Category Archives: Music

Arts & Literature, Classical Music, Music, Performing Arts, Videos

Classical: Solo Guitarist Laura Lootens In Castilla

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Deutsche Grammophon – DG (October 31, 2023) – Laura Lootens, a winner of the Andrés Segovia Competition in Spain, performs here Castilla, from the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz’s Suite Española. This work was originally written for piano, but Laura Lootens has arranged it herself for solo guitar.

This piece is a track from Laura Lootens album of works by Albéniz on CAvi music: Laura Lootens – Albéniz: Suite Española No. 1 Op. 47: No. 7, Castilla (arr. for solo guitar) and Laura Lootens / Albéniz: Suite Española Malagueña and Other Works

As a homage to well-known regions and towns of Albéniz’s home country, Spain, it is written in a Romantic, national style, and features typical dance rhythms of its corresponding localities. Born in 1860, Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz was mainly a pianist and wrote primarily for the piano.

More than any other musician, he succeeded in incorporating the Spanish guitar idiom and folklore into his style. Thus, for instance, his works contain allusions to rasgueado, a guitar technique that strums all six strings percussively in rapid succession, as we often hear in flamenco.

So it is no wonder that many of Albéniz’s piano works have also been performed on the guitar.

Album page: https://dgt.link/lootens-albeniz

Video direction: Jure Knez

Arts & Literature, Classical Music, Music, Performing Arts, Videos

Classical: Maria Callas Sings ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’

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Warner Classics (October 20, 2023) – The voice and artistry of Maria Callas breath new life into the aria “O mio babbino caro”, from Puccini’s opera Gianni Schicchi, in this entrancing illustrated video designed by Matteo Cozzo.

The video opens with Maria stepping onto the stage and kneeling, as the aria is intended to be sung. It then tells the story of this poignant aria through the designer’s unique style, using the collage technique to create unique textures, expressions, and effects.

#ClassicalMusic #Opera #Puccini

Arts & Literature, Classical Music, Music, Videos

Classical Guitar: Laura Lootens Plays Albéniz

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Deutsche Grammophon – DG (October 10, 2023) – Laura Lootens, a winner of the Andrés Segovia Competition in Spain, performs here Malagueña, from the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz’s work España.

This work was originally written for piano, but Laura Lootens has arranged it herself for solo guitar. Born in 1860, Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz was mainly a pianist and wrote primarily for the piano. More than any other musician, he succeeded in incorporating the Spanish guitar idiom and folklore into his style.

Thus, for instance, his works contain allusions to rasgueado, a guitar technique that strums all six strings percussively in rapid succession, as we often hear in flamenco. So it is no wonder that many of Albéniz’s piano works have also been performed on the guitar.

This piece is a track from Laura Lootens album of works by Albéniz on CAvi music. Laura Lootens – Albéniz: España, Op. 165: No. 3, Malagueña. Allegretto (Arr. Laura Lootens) Laura Lootens / Albéniz: Suite Española, Malagueña and Other Works

Album page: https://dgt.link/lootens-albeniz

Video direction: Jure Knez

Arts & Literature, Classical Music, Music, Videos

Classical: Cellist Camille Thomas Plays Chopin

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Deutsche Grammophon – DG (September 13, 2023) – Franco-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas plays on the Franchomme’s mythical cello – the Stradivarius Feuermann.

Chopin: No. 4 in E Minor, Largo Arr. for Cello and Piano by A. Franchomme / Adapted by Camille Thomas Listen to ‘The Chopin Project’ : https://camillethomas.lnk.to/TheChopi…

A journey in three chapters to discover Chopin’s life through the sound of the cello. The most ambitious project of the The Chopin’s sonata for cello and piano was dedicated to his friend Auguste-Joseph Franchomme. Franchomme transcribed the Chopin’s piano pieces for cello after knowing Chopin found no objection to this.

PIANO Julien Brocal

VIDEO DIRECTOR Olivier Saint-Yves

Arts & Literature, Classical Music, Music, Videos

Classical: Pianist Hélène Grimaud Plays Schumann

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Deutsche Grammophon – DG – French Pianist Hélène Grimaud plays Kreisleriana, Op. 16, a composition in eight movements by Robert Schumann for solo piano, subtitled Phantasien für das Pianoforte.

