And now for something completely different. I love how, in the first transition, he slaps the lower manual to emulate a drum. He keeps WATCHING me through the whole piece, feels almost creepy.
I wonder what the history of performers playing 2 keyboards at the same time is? People around in the 1970s remember Keith […]
This just in from Prof Waterman. Get down, but not too much.
Portable Concerto for viola and electronics was written through and NEA commission. Three composers (me, Gary Philo, and Wm Thomas McKinley) wrote pieces for three violists (Walter Trampler, Marcus Thompson, and James Dunham) who each were to play the all the pieces in different cities. It was Paul Reale who convinced me to not “write […]
I first heard Ketjak in Fellini’s SATYRICON and then later when I studied Indonesian music as an undergraduate. Last year I heard a riveting realization of Ketjak in the film BARAKA. (see below) I love the first performance (above) for its raw power. I was taught that this was an example of hocketing, or […]
Old memories.
People ask me who my favorite film composer is. These days I say Dario Marianelli and Alexandre Desplat, but if I had to take this question seriously, I’d have to say that John Williams is right there at the top. Too many people try to accuse him of just spitting out Star Wars music over […]
Thanks to Richard Garrin for bringing this bizarre find to the blog. You might want to line up a few shots of vodka and sing along.
The Leningrad Cowboys is a Finnish rock and roll band famous for its humorous songs and concerts featuring the Soviet Red Army Choir. Currently, the band has eleven Cowboys […]
Josie introduced me to this composer. There are quite a few different performances you can find on YouTube, this one was especially spirited, but doesn’t allow embedding. The performance below features a nice performance by José Carreras.
Here are the program notes from the YouTube post:
Ariel Ramirez is one of South America’s most prominent composers. His […]
When a musician gets a new instrument they truly love, one that inspires him to WANT to play, it is very much like having a new lover — you just can’t get enough, so you keep playing. Such has been the case with my 1976 Feurich piano. It’s a 7′3″ grand piano made of [now […]
This was sent in by Brenda Lynn Baker (relation?). “Woman’s Prison” is from Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose album produced by Jack White (The White Stripes). I admit that for the first two minutes I kept wanting to hit the stop button, but I watched and listened to the whole thing. This is the story […]
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