Posts Tagged ‘classical music’

Andre Previn, Triple Threat: Composer, Jazz Pianist, Symphony Conductor

Monday, September 8th, 2008

Andre Previn
Andre Previn is a German-born pianist, conductor, and composer. From arranging and composing Hollywood film scores to his multiple marriages which sparked many musical inspirations, Andre Previn’s life was never dull.

I can still remember the excitment of hearing him for the first time on the radio, then rushing into Fowler’s Music Store in Auburn (my home town) to buy his new album “My Fair Lady” in which he took those great tunes and played them in his unique classical-jazz style (with help from drummer Shelly Mann and basist LeRoy Vinegar), then playing it over and over again and trying to imitate his style on songs such as “On The Street Where You Live”, “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly”, “Get Me To The Church On Time” and others. I was terrible (or worse) but as I look back it certainly helped in my development.

Andre Previn is a German-born pianist, conductor, and composer. Born April 6, 1929, in Berlin, Previn was born to a Jewish family. In 1939, the Previn family immigrated to the United States; however, Previn did not become a citizen of the United States until 1943. At his high school graduation from Beverly Hills High School in 1946, he played a duo with Richard M. Sherman, who played the flute.
From 1950’s until recently, Previn has recorded and toured as a jazz pianist. He has worked with Shelly Manne, Benny Carter, Dinah Shore, and Julie Andrews over the course of his career. Previn frequently appeared on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show in the 1960’s. In 1966, Julie Andrews and Andre Previn collaborated on a Christmas carol album.

About 21 years after his high school graduation, the Houston Symphony Orchestra was in the market for a new music director. Previn soon filled that need. However, the London Symphony Orchestra wanted him, too. In 1968, Andre Previn became the tenured principal conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra, and he served there for 11 years. During his time with the London Symphony orchestra, he appeared on a television program called “Andre Previn’s Music Night.”
Although he was tenured with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra needed a music director. Previn decided to take on that role as well from 1976 though 1984. Working with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, another television program was born, “Previn and the Pittsburgh.” During this time, he worked with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as their principal conductor. The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra named Andre Previn as their music director, but he resigned from that strenuous role in April 1989.

Previn’s first opera performance was A Streetcar Named Desire, which premiered in 1998 at the San Francisco Opera. Following the opera, Previn focused on vocal, chamber, and orchestral music with the occasional recordings of jazz.

Previn adapted and conducted many arrangements in the Hollywood spectrum. He did stage-to-screen adaptations for My Fair Lady, Kismet, Porgy and Bess, and Paint Your Wagon. From 1949 through 1970, Previn assisted with music in the following films: The Music Lovers, Inside Daisy Clover, Two for the Seesaw, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Bells are Ringing, Elmer Gantry, Silk Stockings, It’s Always Fair Weather, Bad Day at the Black Rock, Kiss Me Kate, Three Little Words, and The Secret Garden. Gigi, the 1958 Academy Award winning film, also featured many special works from Previn.
Previn, like many other amazing, multitalented artists, has received many acknowledgements and awards. Among his personal awards, he has received 13 Academy nominations and four Oscar victories. He also holds seven Grammy Awards. Andre Previn became an honorary Knight of the Order of British Empire in 1996; however, due to lack of citizenship in the Commonwealth, the title of “sir” cannot appear before his name. He instead puts the letters KBE with his name to indicate the honor.
In 1998, Previn received the Kennedy Center Honors for his classical music and opera contributions. 2005 marked the year that Previn received the International Glenn Gloud Prize for his achievements. On May 13, 2008, Previn received the London Symphony Orchestra’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Andre Previn is still touring. In April 2008, he performed in Rome at Italy’s Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia. On June 22, Previn performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and Anne Sophie Mutter in London at the Barbican Hall. August appearances include performances at the Koussevitsky Music Shed in Lenox, MA. Massachusetts’s Symphony Hall will host Andre Previn on October 2 through October 4 and October 7. November will be the month that Previn is in Seattle at the Benaroya Hall. On December 21, Previn will return to London’s Barbican Hall for his last performance of the year. Even at the age of 79, Andre Previn KBE is still as active in the music genre as ever.

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Canon in D by Pachelbel: The Song Everybody Knows!

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

Canon in D -- Pachelbel

The Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel is a composition well known throughout the world. It’s a piece of music that is played in commercials, feature films, and shopping mall music systems. Its melody and harmony are such that, when heard, spur an “I know this song” reaction in listeners.
Pachelbel wrote this music around 1680. Its exact name is ‘Canon and Gigue in D Major for three Violins and Basso Continuo’. It’s now called, in regular parlance, the Canon in D (or D Major).