It was written in only four days in April 1838 and a revised version appeared in 1850. In 1839, soon after publishing it, Schumann called it in a letter my favorite work, remarking that The title conveys nothing to any but Germans. The work’s title was inspired by the character of Johannes Kreisler from works of E. T. A. Hoffmann.

History, Music, Reviews, Society, Space, Technology, Videos

NASA: The ‘Voyager Golden Record’ -1977 Time Capsule

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Sotheby’s (July 20, 2023) – The Voyager Golden Record is a unique audio-visual time capsule developed by NASA and affixed to the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts. 

Designed to communicate to possible space-faring civilizations something of the diversity of life and culture on our world, the Golden Record consisted of greetings in 59 human languages and those of the humpback whales, 115 images of life here, the sounds of Earth, and 27 pieces from the world’s musical traditions. It has been called the beginning of the concept of “world music.”

It was Voyager 1 that looked homeward from high above Neptune to take, at Carl Sagan’s behest, the iconic Pale Blue Dot photograph. Upon flawlessly completing the first phase of their mission, the NASA Voyagers 1 and 2 made for the open sea of interstellar space, teaching us the actual shape of our solar system as it moves through the galaxy. The Golden Record is an unparalleled document in the history of space exploration and our civilization.

Arts, Books, Culture, Magazines, Music, Previews, Profiles, Reviews

Culture: The New Review Magazine – January 1, 2023

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The New Review Magazine – January 1, 2023 issue:

Director Sam Mendes answers questions from readers and famous fans including @Aiannucci, @DMiliband, olivia colman, judi dench…..

+ Classical music diet – By @FionaMaddocks + Arts & books for 2023 + Q&S Actor Siobhan Finneran @michaelhogan

Art, Exhibitions, Music, Videos, Views

Art & Music 2022: ‘TURBINES’ Sterling Ruby In New York

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Gagosian (December 19, 2022) – As part of Sessions, a spin-off of Gagosian Premieres, composer and saxophonist John Zorn and bass guitarist and producer Bill Laswell perform an improvised work in Sterling Ruby’s exhibition “TURBINES,” at Gagosian, 522 West 21st Street, New York. Zorn is celebrated for his experimental approaches to composition and improvisation in forms ranging from classical, jazz, and ambient music to rock, metal, and hardcore. Here he plays saxophone while Laswell, a prolific and diverse musical collaborator known for his involvement with the band Material among many other projects, plays electric bass. The duo responds to Ruby’s new abstract paintings, which create a sense of flurried motion through the energetic convergence of materials.

Documentaries, Music, Profiles, Television, Videos, Wildlife

Wildlife & Music: Sir David Attenborough & Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC)

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Ivor Novello Award winning and Emmy nominated composer, Ben Salisbury, is best known as one of the countries leading film and TV composers, with recent credits including the feature films ‘Ex Machina’, ‘Free Fire’ (both co-composed with Geoff Barrow) and ‘Beyonce: Life is But a Dream’. He is also a member of the bands ‘Drokk’ (with Geoff Barrow) and ‘Dolman’ (with Scott Hendy).

Ben is particularly well known in the field of Natural History, where he has scored over 50 films – including the last 3 of David Attenborough’s ‘Life Of…’ series. He has also formed a critically acclaimed writing partnership with Porstishead’s Geoff Barrow. The pair have so far released the album DROKK: Music Inspired By Mega City One, described by The Quietus as ‘jaw dropping.. one of the heaviest and most intensely atmospheric records of the year’. The soundtrack album to Ex Machina has been described by Louder Than War as ‘sensational’, and there are further plans to continue a collaboration which, according to screenwriter/director/producer Alex Garland ‘sets an incredibly high bar of creative skill and integrity’. Other recent co-written credits from Ben and Geoff include Ben Wheatly’s Free Fire (executively produced by Martin Scorsese) and Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror: Men Against Fire.

Cycling, Music, Travel, Videos, Views

Views: Bike Ride To Swedish Songs, Countryside Roads

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Biking along country side roads, listening to songs every Swede know by heart: Sol, vind och vatten, Visa vid vindens ängar, Sjösalavals, En kväll i juni. It’s about 8 o’clock in the evening, the sun won’t set for another couple of hours. Summer is lovely on evnings like these. The music is next to cliché but so much a part of Swedish summer they where the obvious choice.