Sunday, April 30, 2023

Iosif Ivanovici - Donauwellen Walzer (Waves of the Danube Waltz)


"Waves of the Danube" (Romanian: Valurile Dunării; German: Donauwellen; French: Flots du Danube; Russian: Дунайские Волны) is a waltz composed by Iosif Ivanovici (1845--1902) in 1880, and is one of the most famous Romanian tunes in the world. In the United States, it is frequently referred to as "The Anniversary Song", a title given by Al Jolson when he and Saul Chaplin released an adaptation of the song in 1946. "Waves of the Danube" was first published in Bucharest, 1880. It was dedicated to Emma Gebauer, the wife of music publisher Constantin Gebauer.

Friday, April 28, 2023

Eric Clapton - Change The World (Live Video) | Warner Vault


Change The World by Eric Clapton from the album Eric Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton © 1999 🔔  Subscribe & Turn on notifications to stay updated with new uploads! Lyrics: If I could reach the stars Pull one down for you Shine it on my heart So you could see the truth That this love I have inside Is everything it seems But for now I find It's only in my dreams [Chorus] And I can change the world I will be the sunlight in your universe You would think my love was really something good Baby if I could change the world If I could be king Even for a day I'd take you as my queen I'd have it no other way And our love would rule In this kingdom we have made 'Til then I'd be a fool Wishing for the day And I can change the world I would be the sunlight in your universe You would think my love was really something good Baby if I could change the world Baby if I could change the world I could change the world I would be the sunlight in your universe You would think my love was really something good Baby if I could change the world Baby if I could change the world Baby if I could change the world Stream & download the song here: ***

Composer’s Pianos: Halévy and Bizet

By Maureen Buja

Alex Cobbe’s piano collection at Hatchlands Park has one massive square piano that was immensely practical to its two composer owners.

How do composers compose? We’re familiar with the images from movies, the composer with one hand on the keyboard and the other, pencil poised, over the music paper. In this picture of Cole Porter, we can see the advantage of being left-handed!

Cole Porter, composing at the piano

Cole Porter, composing at the piano

Nonetheless, composers with means and connections could have their needs accommodated. The French composer Fromental Halévy commissioned the French piano maker Roller to make him a piano that combined the keyboard with a desk. The top of his square piano has three leather-covered sections, as was common for desks at the time, placed at a height convenient for writing. Notice that the keyboard slides back into the instrument when not needed. Notice also the handles on the side of the case to help when moving the heavy instrument / piece of furniture around.

Composing Table Piano, 1855

Composing Table Piano, 1855

Halévy (1799- 1862) had a successful late career as an opera composer, but all of his works, including his most famous, La Juive, have fallen out of the repertoire.

Fromental Halévy

Fromental Halévy


Upon Halévy’s death in 1862, his daughter, Geneviève, brought the piano to her husband, the composer Georges Bizet. Bizet had been a student of Halévy’s at the Paris Conservatoire. The piano remained in the Halévy family’s possession until its current owner purchased it.

Geneviève Bizet (Jules-Élie Delaunay)

Geneviève Bizet (Jules-Élie Delaunay)

When Bizet received this piano, he was only 24 and all of his major works, including The Pearl Fishers (1863), La jolie fille de Perth (1866), and, most importantly, Carmen (1873-74) all lay ahead of him to be composed on this instrument.

Georges Bizet

Georges Bizet



Thursday, April 27, 2023

NEVER LET ME GO (2010) - Rachel Portman - Soundtrack Score Suite


Few films are more irritating than those that use a completely unexplained and unsubstantiated science fiction premise to pursue a narrowly focused dramatic narrative. Mark Romanek's 2010 arthouse film Never Let Me Go, based on the acclaimed Kazuo Ishiguru novel, is a tearjerker no doubt, slowly and solemnly following the doomed lives of a trio of youngsters grown from test tubes for the single purpose of serving as organ donors. There exists in society a sub-class of such youth that are harvested and eventually (and prematurely) put to death as part of a widely accepted organ replacement program that devalues the people being used within it. Complications arise when the most progressive school raising these laboratory children yields three people in a troubled love triangle, forcing society to deal with the possibility (surprise, surprise!) that these youths actually can love and have souls. In its limited initial release, Never Let Me Go was praised for tackling this premise, but many critics admitted that it's a bit too heavily introspective for its own good. The blinding problem with this otherwise compelling story is the total disregard of any addressing of the larger civil rights issues that would never allow such a public practice to exist in today's world. It's one thing to postulate that society will have degraded enough by Bladerunner to accept replicated people with an artificially limited lifespan, but for Never Let Me Go to suggest that an entire class of essentially slaves to the rest of humanity (and ones as attractive as Kiera Knightley, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield, for that matter) would be generally accepted in the 1960's and beyond is ludicrous. Regardless of America's degrading social mores, the country still has too much empathy to allow an entire class of children, whether grown in tubes or not, to be brainwashed and harvested in such a morbid fashion. Too many questions abound to make Never Let Me Go a viable film, but for those who can suspend logic for a few hours, it's powerfully acted melodrama made complete (no pun intended for those familiar with the concept) by Rachel Portman's equally depressing score. Once considered the mainstream queen of romantic music, replacing both John Barry and Georges Delerue for a short time in the 1990's, Portman has limited her composing schedule in the 2000's as she raises her family. Her musical output in recent years has been reduced to predictable assignments of her choice, usually dealing with deeply developed female characters in a dramatic setting. In this regard, nothing about what she writes for Never Let Me Go should surprise anyone. Since her work for Infamous in 2006, Portman's next five scores have all resided snugly in her stylistic comfort zone, none really as much so as Never Let Me Go. There is nothing new to be heard here, and it could be argued quite effectively that the film's dulling sense of gloom, largely maintained by extremely slow pacing, is only exacerbated by Portman's contribution. The ensemble is the composer's usual, beginning with strings and layering piano, harp, flute, clarinet, and oboe. Satisfying additions are solo violin and cello, obviously addressing societal alienation. The tone of the score is always harmonic and rooted in respective beauty, only touching upon grim atmosphere in a few cues late. The structures are repetitive and simplistic. Three themes exist, led by Portman's usual, lovely string idea similar in its flow to so many of her past efforts but still attractive none the less. The first two themes are the selling point of the score on album, and they occupy the first six cues almost exclusively. This dozen or so minutes of early material makes for an extremely and undemanding Portman listening experience, during which the highlights are the various solos. The clarinet and oboe performances in "To the Cottages" and especially "Madame is Coming" are classic Portman.

