best pieces of minimalist classical music for ultimate relaxation. Picture: Getty

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

@rosiepentreath

From Michael Nyman to Meredith Monk, we bliss out in some of the most mesmerising, hypnotic and calming minimalist music ever written.

The guiding principle of minimalist music, said founding father of the genre Terry Riley, is producing simple, repeated patterns of notes.

“Essentially,” he said, “my contribution was to introduce repetition into Western music as the main ingredient without any melody over it, without anything... just repeated patterns, musical patterns.”

Repetitive patterns can make for a mesmerising and ultimately hypnotising listening experience, perfect for unwinding and taking some time to reflect.

We’ve dug through the minimalist music canon to find some of the very best and most relaxing pieces written in the genre.

1. Terry Riley: In C (1964)

   Want the most simple, happy and hypnotic minimalist music there is? Head to American composer Terry Riley and try his repetitive and relentless minimalist work, In C.

   Composed in 1964, it’s scored for an undefined number of performers – although Riley suggests a group of 35 is about right – and consists of 53 short, numbered musical phrases that may be repeated by each musician in the ensemble as many times as they like, at their discretion. It sounds like it shouldn’t work but somehow does.

2. Julius Eastman: Femenine No. 1, Prime (1974)

   Eastman was an American composer, pianist, vocalist, and dancer, and his music is characterised by repeating that slowly evolve and eventually dissolve. ‘Prime’ from Femenine is poised and unhurried, a beautiful example of what he called his “organic music” style.

3. Arvo Pärt: Für Alina (1976)

   Arvo Pärt is an Estonian minimalist composer who invented the ‘tintinnabulum’ style of music – ‘tintinnabuli’ meaning ‘bell-like’.

   Für Alina makes minimal use of the notes of the piano to portray an evocative and sublime moment of calm.

   “Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers, in my life, my music, my work,” the composer says. “In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity.”

4. Meredith Monk: Ellis Island (1981)

   Meredith Monk is an American composer, singer and multimedia creator. She composed Ellis Island, a work for two pianists, for her own film of the same name, in 1981. The film is a series of meditative, thought-provoking scenes that explore the experience of immigrants entering America at the turn of the century.

5. Philip Glass: Glassworks No. 1, Opening (1982)

   One of the fathers of modern minimalism, Glass has composed numerous works for piano, orchestra and film in the genre. His 1982 collection for piano and chamber group, Glassworks, includes textbook examples of the Glass minimalist style, and ‘Opening’ is beautifully graceful and contemplative.

6. Steve Reich, Different Trains (1988)

   American composer Steve Reich composed Different Trains for string quartet and recorded tape – notably tape featuring human voices, produced to form melodies. The three-movement experimental work traces contrasting train journeys in America and Europe around the time of the Second World War – Reich confronting poignantly that, as a Jewish man, his own train journeys during the war would have been very different had he been in Europe at the time.

7. Michael Nyman: The Heart Asks Pleasure First (1993)

8. Michael Nyman wrote a melody-led minimalist soundtrack for the 1993 film, The Piano. The melody of the theme music, ‘The Heart Asks Pleasure First’, is simple, ravishing and reflective, and the repetitive music underneath swirls and churns underneath to create a profound sense of wonderment and hope.

   Ludovico Einaudi: I Giorni (2006) 

9. Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi studied in the European modernist tradition with the likes of Luciano Berio and Karlheinz Stockhausen, but when he discovered the work of American minimalists, he brought a simplicity and clarity into his composing style. His piano works like ‘I Giorni’ are understated, but powerfully reflective in their simplicity.

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12. John Luther Adams: Become Ocean (2014)

    American composer John Luther Adams’ 2014 work, Become Ocean, was awarded that year’s music Pulitzer Prize. The composer, who regularly writes music inspired by nature, was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony to compose a work that reflected the stunning waters of the Pacific Northwest.

    The work unfurls and expands with a sensation evocative of a solo swim through vast, open water. “My hope,” the composer said, “is that the music creates a strange, beautiful, overwhelming – sometimes even frightening – landscape, and invites you to get lost in it.” Listening, it’s almost as we if we ourselves do become ocean.

13. Max Richter: Sleep (2015)

    German-British composer Richter’s Sleep is an eight-and-a-half-hour-long piece inspired by the very essence of slumber. His beautiful minimalist music aims to push back against our increasingly mechanised, fast-paced and ‘switched-on’ modern society, and he gave the beautiful music glacially-paced melodies that slide in and out of focus – just like sleep. Sublime.

