The overture to the opera "Russlan and Ludmilla" is a very popular piece for symphonic orchestra. Even if you don't know much about orchestral music, you've probably heard this piece before- perhaps on TV or in a movie. Mikhail Glinka's operas Russlan and Ludmilla, and A Life for the Czar laid the foundations of Russian national opera.
With everyone's mind on the end of the school year and graduations, I think that this music is a good fit for this time of year since it is so triumphant. This piece is already quite fast, but this recording I found is really fast. The first few seconds of the recording I was thinking "Wow this is much faster than the last recording I listened to... I'm not sure if I like this..." But after the first ten seconds, I was sold.
Here is Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in a brilliant, rambunctious, and wonderfully energetic recording of The Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
A lively violin concerto by Vivaldi ^__^
So for a complete change in style, I thought I'd talk about a baroque piece tonight. Anton Steck was the first person (perhaps only) to make a CD recording of this piece, I couldn't find another recording of this work online.
Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in B-flat Major (RV 368) seems to spell out a summer's day to me. The first movement is very lively, and features a very technically challenging, high energy violin part, that seems to soar in a blue sky on a sunny day, while the orchestra frolics on the green grass below. The second movement is sort of like a lazy late afternoon under sweltering heat, and a time for relaxation. The third movement is in the evening when the social life really begins. It has some of the liveliness of the first movement again and you can hear a bit of call and answer from the soloist and the orchestra.
This concerto was the most technically difficult piece of music Vivaldi ever wrote for violin, and possibly one of the most difficult pieces for violin written within the eighteenth century. Naturally, no violinist could resist posting this! :)
This is a recording of Anton Steck featured on violin with a small chamber ensemble, Modo Antiquo, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli. This concerto is only short, all three movements only add up to about nine minutes.
Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in B-flat Major (RV 368) seems to spell out a summer's day to me. The first movement is very lively, and features a very technically challenging, high energy violin part, that seems to soar in a blue sky on a sunny day, while the orchestra frolics on the green grass below. The second movement is sort of like a lazy late afternoon under sweltering heat, and a time for relaxation. The third movement is in the evening when the social life really begins. It has some of the liveliness of the first movement again and you can hear a bit of call and answer from the soloist and the orchestra.
This concerto was the most technically difficult piece of music Vivaldi ever wrote for violin, and possibly one of the most difficult pieces for violin written within the eighteenth century. Naturally, no violinist could resist posting this! :)
This is a recording of Anton Steck featured on violin with a small chamber ensemble, Modo Antiquo, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli. This concerto is only short, all three movements only add up to about nine minutes.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Claire de Lune
Claire de Lune, meaning "moonlight" in french recently became popular when it was featured on the Twilight movie soundtrack. Claire de Lune was published as part of a piano suite (Suite Burgamasque) by the french composer Claude Debussy- the suite was completed in 1888.
Claude Debussy was famous for his impressionistic style of composition, impressionistic as in not always having a fully formed melody, but instead just an impression of one. Debussy was greatly inspired by nature and aimed to compose music that created an impression of a landscape.
Claire de Lune speaks gently with romance and color, and I find it has a nostalgic feel to it, it also reminds me of a melody you might hear in a wind-up music box.
The following is a link to a beautiful interpretation of Claire de Lune played by Vladmir Valdivia:
Claire de Lune
Claude Debussy was famous for his impressionistic style of composition, impressionistic as in not always having a fully formed melody, but instead just an impression of one. Debussy was greatly inspired by nature and aimed to compose music that created an impression of a landscape.
Claire de Lune speaks gently with romance and color, and I find it has a nostalgic feel to it, it also reminds me of a melody you might hear in a wind-up music box.
The following is a link to a beautiful interpretation of Claire de Lune played by Vladmir Valdivia:
Claire de Lune
Friday, May 28, 2010
About Classical Music for Dummies :)
Hi- I'm Veggie, a vegetarian violinist. I'm creating this blog to introduce people to the joys of classical music, and to help myself learn and explore more classical music myself. Many young people like myself are very well-versed with popular music, but perhaps not so much with the classical. Since I have started listening to (and playing) classical music, I have found that it sometimes offers much more musical interest than pop. If you have just started exploring classical music, I urge you to exercise some patience, since it is sometimes an acquired taste. You may also find it more enjoyable to sit down and just focus on the music without doing anything else.
When I think of a piece of classical music that almost anyone could love, the first piece that comes to my mind is the Dvorak Cello Concerto. I recently played the first movement of this piece with a youth orchestra I was enrolled in this year. Our orchestra had the honor of performing this piece with a very talented young man featured on the cello- he got accepted to the Juliard school of music for this fall!
Unfortunately, many people write classical music off as boring- this piece is far from boring! The orchestra quickly sets up the stage with drama, and you can feel a sort of emotional tension right away and the strings soon erupt with a loud outburst. Things get quiet again for a short while and the melody gets passed around between the woodwinds and the strings, and things start to sound placid and peaceful- then triumphant. Then the cello comes in, and I'll let Rostropovich take it from there.
The following are links to this piece of music on youtube of Mistislav Rostropovich on cello performing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra led by conductor Carlo Maria Giulini. I find it most enjoyable to watch the musicians playing in the video while I listen.
The concerto has three movements, and while the first movement is quite satisfying by itself, it is part of a complete work.
The first movement is in two parts:
Part A
Part B
The Second movement:
Part A
Part B
The Third movement:
Part A
Part B
Please leave me your comments and opinions on this blog and the music! Thanks ^___^
When I think of a piece of classical music that almost anyone could love, the first piece that comes to my mind is the Dvorak Cello Concerto. I recently played the first movement of this piece with a youth orchestra I was enrolled in this year. Our orchestra had the honor of performing this piece with a very talented young man featured on the cello- he got accepted to the Juliard school of music for this fall!
Unfortunately, many people write classical music off as boring- this piece is far from boring! The orchestra quickly sets up the stage with drama, and you can feel a sort of emotional tension right away and the strings soon erupt with a loud outburst. Things get quiet again for a short while and the melody gets passed around between the woodwinds and the strings, and things start to sound placid and peaceful- then triumphant. Then the cello comes in, and I'll let Rostropovich take it from there.
The following are links to this piece of music on youtube of Mistislav Rostropovich on cello performing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra led by conductor Carlo Maria Giulini. I find it most enjoyable to watch the musicians playing in the video while I listen.
The concerto has three movements, and while the first movement is quite satisfying by itself, it is part of a complete work.
The first movement is in two parts:
Part A
Part B
The Second movement:
Part A
Part B
The Third movement:
Part A
Part B
Please leave me your comments and opinions on this blog and the music! Thanks ^___^
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