Outside of the Metropoloitan Opera, I saw advertisements for another opera, The Magic Flute.  The Magic Flute is a performance that the Met brings back each year for the holiday season.  It is a 100 minute show sung in English, something that they advertise as an event that the whole family can enjoy.

The opera, as you could guess, takes place in a mythical land.  In the opera, the queen’s daughter, Pamina,  has gone missing and is enslaved by the evil Sarastro.  Tamino believes he is in love with Pamina and he sets forth on a mission to rescue her.  He is given a magic flute to take on his journey, and his friend/companion is given a pair of silver bells; both to ensure their safety.  There is a twist in the plot when Tamino finds out that the Queen is actually evil and Sarastro is the nice one and he faces several obstacles in his journey to Pamina.  In the end, Pamina and Tamino are blessed by Sarastro and they all are joyful for the triumph of courage, virtue, and wisdom.  For a complete synopsis, click here.

Just as Cosi Fan Tutte featured music by Mozart, so does the Magic Flute. And just as the music, singing, and set were spectacular, I suspect the same will be for this opera. On the Met’s website, there are several videos from the production and they are amazing.  The costumes are so intricate and in each video, you can see how the mood and the stage is set according to the music performed.  Here is a link to view the videos, I suggest you watch The Queen of the Night’s Aria- the second video.

John Davis performing Sunday night.

I love finding art that incorporates different themes, or maybe even two completely different subjects. That’s why I really liked this article from the New York Times that discussed John Davis, a musician who is celebrating the 175th anniversary of the birth of Mark Twain. This reminded me of when Professor Smaldone mentioned that Chopin’s 200th anniversary was being celebrated, and the article also mentions that pianists are commemorating Chopin’s anniversary this year as well by playing his music.

Mark Twain

Sunday night at Le Poisson Rouge, John Davis played pieces that Mark Twain was known to have liked, including a couple of pieces by Thomas Wiggins, a blind and possibly autistic musician who toured under the name “Blind Tom.” Two of his pieces were played, along with the reading of Twain’s own observations, which revealed that he was completely amazed with Wiggins and marveled at how he could play any piece of music after only hearing it once.

I find John Davis’ choice to commemorate Mark Twain with music a great twist to his art. Usually, musicians are celebrated by playing their compositions, and writers are celebrated by reading their literature. This crossing of different forms of media shows just how universal music, and any kind of art in general, can be.

I was kind of disappointed when I read that Mr. Davis’ performance already took place Sunday night at Le Poisson Rouge, because I would have loved to go to it, but John Davis released a new cd, “Halley’s Comet: Around the Piano With Mark Twain and John Davis,” that can give fans a taste of what they missed Sunday night.

I had first heard about this place called Birdland through my friends in high school who were in jazz band and went on some trips there.  Birdland opened as a jazz club on Broadway, a block away from the popular jazz scene on 52nd Street 61 years ago, in December, 1949.  In the first five years that it had opened, already 1,400,000 paid the $1.50 admission to go to the increasingly popular club.  It attracted many celebrities in its early years, such as Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Joe Louis, Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner, Sammy Davis Jr, and Sugar Ray Robinson.  As rock-n-roll emerged in the 60s, Birdland was losing popularity and needed to take a break.  In 1968, the jazz club reopened on the corner of 105th Street and Broadway, and started to regain popularity.

Since the re-emergence of Birdland in 1968, the jazz club has been continually adding daily programs and events.  Many famous musicians have appeared at the club and it is now home to the Umbria Jazz Festival in NYC and the Annual Django Reinhardt NY Festival. On the website, there is a schedule of events. Some upcoming events include the Frank Wess Quintet, the Microscopic Septet, and Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. Besides hosting special events, Birdland also holds regular events, such as the Birdland Big Band which performs every Friday night and David Otswald’s Louis Armstrong Continental Band which performs every Wednesday night.

Below is a clip of David Otswald’s Louis Armstrong Continental Band (they start playing at about 24 seconds, be patient). I like the old fashion feel to this music, enjoy.

When I opened my email this morning I saw a link to a CNN video about Queens College music professor Salman Ahmad and Peter Gabriel. Apparently the two have collaborated on a song that is meant to raise awareness about the flood in Pakistan. You can watch the video here.

