Archive for February, 2007

Richter on Yahoo!

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

 
Why is Sviatoslav Richter on the front page of Yahoo? Well, because of this:
Richter playing Chopin etude Op. 10 No. 4 - Yahoo! video
He was one of the technically best pianists of the last century, which the video shows dramatically from the top down. Funny how Yahoo doesn’t bother to mention the piece he’s playing. It’s Chopin’s […]

Any Old Way You Play It

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

Some of you may ask a very simple question about classical music…what is so great about music that is so traditional that all classical musicians have to learn to play the same pieces, which if you called them cliches would be cliche in and of itself?
The answer is…well, stunning. The same old pieces can sound really different […]

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Monday, February 5th, 2007

What you first notice when the lights go down in the theater is that the voice coming through the speaker is telling you to have a nice flight. Surely, it is an attempt to be witty and not actually alluding to the show which is Benjamin Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But when two […]

My Body is a Cage

Sunday, February 4th, 2007

As if the organ on the song Intervention wasn’t enough, The Arcade Fire gives it a pretty major role in My Body Is A Cage, another great song from their Neon Bible album.
The song reminds me of going to Lutheran church growing up. There would always be the large sound of the pipe organ to […]

The Other 70th Birthday

Friday, February 2nd, 2007

With all of my rantings on Reich’s 70th birthday, let’s not forget the 70th birthday of fellow minimalist Philip Glass.   
He’s been one of the most prolific compoers today. Just last year, he scored The Illusionist and Notes on a Scandal. He’s been Oscar-nominated three times, including one for Notes.
And even without seeing the movie, […]