Archive for the 'music' Category
Where do you begin when perhaps the most eventful two months of your life are still happening?
I write from the mountains of Aspen with glorious weather and music surrounding on all sides, more coming in every day. And no ever day entirely feels off from work. But that is all right, and truthfully, exactly the environment I need to be in.
So – to start: Upon arriving in Aspen, I was assigned to be the sole librarian for the Aspen Opera Theatre Company. I had never done any opera work before, and it’s been quite a ride. Luckily, my colleagues had all done opera at some point or other and were able to guide.
In the process, I have begun a small site to preserve little treasures found when flipping through music parts to clean them, match them, bow them…all those things librarians have to do with parts. You can view (and submit, if you find anything) these discoveries at [http://heckelphon.tumblr.com]
August 02 2010 | music and travels | No Comments »
There are worse things to do on a day off than play Nintendogs while listening to Leon Kirchner. (Would this behavior have been considered rebellious in some particular time period? Kirchner’s music sounds like it could probably have been the Classical equivalent of the Sex Pistols at some point in terms of cultural reception.)
I somehow stayed on a Yo-Yo Ma and David Zinman kick, listening through the 1996 album of cello and orchestra works by Richard Danielpour, Leon Kirchner, and Christopher Rouse. The last movement of the Danielpour has a motif that mirrors Hitoshi Sakimoto’s main theme from RomeoxJuliet, which was first aired in 2007. I wonder if Sakimoto had heard this concerto before writing the score. It certainly fits both pieces. The Kirchner is quite pretty and expressive, and Zinman has such a respectfully affectionate portrayal of him in the liner notes.
What has become surprising to me, personally, is how much more attuned my ear has become to listening to these compositions. I remember feeling confused by these three concertos upon first listening. But they make sense now and I can hear actual structure and ideas. It probably started with either the Barber Violin Concerto of the Corigliano Violin Sonata: pieces that I could somehow make sense of despite their dissonances and unexpectedly musical harmonies. Now, after performing not a few works abiding by these same principles, this way of listening has improved? I suppose I can’t complain about it.
When I took off my headphones, Dvorak’s Violin Sonatina Op. 100 (Itzhak Perlman) was streaming through my dad’s computer in the adjacent room. It’s still such a cute piece after all these years. I should get around to learning it properly sometime.
June 01 2010 | games and music and musings | No Comments »
FreeCell is for listening to new music. It’s just barely stimulating enough.
One major benefit of being back at my parents’ house is being able to riffle through all the albums my dad owns but I never paid enough attention to when I was younger (He owns 14 copies of the Dvorak Cello Concerto…)
Tonight is the Barber Cello Concerto and Britten Symphony for Cello and Orchestra (Yo-Yo Ma, David Zinman, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. ) – both of which I’ve never heard before (though Barber’s Violin Concerto is hands down my favourite violin concerto.)
Barber could definitely have made this concerto more “modern.” I’m glad he didn’t; My dad probably wouldn’t have bought it if it was. What an amazing recording.
May 31 2010 | games and music and musings | No Comments »
Since everyone on the planet at the moment is giving me hell for this, I’m just going to come clean: Yes, it is true, I will be on television again. But just PBS again (Public Broadcasting System for any non-Americans; It’s our public television station) (What are those called in Europe? I am curious now.) and for all of 20 seconds.
So no, I am not and will not be any sort of television “star” and I’m pretty sure that I’ll be some kind of nervous and wibbly mess that makes the producer question why on earth she thought bringing in this violinist was a good idea.
ANYWAYS.
(A few months ago, my quartet was featured on PBS for one of their arts programs because the faculty quartet was unavailable. The producer for that program called about two weeks ago for a promotional project they’re doing. Something about being “articulate.”) (I do like adventures…)
May 05 2010 | music and waffle | 2 Comments »
Nothing like a final paper to make me update.
Paper: Symphonic Literature – preliminary title “PROKOFIEV V. HAYDN!!!: The Direct Influence of Haydn on Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1″
Progress: kind of okay.
Theme?: some of my better totally random discoveries (criteria denoting having never heard of the artist prior and without recommendation prior to listening. They were just sitting near some music that I was consciously seeking.)
Tracks: (all files uploaded onto zshare.net. Music is rightful property of the artists. I don’t own any of these…Please buy their music and support them.)
+ [The Trouble with River Cities] – Pela
(I can’t believe I haven’t shared this one before. This is one of my favourite songs for everything.)
+ [Living Room] – Paris Combo
+ [Shinikaketa Ashi] – Yano Maki
+ [War Again] – Balkan Beat Box
May 03 2010 | music | No Comments »
On the eve of my twenty-fourth birthday, all I can think about (aside from how much grief happened in twenty-three) is my parents. Sometimes people might find it rather difficult to vocalize their appreciation for their parents, but I have somehow found myself doing just that pretty much every Sunday afternoon to the parents who wait patiently for their children to finish orchestra rehearsal. I just never really find that courage to say this to MY parents.
