Noble wonderful Salonen

Well it's been a while. Worth to break this silence with a noble wonderful man who lightened up my evening last night: Esa Pekka Salonen. Respectful, admired back, charismatic and modest: what a leader! Kiki, you would have LOVED this!
RSO, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Beethoven 7th Symphony

Percussion again ;-)

This piece was written by John Cage not so many years ago. He was a very sociable man, and he had his friends visiting every single day at his place. Much of the percussion music that he wrote was for his wife and them, no matter if they were not professional percussionists, and they played it together at home. You can get a glimpse of the home environment by noticing that these guys are playing jars and pots!

The fathers

NEXUS are the fathers of percussion ensembles, at least in North America; the first ones to be established and recognized as such. They explored the world in general and the consequent world of percussion in particular, as you can see in this video. It's funny to watch it, because now they grew up and they have - if any - white hair. Back then or nowadays, their live performances are simply life-changing.


"Mbira"

Armenian hidden pearl

Rarely played, intensely middle-eastern, rhythmical and passionate music from Armenia. Just to render the idea, this one that I am posting is the only full version that I could find on Youtube! Little background: its composer, with this name that sounds like a tongue twister (Babajanian) was in the spotlights in URSS in Stalin's times. I would be curious to know what you think of it :-)


Second Movement
Third Movement

"They bleed just like the rest of us" - R.D.

Today I leave my space to the words of Richard Dare, CEO of Brooklyn Philharmonic. He rules :-)
"The living composers I know though are real people. They bleed just like the rest of us (...) They drink beers and feel tired and ride subways and dream about a better life. They are human and they want us to share a deeper, richer human experience together with them. They want, in effect, the same things Beethoven wanted".




Second Movement
Third Movement

Dedicated to Brian and all the pages he studied :)

On December 27, 1941, Shostakovich completed his "Leningrad" symphony. This appellative is commonly thought to indicate the German terrible siege of the city during the World War II. It was, however, written before then, and Shostakovich clarifies: "Even before the war, there probably wasn't a single family who hadn't lost someone, a father, a brother, or if not a relative, then a close friend. Everyone had someone to cry over, but you had to cry silently, under the blanket, so no one would see. Everyone feared everyone else, and the sorrow oppressed and suffocated us. It suffocated me, too. I had to write about it, I felt it was my responsibility, my duty. I had to write a requiem for all those who died, who had suffered. I had to describe the horrible extermination machine and express protest against it" (from Volkov, Testimony 135).


Second Movement
Third Movement

From the New World

I can't believe I still haven't posted this symphony, but as they say, better late than never. It is been named "From the New World" because Dvorak wrote it  at the end of the 1800s during his visit to the States. While listening, don't you agree that he was pretty impressed by the native tribes, riding their horses in the rain towards endless horizons?

1st Movement, part 2
2nd movement, part 1
2nd movement, part 2
3rd movement
4th movement