This canon was the only one that Pachelbel wrote. He wrote it as a piece of chamber music. Chamber music is a form of classical music originally intended for performance in a palace chamber. This type of music is for a small group of instrumentalists. One performer plays each separate part of the music.

Written for the bass and the violin and for small rooms, this song is not limited to that today. A wide variety of instruments in small and large musician groups perform this famous piece each year.

The term ‘canon’ in the title of the song refers to the type of music. A canon is music of staggered singing or playing. In a canon, different instruments or singers start playing music. However, they do not start at the exact same time. They enter into the song one after another. The key to the canon is that they play the exact same sequence of notes. This results in intriguing variety and song complexity.

The note sequence in Canon in D Major is what catches one’s ear. It is now a famous chord progression, which we recognize whenever and wherever we are. The song has a bass line-harmonic pattern, two bars long. This sequence repeats throughout the piece. The staggered singing or playing (the canon) plays over this repeating sequence of notes.

Johann Pachelbel was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1653. He lived and worked during the Baroque period of classical music.

He was an organist, composer, and teacher in his life, who wrote much keyboard music for the organ. He wrote church music and secular music, holding jobs as a church organist throughout his career.

In fact, he established himself as a musician of stature in Erfurt, Germany. Here he was church organist at the Protestant Predigerkirchie (Lutheran Preacher’s Church) starting in the year 1678. Erfurt was the Bach family’s land of ancestral roots. Pachelbel actually taught Johann Christoph Bach, who was Johann Sebastian Bach’s older brother.

Pachelbel also worked as an organist in the Court at Stuggart and the Court at Gotha in Germany. In 1695, he became organist at the Church of St. Sebald in Nuremberg. He replaced his former teacher, the German organist and composer, Georg Caspar Wecker here upon the latter’s death.
Pachelbel wrote chorale variations for the keyboard. Written in his day for organ and harpsichord they receive treatment on modern pianos of today as well. In this type of music, the chorale melody is the theme, and then the performer plays variations of this theme.
Although famous for his Canon in D today, Pachelbel also wrote toccatas, fantasies, and fugues. One important and impressive work is the Hexachordum Apollinis, which is a set of six keyboard arias and their variations.

The Canon in D Major continues to inspire listeners, piano players, and musicians of all sorts today. It’s a ‘musical’ canon of great power that has endured through the centuries.

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Ten Of The Most Popular Classical Pieces Of All Time

Saturday, July 19th, 2008

Top classical compositions of all time

For anyone studying popular classical music, it can be a daunting task to know where to begin. There are so many great pieces that a beginner can get overwhelmed. Here are 10 of the most popular classical pieces with a brief background of each. There are many others, of course, but these 10 are certainly among the most popular classical pieces of all time.

Clair de Lune is a piece by Claude Debussy, a French composer. It is the third and most popular movement of the larger Suite bergamasque. It is played pianissimo and is largely in D-flat major, with a shift to E major toward the end. Clair de Lune has been taught to students of popular classical piano for years and is prominently featured in movies and television shows.

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 14, popularly called the Moonlight Sonata, was completed in 1801. Beethoven had begun to suffer from hearing loss prior to this and used a special rod attached to the piano’s soundboard in order to feel the vibrations and enhance his sense of the music. It was given the name Moonlight Sonata by a music critic who compared it to the moonlight shining on a lake.

Canon in D is the most well known piece by Johann Pachelbel. Originally written for three violins and basso continuo, it has since been given many different arrangements. Basso continuo refers to a group of instruments, one of which must be able to play chords. Other instruments must be able to play in the bass register, such as a cello. Canon in D is often played at weddings.

The Hallelujah Chorus is part of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. The text is from a libretto by Charles Jennens, who adapted parts of the Old and New Testaments for his composition. The Hallelujah Chorus is taken from the book of Revelation, and it is customary for audiences to stand during this movement of the Messiah.

George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is a piece that combines the elements of popular classical music with the popular jazz music of the era. It was commissioned as a classical element in an all-jazz concert to be presented by band leader Paul Whiteman. Known as Al Capone’s favorite song, Rhapsody in Blue has been featured in numerous films and advertisements.

The Piano Sonata in B minor is one of Franz Listz’s most popular classical solo piano works. It is a piece in the Romantic style and consists of small movements woven into a larger whole. Thematic elements are presented in each movement, although the different setting of the movements make the elements sound differently each time. In one section the melody may seem violent, yet later in the piece it becomes something beautiful in a different context.

Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler contains many of the common elements of Mahler’s work, such as the funeral march. Commentators have noted that when hearing Mahler’s Fifth “you forget that time has passed.” Scored for a large orchestra, the Fifth is considered to be Mahler’s most conventional symphony up to that point in his career. He was regarded as a highly unconventional composer until the Fifth was published.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed The Well-Tempered Clavier to instruct students in solo piano playing. He collected 24 pieces and published them in 1722 as The Well-Tempered Clavier. In 1744 he published a similar collection with the title Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues. Combined, these two books comprise The Well-Tempered Clavier.

The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi consists of four violin concertos. A Baroque piece from 1723, The Four Seasons is also considered a series of tone poems, as Vivaldi provided instructions with each movement. Phrases such as “the drunkards have fallen asleep” and “the barking dog” give conductors instructions about the feel of each concerto in this popular classical piece.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 is one of his greatest pieces. Scored for orchestra with tympani, it contains three movements, which is common in the concertos of Mozart. Its brooding sound, enhanced by the tympani, has made it one of the most popular classical pieces of all time.

These 10 popular classical pieces are just the tip of the iceberg. Popular classical music contains thousands of compositions from composers all over the globe. Any student of popular classical music is venturing into a world full of surprises, with pieces that fit any season or mood.

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Four of the Greatest Modern Classical Pianists of All Times

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Classical pianists

Every serious piano student eventually learns to play some of the most well-known classical pieces during his or her studies. Nary a pianist didn’t learn Palchabel’s Canon in D or Beethoven’s Fur Elise. Even non-musicians recognize names like Bach and Mozart. But what about modern classical pianists who have also made notable contributions to cultural history? Here are four the most well-known modern classical pianists and their contributions:

* Glen Gould: The eccentric Canadian-born classical pianist spent more of his prolific career in the recording studio than on stage. Gould covered many of the original classical greats, such as Bach and Beethoven. Gould may be best remembered though for his recordings of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Gould was widely acclaimed for his unusual technique and eclectic renditions of famous classical works. Though he spent many years on the road, touring several countries, he gave up concert performances in 1964 at the age of 32. Though he could have spent decades longer on the road, he preferred to live out the remainder of his career in the studio. Gould’s career was cut short by an untimely stroke at the age of 50, which ultimately took his life. Still, his recordings live on today and have been released and re-released numerous times.

* Arthur Rubinstein: He has been referred to as one of the greatest piano virtuosi of the 20th century. Born in Poland in 1887, Rubinstein’s family recognized a depth of unique talent in him, despite the fact he didn’t speak until age three. A childhood filled with unusual behavior and outbursts fuel speculation that Rubinstein may have suffered from a learning disorder or autism. Eventually, Rubinstein’s temperament gave way to the talent for playing the piano that he eventually became known for. Rubinstein made his concert debut in New York in 1906 and toured until 1976. He reluctantly retired from public performance at the age of 89 when his hearing and eyesight began to fail. Though he passed away in 1982, Rubinstein is still highly acclaimed among modern musicians.

* Sergei Rachmaninoff: This Russian classical pianist was also a composer and conductor. Perhaps it was his unusual 12-inch hand span that helped him become a legend for his technical proficiency. Rachmaninoff not only commanded the stage, but at a height of 6 feet, 6 inches, commanded a room as well. Though he began piano study casually under the tutelage of his own mother, his extraordinary talent quickly emerged. Rachmaninoff was mediocre in academics, even failing many of his subjects for lack of motivation. However, his piano instructor, who recognized his potential, insisted on a strict and disciplined practice regimen. If not for him, Rachmaninoff may have given up on his musical studies as well. A later meeting with Peter Tchaikovsky also served as inspiration for him to continue his musical career. He managed to overcome several setbacks in his career, including scathing public reviews and a long period of writer’s block. After several years of performance and changes in location, Rachmaninoff moved to the United States in 1918. He continued performing until February of 1943, just a month before his death from cancer.

* Myra Hess: This British pianist stands out in a genre typically dominated by men, especially during her years of public performance. Even as a young child Hess exhibited extraordinary talent. She was admitted to the Guildhall School of Music just two years after beginning lessons at age five. She gave her first public performance at the tender age of 17 in 1907, when she toured throughout Europe for several years. Eventually Hess debuted in the United States, where she realized almost instant acclaim. In an effort to boost morale during World War II, Hess organized a series of free public concerts in London. Her efforts during a time that saw the closure of concert halls and art galleries due to the war was deeply appreciated and received by the public. Hess herself performed at many of these lunch hour concerts. It may have been these efforts that endeared her to the public and stirred lasting interest in her music and career.

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