Thursday, November 30, 2023
HORST JANKOWSKI - A WALK IN THE BLACK FOREST
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23 - Anna Fedorova - Live Concert HD
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Mozart, A Lonely Island, A Sunrise And An Expatriate in The Philippines
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Les Misérables (2012) - I Dreamed A Dream Scene (1/10) | Movieclips
• Les Misérables (2012) | Movie Scenes ...
FILM DESCRIPTION:
After 19 years as a prisoner, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is freed by Javert (Russell Crowe), the officer in charge of the prison workforce. Valjean promptly breaks parole but later uses money from stolen silver to reinvent himself as a mayor and factory owner. Javert vows to bring Valjean back to prison. Eight years later, Valjean becomes the guardian of a child named Cosette after her mother's (Anne Hathaway) death, but Javert's relentless pursuit means that peace will be a long time coming.
CREDITS:
TM & © Universal (2012)
Cast: Anne Hathaway
Screenwriter: Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer, William Nicholson
Director: Tom HooperJames Horner: TITANIC Orchestra Suite - Live in Concert (HD)
Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Julian Kuerti
Horner: Titanic - Suite · Korynta · Prague Film Orchestra
/ praguefilmorchestra Light Cavalry Overture (Suppé) - Herbert von Karajan [HQ]
Friday, November 24, 2023
David Pomeranz does a musical about the Philippines
Leah C. Salterio - The Philippine Star
David Pomeranz is presently working on a musical that has something to do with the Philippines. He cannot disclose any specific details about the musical. He says, ‘It’s something I’ve been working on for quite some time with Filipina book writer, Liza Magtoto, who wrote Rak of Aegis.’ In 1995, David also wrote The Little Tramp, a musical on the life of Charlie Chaplin. He went north of San Francisco and rented himself a room cottage and locked himself all alone for three months.
MANILA, Philippines — “It’s not my 40th year in the music business,” balladeer extraordinaire, composer and lyricist David Pomeranz reiterated. “It’s my 40th year of performing in the Philippines.”
Still touring at 72, David is in the Philippines anew to stage a series of concerts in Manila all the way to Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The Coming Home tour is mounted for the first time by educator, entrepreneur and producer Dr. Carl Balita.
To date, when hundreds of thousands of Filipinos still sing his music every time he is onstage, David gets undeniably thrilled. “It’s delicious, absolutely delicious because it’s perfectly beautiful,” he remarked.
In 1983, David was invited to perform in Manila for the first time by concert promoter Renen de Guia (Ovation Productions). David performed at the Folk Arts Theater with such other balladeers as Stephen Bishop and Michael Johnson.
“Sixteen years went by and I never went back to the Philippines,” David recalled. “But I realized what I did was something awesome and special. Sixteen years later, I got another call from a different promoter. My wife and I made a decision.”
“We were ready to return to the Philippines. Whatever happens, say ‘Yes,’ I told her. I’ve never done that before in my life. After the long show, I was asked if I wanted to make an album. I was asked if I wanted to play in a mall. I said, ‘Sure,’” he added.
“The fascinating life lesson I learned then, if you just say ‘Yes,’ everything will come naturally. You don’t have to push anything. You don’t have to force anything. So that’s how it all came. I kept coming back here because I was always asked to.”
Through the years, David sang and recorded songs with such Filipino artists as Sharon Cuneta (If You Walk Away from Me Today), Ima Castro (In Our Hands and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas).
“I also performed songs with Joey Albert (Tell Me), Pops Fernandez (King and Queen of Hearts) and Vina Morales (Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow). But when I sing with them in Tagalog, I needed a tele-prompter,” he shared.
“Martin Nievera did Born for You. Sarah Geronimo recorded I’ll Be Yours. Lea Salonga’s version of This Is What I Dream is very exceptional. I also recorded (Gary Valenciano’s) Pasko Na, Sinta Ko on my Christmas album.”
Not only local artists recorded David’s songs. Cliff Richard also reimagined David’s ballad, I Still Believe in You, with a beautiful arrangement.
Barry Manilow recorded David’s hits like The Old Songs and Trying To Get the Feeling Again.
“Mny other people recorded my songs and there was always an odd experience,” David said. “Honestly, it was a little strange. When I write them, I hear the songs in my head. When I sing them, I sing them the way I heard them.”
Every time he performs any of his songs, David is not simply reliving it. “The song is always brand new,” he insisted. “Look at the audience, connect, sing to them. Brand new. It never gets old. It doesn’t die. If it dies, I might die, too. I’m so grateful.”
“That’s what I love most of all about being alive in this body. I think it has something to do with our mutual love for the beautiful melody. I was raised in Long Island, New York City and my parents would take me to Broadway shows as a very little boy,” he said.
“When I was five, my parents would play for me the West Side Story original cast album on Broadway. I just sat in one corner on the floor in our den and I wept at the depth and beauty of the work by Leonard Bernstein (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics).”
David has managed to go on an R&R (rest and recreation) to the Philippines, minus any concert schedules. “One time, I’ve been to Boracay with my family,” he said. “I haven’t been to Palawan yet. You have very nice resorts here. I’ve also been to Balesin.”
Another thing that makes David return to the Philippines, is that a number of people and local artists have been his friends for a long time.
“They are dear, loyal and good friends,” he stressed. “My wife and son, they also love coming back here because Filipinos care.”
He continued: “Family is big here. I was raised in a Jewish family in New York and we were all together and we look forward to seeing each other during the holidays.”
“In the US, there’s a tendency to make kids who see you during the holidays to say, ‘Bye, see you next Christmas.’ That’s not so new.”
On occasions, there were lots of shows that David did in the Philippines that were really special and David had the fondest memories performing here.
