A new friend of mine, John Dennison*, introduced me to Jacques Louissier on the way to work this morning. I poked around YouTube and found this wonderful video which I dare you not to enjoy.
So, of course, I have a new add to my Amazon wishlist.
* I find it absolutely hilarious that I know someone with his own Wikipedia entry.
For all who have enjoyed Rob Kapilow’s What Makes it So Great? series on NPR, you might like to know that, in conjunction with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, he’s begun a video podcast of some of his concerts. You can find info about it and subscribe to it here. So far he’s delved into Bach’s Italian Concerto, Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, and music by Palestrina. Warning: these videos are very large files, though, so you’ll need a fast connection to download them.
For those who don’t know who Rob Kapilow is, he’s a classical musician and composer who does educational concerts where he takes apart a piece of music so the audience can hear and know What Makes it Great. I remember him doing one of his concerts at BJU a few years ago where he went through Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Kapilow has also done shortened, radio-friendly educational segments on NPR.
Okay, so I didn’t get tagged with this one. But I liked the idea so much that I just had to try it out. Here are the ground rules:
Emily gives a music lesson to her youngest student to date:
Benjamin was pretty fussy before the music started, but as soon as Emily had begun playing a Bach piece, he calmed right down and watched her play. He hardly moved and didn’t make any noise unless she stopped playing. In this video, Emily’s singing “Pretty Saro,” an Appalachian folk song.
I was curious to see if Benjamin loved or hated the guitar since, when he was in the womb, he became really active every time Emily played. It appears he likes it. It remains to be seen whether he will only be a music lover (like me) or also a musician (like Emily).
I got a new CD recently and have been enjoying it more than I have enjoyed any music in quite a while. It’s called The King’s Consort Collection by, obviously, The King’s Consort. Most of their music is late medieval & baroque & classical and done on period instruments with a keen attentiveness to good soloists and a deep love for the music they’re performing. The “Collection” is just that: a sampler of a wide variety of pieces from their over 90 CDs.
I originally ordered this CD because I was looking for early-music CDs featuring Emma Kirkby or Deborah York (two of my favorite sopranos) and Amazon had the CD for only $7. I didn’t actually expect to like it so much. But let me give you a gem of a sample. Make sure you’ve got your volume turned up and are listening to this on good headphones or speakers:
Emily joked that this is the first piece of CCM because of its rest-4-5-1 beat/chord progression. It starts out with a ground bass in 4/4 and the sets of duets (really trios, with strings providing the third part for the women’s duet and the brass providing the third part for the men’s) are in the same 4/4 tempo. Yet, halfway through, the duets switch to a slightly more lyrical tempo of 3/4 while the ground bass just keeps on in 4/4, creating a saucy 6/8 mix. Then everyone stops and goes into a traditional Gloria followed by a quick repeat of the beginning spunk. It’s a marvelous piece—one I think I’d include on my short list of the Funkiest Pieces of Classical Music Ever*. I’m just picturing the red-robed cardinals in the Basilica di San Marco rump bumpin’ to this one.
Another fascinating piece is Vivaldi’s Sum in medio tempestatum, a piece comparing life to a stormy sea. It’s an explosion of rolling turmoil and melismas, calling for an extraordinary mezzo (here done remarkably well by the slightly husky yet incredibly agile voice of Tuva Semmingsen). I’m completely fascinated listening to this woman go through these impossible phrases with absolute grace and unending stamina:
There’s also an achingly lovely, 9-minute sonata by Gabrieli on here, a totally danceable Marche des Combatants by Lully… but I can’t include recordings of everything or no one would buy the CD. (Don’t steal music and all that.) Besides, it’s only $6.97 on Amazon.
Highly, highly recommended.
* I seriously want to put a list like this together, with pieces like this Laetatus sum, Boccherini’s “Passacalle” from La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, etc. And, no, I wouldn’t include modern pieces. Sticking screws in your piano is not funky composition; it’s a musical shortcut off a cliff. I’m thinking about pieces that illustrate the depth of expression of earlier composers and that “there is nothing new under the sun.”
If you’re one of the sporting few who, like myself, love Irish/celtic music, then be sure to subscribe to Green Linnet’s new weekly free music download feed. Green Linnet used to offer occasional free downloads but they were in 96 and 128 kbps MP3 format. These new free songs are in 160kbps MP3 format. Not bad.
Visit the free download page here.
Be notified whenever they post a new one by subscribing to the feed.
In fact, now that I think about it, you can subscribe to my blog’s feed with this link (which is also buried way down at the bottom of the page). You’ll need an RSS reader, of course, like Vienna (for Mac users) or Blog Navigator (for PC users).
I just figured I’d put in that little plug while we were on the topic and since my feed is so buried in the site.
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