Andrea Bocelli’s ‘Ich Liebe Dich’ father-daughter duet is too much for our hearts

Andrea Bocelli’s ‘Ich Liebe Dich’ father-daughter duet is too much for our hearts. Picture: Instagram / @andreabocelliofficial

By Sian Moore, ClassicFM London

 

Andrea Bocelli sang beside daughter Virginia as she played the Beethoven love song on the piano, for their first ever duet.

It was a special moment for Andrea Bocelli when he joined his youngest child for a heartwarming father-daughter duet.

After spending many days together in their home last year, Bocelli and then eight-year-old Virginia had been practizing Beethoven’s ‘Ich liebe dich’ (‘Tender Love’), and the young pianist was ready to play it in its entirety.

As Bocelli sang the opening line to Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Herrosee’s poem, his daughter seamlessly began to play Beethoven’s love song on the piano beside him.

The result is a tender, heartwarming collaboration between a world-famous tenor and his child...

The clip was first shared by the Italian singer on 3 May, 2020.

“Little Virginia has been working hard over the past few weeks to honor her obligations,” he captioned the video.

“We now present our first duet, a jewel created long ago but which remains wonderfully current, a lied which speaks of love with an infinite tenderness.”

Bocelli goes on to reveal that, after hours of practice together at the piano, the piece had become the pair’s song.

He added: “Thanks to the great Beethoven who, with his setting of an amateur’s poem (Karl Friedrich Herrosee), built a mountain out two blades of grass.”

The tenor is no stranger to performing alongside his children.

21 of the greatest women composers in classical music

 By ClassicFM London

From Hildegard in the 12th century through to the present day, women have made a significant contribution to classical music which has often been overlooked...

1. 

   1. Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

   Not only a composer of some 70 works, Hildegard was a writer, mystic and visionary. As a Benedictine Abbess, she founded two monasteries. One of her compositions, the Ordo Virtutum, is the oldest surviving morality play. It features melodies for the human soul and 16 virtues, but the Devil for once doesn't get any of the best tunes – he has a speaking role.

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   2. Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)

   Singer, lutenist, poet and teacher, Caccini was the daughter of the great Renaissance composer, Giulio Caccini. She became one of the most influential female European composers but very little of her music survives. Her stage work, 'La liberazione di Ruggiero', is considered to be the first opera by a woman.

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   3. Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

   Barbara Strozzi was said to be 'the most prolific composer – man or woman – of printed secular vocal music in Venice' in the middle of the 17th century. Her unique output only contains secular vocal music, with the exception of just one volume of sacred songs. The large majority of her works were written for soprano.

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   4. Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704)

   At 16, Leonarda entered a convent where she stayed for the rest of her life. She was one of the most productive woman composers of her time, as well as a teacher for the other nuns. Her 'Sonate da chiesa' was historic in that it was an instrumental composition rather than vocal. She is one of only two Italian women known to have written instrumental music.

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   5. Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)

   Louise Farrenc received piano lessons from masters such as Ignaz Moscheles and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Following her marriage, she interrupted her studies to play concerts with her husband, the flautist Aristide Farrenc. Despite her brilliance as a performer and composer, she was paid less than her male counterparts for nearly a decade. Only after the triumphant premiere of her Nonet for wind and strings - in which the violinist Joseph Joachim took part -did she demand and receive equal pay.

6. 6. Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)

   Sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny composed more than 460 works, including a piano trio and several books of piano pieces and songs. A number of her works were originally published under Felix's name. Her piano works are often in the style of songs and carry the title, ‘Song without Words.’ This style of piece was successfully developed by Felix, though some assert that Fanny preceded him in the genre.

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   7. Clara Schumann (1819-1896)

   The wife of Robert Schumann and herself one of the most distinguished pianists of her time, Clara enjoyed a 61-year concert career. Her father Friedrich Wieck taught her to compose and she wrote her Piano Concerto at the age of 14. She largely lost confidence in her composing in her mid-30s. ‘I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea;’ she said, ‘a woman must not desire to compose — there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?’

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   8. Teresa Carreño (1853-1917)

   This Venezuelan pianist, singer and composer performed for Abraham Lincoln at the White House in 1863 and at several of Henry Wood's promenade concerts. She composed at least 40 works for piano, two for voice and piano, two for choir and orchestra, and two pieces of chamber music. Her song 'Tendeur' was a hit in her time. Remarkably, a crater on Venus is named after her.

