Hurray!!!

In honor of Kiki's recent biographical events, here's a revival of Tchaikowsky in all of his ROMANTICISM and grandeur :-)

Once again I had to borrow movements from two different performances and orchestras, but I hope this will be no harm ;-)

II. Valse

III. Elegia

IV. Finale (Tema Russo): Andante - Allegro con Spirito

Chidren game

Some good humor and fun exchanges to amuse our little recovering Kiki. In this Serenade, Beethoven did a weird match: a violin, a viola and a flute don't usually make up an independent ensemble, but here they are fun and entertaining. When you listen, you can pretend that each instrument is a sneaky kid, and the three are together on stage. They will be teasing each other, telling jokes, acting, creating ephemeral paire-alliances to trick the third child into something embarassing, and much, much more :-)


II. Tempo ordinario d'un Menuetto
III. Allegro Molto
IV. Andante con Variazioni
V. Allegro scherzando e vivace
VI. Adagio
VI. Allegro vivace e disinvolto

Merry Christmas!

Big day like Christmas requires big choice of repertoire :-) The first, Puccini, very Italian-hearted, makes the Orchestra sing like opera singers; the second is Rachmaninov's Russian fire, intense but always with hidden tension; the last is the last symphony ever composed by Tchaikowsky, so it is both a flashback and a statement of his view over life; I leave the job of understanding whether it is a positive or hopeless view to you :-)

Merry Christmas!

The concert

Brrrrrr!

What would be more appropriate on this day than THE WINTER? Lonely, cold, suspiciously silent, but still hiding impulses of life. Vivaldi wrote this season (it's a concerto for solo violin and orchestra) with these feelings in mind: he wanted us to imagine the snow falling, the sun shining on bright untouched surfaces, the animals in the puffy forest, the iced water streams...make sure you join the dream while listening!

The Brass

Brass quintets are amongst the most hilarious ensembles: an hour spent with them shapes your abdominal muscles better than a day of gym (for the laughing they generate). There's not so much Classical repertoire for them, so they often play modern music - like movie soundtracks or jazzy arrangements, which are somewhat "lighter" than most Symphonic and Chamber Music. Here are two examples, the fist one with more pathos and the second one with more nonsense :-)

Agitated by two winds

Today also some new "instrument": the incredible singer Cecilia Bartoli, who here uses her voice as crystalline and precise as a trumpet. The funny faces and inflamed attitude are because of the theme: the protagonist compares her sentimental state to a frightened sailor caught in the middle of a sea-tempest and ready for a shipwreck (the piece is an excerpt from Vivaldi's "Griselda").

I've concentrated a little too much on string ensembles and orchestras up to now, so let's turn to one of the solo instruments par excellence :-) Here you are a super-latin full-blooded piece for classical guitar.

Little Mozart boy

How the hack could I arrive up to this point without mentioning Lord Mozart even once!??!?!? Shame on me! Here we go, with the Lodi Quartet, named after the Italian city "Lodi" because that's where the early-teen-ager "Amedeo Mozart" (this is how he signed himself on the scores: in the Italian way) composed it. Can you imagine how can so much poetry, fun, elegance be hiding already inside of such a little boy?

Third and Fourth Movements

Disillusion

An angry, despaired, disillusioned, nostalgic concerto, composed after the first World War by Edward Elgar. The performer, Jacqueline Duprè, goes beyond a human essence when she plays. In the video she was 21; and it is really painful to think that a few years later she got multiple sclerosis, which impeded her the conscious use of her body, thus music, e.g. what was dearest to her. The thought of her and her performances, however, still change lives nowadays.

Third and Fourth Movements

Paradise

Bach wrote 6 suites (series of dances) for Cello solo. Each suite represents a stage in a person's life: childhood, youth, adulthood, seniority; death and...here for you is the sixth: Paradise! I suggest to watch while listening, because this is a masterpiece of arts-merging!


Allemande - (I'll have to borrow this from another amazing artist, cuz Yo Yo Ma doesn't provide it :-) )

Courante

Sarabande

Gavotte

Gigue

One of the most powerful and emotional violin concertos of all times. I know her dress is not so nice, but the soloist is pretty good, huh? And her name is also like Julia's :-)

Rest of the First Movement:

Second Part

Third Part

Second Movement

Third (and Last)