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Mantovani And His Orchestra - And I Love You So



lost in love - Air Supply


The music belongs to the rightful owner. Lyrics I realize the best part of love is the thinnest slice And it don't count for much But I'm not letting go I believe there's still much to believe in So lift your eyes if you feel you can Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan I figured it out What I needed was someone to show me You know you can't fool me I've been loving you too long It started so easy You want to carry on (carry on) Lost in love and I don't know much Was I thinking aloud and fell out of touch? But I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you wanted So lift your eyes if you feel you can (feel you can) Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan (show you a plan) I figured it out What I needed was someone to show me (oh, oh-oh) You know you can't fool me I've been loving you too long (I've been loving you too long) It started so easy You want to carry on (carry on) Lost in love and I don't know much Was I thinking aloud and fell out of touch? But I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you wanted You know you can't fool me I've been loving you too long It started so easy You want to carry on (on, carry on) Lost in love and I don't know much Was I thinking aloud and fell out of touch? But I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you wanted Now I'm lost (lost in love and I don't know much) Lost in love (was thinking aloud and fell out of touch) Lost in love (but I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you wanted) Lost in love Now I'm lost (lost in love and I don't know much) I'm lost in love (was thinking aloud and fell out of touch) I'm lost in love (but I'm back on my feet and eager to be what you wanted) Lost in love

Monday, April 24, 2023

Paco Park Presents: Puso ng Kundiman, Serenades from a String Quartet and Sopranos

BY MANILA BULLETIN ENTERTAINMENT


AT A GLANCE

  • The concert, brought to you by the Department of Tourism, the National Parks Development Committee, and Sound Experience Manila, features Sopranos Sherine Koa and Isabela Madero; and String Quartet Monching Carpio, Adrik Cristobal, Patrick Roxas, and Iqui Vinculado.


Paco Park presents 0505 final.png
Paco Park presents : Puso ng Kundiman

In celebration of National Heritage Month, music lovers are in for a musical treat with 'Paco Park Presents: Puso ng Kundiman,' a free concert open to everyone, happening on May 5, 6 p.m, in Paco Park.

The concert, brought to you by the Department of Tourism, the National Parks Development Committee, and Sound Experience Manila, features Sopranos Sherine Koa and Isabela Madero; and String Quartet Monching Carpio, Adrik Cristobal, Patrick Roxas, and Iqui Vinculado.

As a showcase and a celebration of our rich and vibrant Filipino culture, "Puso ng Kundiman" seeks to portray the best of Filipino Kundiman songs. Kundiman is a classic and undying form of Filipino expression and emotion, a genre that has survived our national hardships, and a bearer of our culture’s memories and identity. Artistically relevant and integrally inseparable from our history, Kundiman is characterized by its rhythmic patterns and its melodious serenading progression.

Audience members can expect an enchanting evening filled with music that is uniquely Filipino. The performers will bring to life the emotions and stories embedded in each song through their soulful and heartfelt performances. To offer their talents are two renowned sopranos, Sherine Koa and Isabela Madero. Ms. Koa has an extensive and broad history in music, particularly in Opera, receiving several awards both in local and international levels such as the Most Outstanding Senior Classical Voice Performer at the VAYA International Music Festival, Canada last 2021, among many others. Ms. Madero, not to be remiss, is acclaimed in her own right, receiving the first place in the Tokyo International Youth Music Competition, among, as well, many other awards and recognitions.

The guitar Quartet is composed of four accomplished classical guitarists, each with their unique style and impressive achievements. Comprised of Ramoncito Carpio, the overall director of the Manila Guitar Festival, Angelica Vinculado, the first female graduate in Classical Guitar Performance from the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music, Patrick Roxas, lecturer for Strings and Chamber Music at the UP College of Music, and Adrik Cristobal, a former active member of the Philippines Guitar Orchestra and first placer of the NAMCYA National Guitar Competition (2022), the group is poised to perform our revered Kundiman songs with the grace and elegance one can expect from such a dynamic and illustrious cast.

Don't miss 'Puso ng Kundiman' to be hosted by Ms. Lara Atienza at the historic Paco Park on May 5 starting at 6 p.m. See you there!