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   9. Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)

   Chaminade was composing from an early age, even playing some of her music to Georges Bizet when she was eight. She wrote mostly pieces for piano and salon songs, which were hugely popular in America. She composed a Konzertstück for piano, the ballet music to 'Callirhoé' and other orchestral works. The composer Ambroise Thomas once said of her, 'This is not a woman who composes, but a composer who is a woman.'

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    10. Amy Beach (1867-1944)

    America's first successful woman composer, Amy Beach was an accomplished pianist who agreed, after her marriage, to limit her piano performances to one charity recital a year. After her husband died, she toured Europe as a pianist, playing her own compositions to great acclaim. Her music is mainly Romantic, although in her later works she experimented with more exotic harmonies and techniques. Her most famous works include the Mass in E-flat major and the Gaelic Symphony. Picture: Getty

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    11. Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979)

    Harrow-born Clarke is best known for her chamber music for the viola, which she wrote for herself and the all-female chamber ensembles she played in. Her works - including a Viola Sonata - were strongly influenced by several trends in 20th century classical music, particularly the impressionism of Claude Debussy. Clarke knew many leading composers of the day, including Ravel, with whom her work has been compared.

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    12. Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)

    Tailleferre was the only woman in the group of French composers, Les Six. Encouraged and inspired by her friends – including Poulenc and Ravel – she wrote many of her most important works during the 1920s, including her first Piano Concerto, the Harp Concertino, the ballets 'Le marchand d'oiseaux' and 'La nouvelle Cythère'. She was composing and playing piano right up until her death at the age of 91.

14. 

    13. Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)

    Boulanger's talent was evident at the age of two, when Gabriel Fauré discovered she had perfect pitch. Her parents encouraged her musical education. At the age of 19 she won the Prix de Rome composition prize for her 'Faust et Hélène', becoming the first woman composer to win the prize. She died tragically young. The asteroid 1181 Lilith was named in her honour.

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    14. Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)

    Composer and active campaigner, Smyth’s 'March of the Women' became the anthem of the suffragetes. She even served two months in Holloway Prison for breaking a window. When conductor Thomas Beecham went to visit her, he found suffragettes singing in the quad, as Smyth leaned out of a window conducting with her toothbrush.

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    15. Judith Weir (b.1954)

    Judith Weir trained with John Tavener. Her music often draws on sources from medieval history, as well as the traditional stories and music of her native Scotland. She is best known for her operas - including 'Blond Eckbert' and 'Armida' - and theatrical works, although she has also achieved international recognition for her orchestral and chamber works.

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    16. Anne Dudley (b.1956)

    Dudley is best known as one of the core members of the band Art of Noise and as a film composer. In 1998, she won an Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score for ‘The Full Monty.’ In addition to more than 20 other film scores. She recently served as music producer for the film version of ‘Les Misérables’, also acting as arranger and composing some new additional music.

19. 

    17. Jocelyn Pook (b.1960)

    As a viola player, Pook played with many pop acts including The Communards and Massive Attack. Her career as a film composer took off when music from her album 'Flood' were used in Stanley Kubrick’s film, 'Eyes Wide Shut' with Tom Cruise (pictured). Pook has since worked on the 2004 film version of 'The Merchant of Venice' and a short opera, 'Ingerland', for the Royal Opera.

20. 

    18. Rachel Portman (b.1960)

    Portman’s career began with TV films such as 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'. She has since written the scores for dozens of films, including 'Chocolat' and 'The Cider House Rules.' She was the first female composer to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Musical or Comedy Score - for 'Emma' in 1996.

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    19. Debbie Wiseman (b.1963)

    Film and TV composer, Debbie Wiseman is best known for her score to 'Wilde' (pictured), nominated for Best Original Film Score in the 1997 Ivor Novello Awards. Wiseman is a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music, and regularly gives lectures to schools and colleges about the art of composing music for films and television.

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    20. Roxanna Panufnik (b.1968)

    Daughter of the Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik, Roxanna has written a wide range of pieces including opera, ballet, music theatre, choral works, chamber compositions and music for film and TV which are regularly performed all over the world. Among her most widely performed works is 'Westminster Mass', commissioned for Westminster Cathedral Choir on the occasion of Cardinal Hume's 75th birthday.

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    21. Phamie Gow (b.1980)

    The composer and multi-instrumentalist studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and, by the age of 19, had released two albums - 'Winged Spirit ' and 'Lammermuir' where her compositional skills came to the fore. Her composition 'War Song' has appeared on a number of best-selling compilations.