Are you more like a Romantic piano concerto or a piece of ethereal Renaissance polyphony? We've put together this quiz to find out…
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Monday, March 23, 2015
Friday, March 20, 2015
Classical Music Slowed Down 10x Sounds Absolutely Magical
We've taken some famous bits of classical music and slowed them down to 10 times slower than their normal speed. They sound truly wonderful and epic.
Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
Cannon-fire in slow motion is just about the biggest sound we can possibly imagine. If you thought Tchaikovsky's 1812 wasn't epic enough, then you're in for a gargantuan treat.
Cannon-fire in slow motion is just about the biggest sound we can possibly imagine. If you thought Tchaikovsky's 1812 wasn't epic enough, then you're in for a gargantuan treat.
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21
In its normal guise, this is a dainty, almost silly-sounding melody. Slowed down, it's the soundtrack to a chill-out room at a student party circa 1998.
In its normal guise, this is a dainty, almost silly-sounding melody. Slowed down, it's the soundtrack to a chill-out room at a student party circa 1998.
Beethoven - Waldstein Sonata
This restless, agitated piano stalwart is turned into a blissful wash of left-hand piano fudge, with the odd bit of ethereal tinkling over the top.
This restless, agitated piano stalwart is turned into a blissful wash of left-hand piano fudge, with the odd bit of ethereal tinkling over the top.
Bach - Cello Suite No. 1
Unaccompanied cello never sounded so meaty as this. Bach's iconic solo classic is now an achingly slow broken chord.
Unaccompanied cello never sounded so meaty as this. Bach's iconic solo classic is now an achingly slow broken chord.
Elgar - Cello Concerto
Who would've thought Elgar would sound like the opening to a Godspeed You Black Emperor album? Not us. It was moody before, but this is properly dark, gripping stuff.
Who would've thought Elgar would sound like the opening to a Godspeed You Black Emperor album? Not us. It was moody before, but this is properly dark, gripping stuff.
Williams - Star Wars
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away just became a whole lot longer. If you can imagine the majesty of Williams' most famous theme without being slowed down, you need to hear this.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away just became a whole lot longer. If you can imagine the majesty of Williams' most famous theme without being slowed down, you need to hear this.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Letters
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Mind-blowing: this is what really happens when you play a string instrument
By Daniel Ross, Classic FM London
This incredible DIY footage shows just what your guitar or violin strings look like when you play them.
Guitar strings wobble very strangely
So, you're playing the guitar, merrily unaware that you're creating some seriously weird shapes with the strings you're plucking. Like this:
*brain explodes*
Take a look at what this guy shows us, with only his iPhone and an acoustic guitar:
You know what? It works for violins too!
It's not just the finger-picking likes of casual guitarists that can enjoy these sonic lovelies - the string section can have exactly the same amount of fun. Look!
Now take a tour of this string quartet - you can see how lower strings and plucking produce different oscillations to higher bowed notes.
The good thing about these videos is that they were made on perfectly normal cameras that anyone can use, even if it's just your iPhone.
So why not get your battered acoustic out of the cupboard and pop your phone inside?
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Hermann Reutter - His Music and His Life
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Hermann Reutter
Born: June 17th, 1900
Died: January 1st, 1985
Country of origin: Germany
Hermann Reutter was born in Stuttgart on 17 June 1900. In 1920 he moved to Munich. After three years of singing lessons with Emma Rückbeil-Hiller (Stuttgart) and Karl Erler (München) he studied at the Munich Academy of Musical Arts composition with Walter Courvoisier and piano with Franz Dorfmüller, and organ with Ludwig Mayer.
Since 1923 he participated in the music festival of Donaueschingen and intensified his contact with the Donaueschingen circle, in particular with Paul Hindemith. Starting with 1926 he was a frequent composer in association with the annual music festival of the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein where many of his works were world premiered. He began intensive concert activities as pianist and accompanist in lieder in 1929, working together with major conductors and soloists of his period.
In 1932 he succeeded Ewald Straesser as principal teacher of composition at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart. He was appointed director of the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt on the Main four years later. In 1945 was the end of this work. He returned to Stuttgart and resumed concert activities in 1950. Two years later he was appointed professor of composition and lied interpretation at the Stuttgart Hochschule fuer Musik. In 1955 he became full member of the Berlin Akademie der Kuenste and of the Bayerische Akademie der Schoenen Kuenste, Munich. Since 1956 he was juror, later chairman, of the jury in the category Singing at the ARD competition.
