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There is French narration for about a minute and a half into the first segment, but then it's just pure Bartok.

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Part six

My school responsibilities are over for now.  After teaching a lesson this morning, I had free time! For the first time in months, I didn’t have to keep track of the time, running out the door in order to be somewhere.  What a pleasure! So I had a choice.  I could have listened to the [...]

From the November/December issue of American Record Guide Buy here from MDT UK Buy here from Arkiv USA Buy here from Amazon UK Buy here from Amazon USA   “Ensemble Epomeo play with finesse and sensitivity, nicely capturing Krasa’s manic grotesqueries as … Continue reading →

Erik Joseph Campano has taken this post and added musical theater pianist skills at his excellent blog, The Orchestra Pit — Musical Theater Piano Central. Please reread my post, then follow the link at the end for Erik’s astute additions! When you read a score at the piano, what are your eyes doing? I’ve never [...]

 

 

 

The Jerusalem Quartet (front to back – Kyril Zlotnikov(cello) , Ori Kam(viola) Alexander Pavlovsky( first violin), Sergei Bresler (second violin)Photo: Alex Broede

 

“They are all great, each one of them,” says Alexander Pavlovsky, first violinist of the Jerusalem Quartet, when asked if he had any favorites within the grand total of 15 string quartets that form a thread throughout Shostakovich’s oeuvre, which mirrors its historic place and time almost like no other. The members of the Jerusalem Quartet, who all possess strong roots of Russian heritage, can certainly relate. “Even if you would not know anything about the background, against which this music developed in, it ...

first published on April 11, 2011. This has been a popular ~ and needed ~ post. I thought this might be a good time to repost it, in advance of Holy Week and Easter.  There is much hymn playing to be done! They look the same in the hymnal, mostly ~ women’s parts in treble [...]

Knowledge is the Beginning, the stirring, Emmy-award winning documentary by Paul Smaczny released in 2005 for Euro Arts Music, takes an in-depth look at the visionary joint undertaking of two creative forces: Palestinian Edward Said and Israeli Daniel Barenboim, who succeeded in setting an extraordinary example illustrating the power of music over politics.( free viewing at Symphony Space on Sunday 27^th 5.30 PM with following Q+A).

The film records the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra’s inauguration in 1999 in Weimar, whose aim was to bring together young musicians from Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, as well as international guest artists and educators, in the face of ongoing political adversity in the Middle ...

The many ways in which one of my adult students progressed in her two most recent lessons felt like they were unrelated to what we were doing that day. Four amazing things occurred in her playing!  We had worked on each step at various points in previous lessons, but not for the two weeks included [...]

As the Director of the 92^nd Street Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts, overseeing the 92Y’s concert series and Unterberg Poetry Center endowed by the Tisch Family, Hanna Arie-Gaifman indulges her deep love and knowledge of literature and music. “I came to the 92Y in 2000,“ shares Gaifman, sitting at her small desk, loaded with papers, messages, and catalogues, in her office on the 4^th floor of the Y.  The building she works in inhabits a Lexington Avenue city block between 92nd and 93rd street, and represents a staple of its surrounding community, as well as a buzzing cultural center.  “It is an amazing combination of everything ...

 

It takes real enthusiasm and a vision to bring about the change politicians speak about.  In real life, it is only the most invigorated doers, like YCA’s Susan Wadsworth, who are able to implement new strategies and changes that have an enduring significance for the future.

It all started on the ground floor loft space of a restaurant on Waverly Place in New York’s Greenwich Village. The owner, a young Armenian architect, liked the idea of Susan curating concerts at his venue. So, on his off-days he cleared away the tables and added a Young Concert Artists sign to his own sign board, and simply raised it up in front of Harout‘s, to promote the budding concert series.

 

“Steinway charged me 100 ...

There's no food like Hamantaschen for the holidays (especially following dinner at a Chinese restaurant with the whole family, which I'm looking forward to this evening).

My simple vegan recipe takes just 30 minutes to make. These have a nice pitted prune (or dried plum, if you will) in the center. No muss, no fuss.

Carina Charlton, an artist from Germany (and cellist), really captures the spirit of music in her art.



Here is a page that has photographs of some of her pieces.

 

Hear the second half, this Saturday, December 8^th, when violinist/violist Julian Rachlinand pianist Itamar Golan will continue in their quest to explore the artistry of Johannes Brahms’ complete cycle of sonatas for violin and viola, at the 92Y.(concerts here start at 7.30)

The high-spirited team began their ambitious endeavor with great gusto yesterday evening (December 5^th) during their first of two performances encompassing Brahms’ complete sonata cycle for violin/viola and piano.

“Julian is the kind of artist that’s truly spontaneous, and in that sense fabulously adventurous, yet at the same time a little unpredictable to the collaborator. So you always have to be on the lookout for surprises. That ...

We’re only days away from next week’s Orchestra of the Swan concert and recording sessions, and everyone involved is getting excited about meeting up again with our old friends, Bobby and Hans. Our previous encounters have been most memorable. This … Continue reading →

From the December, 2012 Issue of Gramophone Magazine Critic’s Choice “Ensemble Epomeo provide ravishing accounts of both Gal works, fully in sympathy with the idiom…  A splendid disc I cannot get enough of.”     Buy here from MDT UK … Continue reading →

Here's a little Thanksgiving music from Rachel and Ben (pre dinner, that is). I'm so thankful for my family!

Be grateful that I spared you the spoils of the "spell" I have been in over the past couple of days. Now that I have come to the other side, I have come to accept that, professionally speaking, things are not going to get better for me where I live. I can't imagine any act of fate that would suddenly compel enough community college students to sign up for music appreciation classes in sufficient numbers to make it necessary to add another class (or two) for me to teach, so I have decided not to let it bother all that much. Perhaps other professional opportunities in the world of music (but outside my geographical area) will come my way.

I think about the really tough times in history that the composers I admire lived through. I think ...

 Yesterday was very windy and sunny.  I went out on a short errand, but left my cell phone (and camera) at home. This is what I saw! Leaves were falling fast.  Many were carried off the trees by the wind; others had already dropped, landing on branches as a first stop.  All you had to [...]

OK, it rained again.  I took these pics anyway, to see how they would come out. … and this one, taken at night and made brighter w/a photo editing program.

Yael Weiss possesses a rare commitment that compels her to recognize her responsibility as a performer in her daily existence.  “Even if I am by myself, it is absolutely essential that I always try my best to be precise in uncovering the intention of the composer, to find the meaning behind the notes,” she says. “There is thinking about music happening at every moment during practicing and of course on stage, a never ending search for the truth in the music – the reason why a particular piece was conceived as is.”

In music, the exchange of the written score between the artist and the listener happens in real time, unlike in other arts. “It’s the realization through performance in that ...