My second piano lesson … Lesson Two: Practicing Your Cares Away. OC Music & Dance blog, July 24, 2017.
Thoughts While Attending the First Symphony in the Series My Wife Wanted to Buy
This is both funny and, if you’re a classical music lover, kind of sad. Well, at least this fictional fellow (who is all too real) gave it a try. From The New Yorker. Essay by Kirk J. Rudell, read by
Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’: Opening chords
This video presents a chronological survey of the first two chords (E-flat major) of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, as heard in recordings from the 1920s to the present day. You will notice not only different tempos, but also different tunings (the
Not just a walk in the park: The multi-layered life of Pacific Symphony cellist Bob Vos
By JAYCE KEANE Like many of Pacific Symphony’s musicians, cellist Bob Vos is married (to Vivian, a pianist) and has a child (a 3-year-old boy, Wesley). And while many musicians in the orchestra have additional music gigs, Bob is a
Poll: Listening devices
Listening habits have changed drastically in the last decade or so. I grew up collecting records that I bought at record stores and playing them on a record player while sitting down in front of it. Now we’re more portable,
Audio: Martinu: ‘Thunderbolt P-47’
What a fun piece this is — Bohuslav Martinu’s “Thunderbolt P-47.” It was written in tribute to the great fighter planes that helped to win WWII by the Czech emigre composer in 1945. It might make a nice addition to
Music writer takes on the piano: Lesson One
The first in a series of articles I’ll be writing for OC Music & Dance: Music writer takes on the piano: Lesson One. OC Music & Dance blog, July 12, 2017.
Miscellany
(Curated news and views from around the web. Click on the highlighted links to read the full articles.) In The New Yorker, David Denby writes a fine summing up of the career of conductor Arturo Toscanini, on the occasion of
Kleiber conducts ‘Thunder and Lightning’
An old standby. If this isn’t my favorite classical video, I can’t think which one is. The great Carlos Kleiber conducts the “Thunder and Lightning” Polka by Johann Strauss, Jr. This is stupendous conducting but most everything has already been
Symphony in the Cities program
The musical agenda for this summer’s Symphony in the Cities concerts has been announced, a nice mixture of light classics and patriotic fare. Carl St.Clair, who, as always, will conduct, has selected two works each by several composers. Leonard Bernstein