He succeeded Hermann Erpf as director of the Stuttgart Hochschule fuer Musik. Since 1960 he often stayed in the USA for interpretation courses at various universities. From 1966-1974 he led the master class of lied interpretation at the Munich Musikhochschule. In 1968 he founded the Hugo Wolf Society Stuttgart, being its president until his death.
For his achievement as a composer and a teacher he was awarded (among others) the Ludwig-Spohr-Award of the City of Brunswig (1953), the Grand Cross for Distinguished Service of the Federal Republic of Germany (1959 and with Star in 1975), a Honorary doctorate of the Music and Arts Institute San Francisco and the Hugo Wolf Medal of the International Hugo Wolf Society, Vienna (both in 1976).
Hermann Reutter died in Heidenheim on 1 January 1985.
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Friday, February 20, 2015
Johann Friedrich Reichardt - His Music and His Life
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Reichardt, Johann Friedrich (born in Königsberg, 1752; died Giebichenstein, 1814). German composer, conductor, and writer. Court composer and conductor to Frederick the Great and Frederick II, 1775–94. Instituted many reforms. Visited London and Paris 1785 and again some years later. Dismissed from court post for sympathy with French Revolution. Conductor Kassel Opera (Germany) 1808. Wrote at least 12 operas, Singspiele, setting of Milton's Morning Hymn, over 1,500 songs (incl. setting of Erlkönig, highly praised by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy), and much chamber music. Author of several books on compostions.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Nine Film Scores We Can't Believe Are Not in the Hall of Fame
Superman, John Williams
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? etc. etc. Superman (1978) is surely one of John Williams’s classic movie scores. His music for Star Wars,Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, E.T. and Harry Potter have all made it into the top 300. But for reasons which are frankly a mystery to us, Superman is nowhere to be seen.
The Magnificent Seven, Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein’s 1960 score for the Western classic The Magnificent Seven is a Classic FM favourite, but glance at last year’s Hall of Fame and the iconic music for John Sturges’s film is nowhere to be found. Let’s fix that.
Raiders of the Lost Ark, John Williams
The score for everyone’s favourite (and completely daft) American adventure film is right up there with the best movie music ever written –and yet it’s missing from the Classic FM Hall of Fame. What gives?
Gone with the Wind, Max Steiner
This iconic 1939 score is notably absent from the Hall of Fame. Max Steiner’s music provides the sweeping musical backdrop to the fiery romance between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Frankly, my dears, we think it should be in the top 300 this year.
Lawrence of Arabia, Maurice Jarre
Peter O’Toole and his amazing blue eyes star in this epic re-telling of the life of T.E. Lawrence. Maurice Jarre’s atmospheric music includes not one but two overtures. If that doesn’t merit an entry in the Hall of Fame, we don’t know what does.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Ennio Morricone
Arguably, the most iconic score for a Western ever written, the music for this Clint Eastwood classic is unforgettable (sorry in advance for the earworm…). Surely that iconic whistle warrants a Hall of Fame vote?
Cinema Paradiso, Ennio Morricone
Can you believe the only Morricone score in last year’s Hall of Fame was The Mission? No. Neither can we. What about the completely charming Cinema Paradiso? If the film and the delightful score don't make you want to a) go to Sicily and/or b) become a projectionist, we’ll eat our standard-issue movie-director cap.
The Godfather, Nino Rota
But the most famous cinematic jaunt to Sicily is surely the trip in The Godfather . And Nino Rota’s score for Francis Ford Coppola’s American crime classic is surely part of the reason for its fame. Inhale the Sicilian atmosphere captured in Rota’s famous Love Theme and tell us you don’t want to immediately go and vote for this soundtrack.
The Piano, Michael Nyman
The 1993 film about a mute pianist and her daughter is as haunting a movie as you could wish for. Set on the coast of New Zealand, Jane Campion’s film is scored beautifully by Michael Nyman – and it’s a bit of a mystery to us why this wonderful score isn’t among the top 300 at the moment.
(C) 2015 by CLASSIC FM London
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