“I don’t particularly remember which city or province, but on occasion, there were shows that were particularly special and it had a lot to do with the audience and me together,” David shared.
“It happened several times. There were always moments of connection. It was electrifying. People cried.”
David is presently working on a musical that has something to do with the Philippines. He cannot disclose any specific details about the musical, though. “Or I will be shot,” he smilingly said.
“It’s something I’ve been working on for quite some time with Filipina book writer, Liza Magtoto, who wrote Rak of Aegis.”
In 1995, David also wrote The Little Tramp, a musical on the life of Charlie Chaplin. He went north of San Francisco and rented himself a room cottage and locked himself all alone for three months.
“Because life is so noisy,” he revealed. “It was a room with a funky mattress on the floor and I finished a two-hour musical. That had been one of my most favorite moments.”
David’s “Coming Home” concert tour is presented by Carl Balita’s Review Center (CBRC). The shows kicks off in Zamboanga at the KCC Convention Center on Dec. 3, Cagayan de Oro at the Limketkai Mall, Dec. 4, Pangasinan at the Panpacific University Events Center, Dec. 5.
David will perform at the Newport Performing Arts Theater (NPAT) on Dec. 8 with Vina Morales as a special guest, in Bicol at the Albay Astrodome on Dec. 10, Mindoro at the Calapan City Convention Center on Dec. 12, Maguindanao del Sur at the Mango Grove at the South on Dec. 13.
He will be in Samar at the Calbayog City Sports Center on Dec. 17, Iloilo at the Iloilo Convention Center, Dec. 19 and Tacloban at the Summit Hotel, Dec. 15. Prior to the Philippines, he did two shows in Perth and one in Sydney, Australia.
Amadeus Electric Quartet - Hijo de la luna (instrumental version)
Martha Argerich: Fifteen Facts About One of the Greatest Pianists Ever
by
Today, we are taking a look at the life and career of this fascinating woman and looking at fifteen facts you might not have known about her.
1. Martha Argerich was a precocious child.
Martha Argerich as a kid
She began kindergarten before her third birthday. One day, a schoolmate teased her that she couldn’t play piano. She then proceeded to sit down and play a piece by ear that their teacher had just played for them. She was just three years old.
2. Her first piano teacher was Italian pianist Vincenzo Scaramuzza.
He said of her that she may have been six, but she had the soul of a 40-year-old.
3. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Europe, and she began studying with one of the quirkiest pianists of all time.
Friedrich Gulda and Martha Argerich
His name was Friedrich Gulda, and he flouted convention by doing things like playing a concert in the nude and even faking his own death. His rebellious spirit appealed to Argerich, and although she only studied with him for eighteen months, she has cited him as one of the most important influences in her musical life.
4. When she was sixteen years old, she won two major competitions within the span of three weeks:
The Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Competition.
5. When she was a young woman, she gave up the piano for three years.
Martha Argerich
During this time, she considered becoming a doctor or a secretary. Luckily for listeners, she returned to the keyboard, and she won the 1965 Chopin competition when she was twenty-four, shortly after her break and after having given birth to her first child.
6. Her personal life has been tumultuous.
Her first husband was composer and conductor Robert Chen, a friend whom she was married to briefly in 1964. In 1969, she married conductor Charles Dutoit, who became a trusted musical collaborator. In the 1970s she was partnered with pianist Stephen Kovacevich. She had three daughters, one during each relationship.
7. Argerich was an unconventional mom.
She liked having her kids at home rather than sending them to school, and she fostered a bohemian atmosphere, often staying up all night and sleeping well past noon. She did not have custody of her first daughter, Lyda Chen, and didn’t see her very often until she was a teenager. The two have reconciled and, according to a 2016 profile in the Washington Post, mother and daughter remain close.
8. Martha Argerich speaks six languages:
Spanish (her native language), Portuguese, French, English, German, and Italian. She spoke French at home when raising her daughters.
9. She can feel “lonely” onstage.
To combat this, she has shied away from solo repertoire and focused on chamber music and concerto performances, where she has other musicians to bounce ideas off of.
10. She is notorious for canceling appearances, due to incapacitating stage fright.
This happens so often that she doesn’t sign contracts. She also loathes giving interviews, which is why you read so few of them.
11. Her repertoire is relatively small.
Martha Argerich with The Philadelphia Orchestra, 2008 © carnegiehall.org
She doesn’t like to perform pieces that she doesn’t feel a deep connection with. Her favorite composers, and the composers she feels the deepest connection to, include Schumann, Ravel, and Chopin.
12. She loves Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto so much that she has never played it in public.
She also says that hearing Stephen Kovacevich playing this concerto was the thing that made her fall in love with him. She believes she will never play it in public. It’s the only Beethoven piano concerto that she hasn’t performed.
13. She travels the world with a stuffed Paddington bear.
Argerich’s oldest daughter told Gramophone in 2021, “She is always hugging her Paddington Bear and it is falling to pieces. This is the bear that Stéphanie [her youngest daughter] offered her to protect her during her travels, and has been traveling for at least 25 years, and recently had a change of clothes which was very complicated because we could not find exactly the right red hat and blue outfit.”
14. Martha Argerich was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 1990.
She was forty-nine years old. It was treated and went into remission, but then returned five years later. Luckily, an experimental treatment in California resulted in Argerich becoming cancer-free.
15. In 2012 Stéphanie Argerich filmed a thoughtful documentary about her mother called Bloody Daughter.
In it, Martha Argerich comes across as a magnetic presence, simultaneously intense and childlike. In a poignant voiceover, Stéphanie says, “My mother is a supernatural being in touch of something beyond the reach of ordinary mortals. In fact, I’m the daughter of a goddess.”