What can truly be said to thank them, though? I’m still alive (perhaps not as happy as they would have hoped) and that’s a big credit to them from the start. At this point, I really have to start to take the steps to end up at that place where I can turn right back around and give them back as much as possible. And to be as little a worry as possible (which is just about impossible.)
What was 23? 23 was destruction and reformation over and over. 23 was perseverance even through perpetual rejection, discovering the darkest sides of me (In other words: I learned to drive.), what it meant to unconditionally love, how painful that can be, and knowing who I am and will always be. (Though I confess, I’d my sense of humour back, please.)
Thanks, Mum and Dad, for all you do. Because of you, I have survived the path behind me and can keep stepping forward – no matter how difficult the path ahead…[/cheese]
—-
(all files uploaded onto zshare.net. Music is rightful property of the artists. I don’t own any of these…Please buy their music and support them.)
+ [Little Secrets] – Passion Pit
+ [Lullaby] (Noir) – Tulivu Donna Cumberbatch
+ [Adieu] (Cowboy Bebop) – Emily Bindinger
+ [Goodbye to Yesterday] (Metal Gear Solid II) – Rika Muranaka
April 17 2010 | music and waffle | 1 Comment »
Upcoming performance:
Saturday – April 10, 2010. 1pm EST
University of Miami – Clarke Recital Hall
Miami, FL
My Master’s recital. Supposedly you can watch from online if you click [here] about a half hour or so before the performance. It didn’t work last time, but maybe it’s worth mentioning for those of you that are interested in hearing me play. The program will cover Ysaÿe, Dvo?ák, Schoenfield, Korngold, and Brahms. Hope you can tune in.
April 02 2010 | music and performances | No Comments »
[fill this]
First post of the new year (both Western and Chinese) and it’s now March. Life has gotten itself on an interestingly skewed track again and as soon as the confidence to put some persona of myself in the public returns, I’ll be back here more. I miss this semi-sanctuary and everyone one around it, but disrespect and ignorance HURTS, and recovery is hard. Self-reflection has become almost as routine as a shower. Finding the courage to enjoy performing music – without fear, without inhibition – again is the first great obstacle. Family is beautiful.
So though there there’s been considerable slackage here, the reading list is still being maintained; not that there has been much time to read lately. The old habit of reading alongside a meal has been passed up to either not having the proper time to put towards this, to newspapers, or to having meals with kind, mostly new acquaintances – which is typically a good excursion too. In the meantime, every so often, something is written on the [Twitter] about the musical events around. And instead of reading literature, a few hours a week are spent reading a score alongside its recording. This activity is nothing entirely new (see previous posts on music) but lately it’s been happening on a kind of weekly basis.
I probably won’t include scores in the reading list though given that the manner of study is quite different from reading a book. I may start keeping list of performances, however, because I keep forgetting to sign into the myspace to update it.
This week’s composition of fascination is Michael Nyman’s String Quartet No. 2, particularly movements 3 and 4. I found the other three quartets somewhat underwhelming, but full of good intentions to complement the good writing. However, String Quartet No. 2 appeals to me in the same fashion as Bloch’s String Quintets and Gorecki’s String Quartet No. 3 – the intense but balanced exploration of culture, rhythmical architectures, and a certain kind of desperation and triumph pervading throughout.
Last week was Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major. That piece pretty much explains itself (especially if Martha Argerich is at the helm.) The second movement of the concerto is heartbreaking and unexpected while the overall intricacy and detail of the entire concerto is stunning. What was almost as surprising, however, was the ratio of string to wind players that were familiar with the composition. Apparently, many standard wind excerpts are taken from the concerto (The bassoon solo in the third movement is particularly impressive. During our next rehearsal together, my bassoon teaching assistant friend casually performed the excerpt for me on the spot – by memory.) but to many of my string colleagues, the piece is unfamiliar. I wonder which other pieces can be placed in this category.
March 07 2010 | music and musings and waffle | No Comments »
Getting a 90 minute professional massage at a 5-star spa and hotel as the first professional massage of my life was not entirely like my first experience of going to a strip club almost exactly a year ago.
It’s interesting, involves a lot of nudity, feeling quite out of place – though intrigued – and I’ll probably never do it again.
Paper: 1/3: Article for the Music Educators Journal
Progress: optimistic only out of context with the other papers
Theme?: the lyrics kill me at some point or other; hi, December.winter
Tracks: (all files uploaded onto zshare.net. Music is rightful property of the artists. I don’t own any of these…Please buy their music and support them.)
+ [Last Night] – Justin Timberlake
+ [I'll Never Smile Again] – Priscilla Ahn (Frank Sinatra cover)
+ [Winter Song] – Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson
December 13 2009 | music and musings and travels | 1 Comment »
Upcoming performance:
January 1-4, 2010.
Hilton Marks Center
Alexandria, VA
[Select Start] is returning to [MAGFest]!! I’ll also be sitting in a few songs with [The Oneups.] Look at the guest list ([Sid Meier] anyone?) and the band list ([Armcannon]! [The Megas]!)! Everyone should go!
More information to come soon. I’m very very excited.
November 21 2009 | games and music and performances and travels | No Comments »
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