Just seeing a Queens College professor in the news fills me with an odd sense of pride, but I’m pretty impressed that he’s collaborating with Peter Gabriel. Granted, I only know who Peter Gabriel is from a song by Vampire Weekend, but hey, he’s in a song by Vampire Weekend. I just like that this is reflecting a larger cultural divide being brought together by music. In many ways this form of collaboration reminds me of our discussion of Bright Shen. This idea of music reflecting a unique culture and style and yet also transcending that style into something universal. In the 92nd Street Y talk, David Levitin mentioned that certain sounds translate into “sad” to the Western ear, like Klezmer, but is intended to be “upbeat” in the culture it comes from.

In that way, the Pakistani inspired influence that Salman Ahmad brings to the piece combined with Peter Gabriel’s distinctly Western sound, I think is a great way to garner global attention to the devastating flood in Pakistan.

Because I have been keeping my eye out for a festival to do this summer as a violinist, one particular article about the Risor Chamber Music Festival caught my attention. It is a weeklong, intensive program where the most talented musicians from around the world are chosen to collaborate, forming chamber music groups in a small town in Norway. (Chamber music is classical music written for a small group of people.) What’s particularly exciting about this festival it has been brought to New York, where they will be giving four concerts at Carnegie Hall in December.

The other thing that really struck me about this Risor Festival is the amount of performances they manage annually to do within such a short period of time: 20 in just 6 days! This is possible in part by the fact that in Norway, there are 20 hours of sunlight in the day during June. This astronomical number, being at the caliber of music making that it is, has frankly left me in awe. The fastest performance I have ever put on was at Summit Music Festival and was after five days of intense orchestra rehearsals. Imagine 19 more of these!

On Wednesday, the program put on by Risor at Zenkel Hall will feature the two co-directors–pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and violist Lars Anders Tomter with a variety of music by Bartok, Honegger, and Stravinsky. I think it is beneficial for festivals like these to come to New York City, which is the center of so many musical events take place. I will continue to hunt for international festivals like these that I could possibly be apart of!

I could only find a small clip but beginning at 2:45, listen to something that Risor Chamber Music Festival has accomplished. View the article in the NY Times here.

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As I have mentioned earlier on the blog, the joining (in any way) of music and writing excites me because they are two things that I hold close to my heart. While perusing the NY Times music reviews, I found something that did just this–a woman performing the works of a poet using music as part of the delivery (Review is here). Ute Lemper is a German Cabaret singer and actress who has been noted for interpreting the writings of Kurt Weill and has taken on a new project to “journey through the poetry of Charles Bukowski” as described by her.

This journey is called “The Bukowski Project” and consists of Lemper passionately putting her whole emotion into the readings of his poems, which are extremely dark and looming about what the future brings. Then, after reading a poem, there is music played of Lemper’s by the jazz/rock trio: pianist Vana Gierig, bassist Steve Millhouse and drummer Todd Turkisher. This is a very interesting and odd combination for a trio; in my head, trio always automatically means cello, piano and violin. I would like to hear the music that is paired with these works by Burkowski, who wrote extensively about the end of the world in one of the poems named “Dinosauria, We.” He writes “Dante’s inferno will be made to look like a children’s playground/The sun will not be seen and it will always be night.” There is a multitude of ways that this can be expressed via music and I wonder how Lemper has chosen to compose for this sort of grave thinking.

I couldn’t find the performance because it was done this past weekend at a pub in the East Village but I found the two aspects that the performance up: here is the video of the author speaking the poem “Dinosauria, we” is here and is quite a performance in itself! Then, watch a clip of Lemper performing one of Weill’s works here. Can you imagine how intense Lemper’s version of Bukowski must have been?

Remember the Pipa soloist in the Year of China Concert?  Wu Man is coming out with her new CD, called “Immeasurable Light”.  According to the  New York Times article, her new CD includes ancient Asian traditional melodies (from the Tang Dynasty), which were notated by a university professor (ethnomusicologist) from ancient tablatures.  Wu Man takes these melodies, which weren’t notated by pitch but rather fingering, and adds her own compositions to it.  The Kronos Quartet is a frequent collaborator with Wu Man, and they are in “Immeasurable Light” as well.  And kind of in reference to Susan’s post about guitar slapping, Wu Man uses her pipa in various ways to imitate sounds of a gong, cymbal, and wood block.  She also sings in this album.
Wu Man was the first person to earn a Master’s in pipa from the Central Conservatory in Music of China.  She made her way up from Chinatown to Carnegie Hall after arriving in New York without speaking a word of English.  That is very admirable, and I think it’s really cool that she was able to go so far with pipa, which isn’t a traditional western instrument.  The article mentions that she has played bluegrass and jazz too, which I found interesting.  Another interesting thing is that in addition to Bright Sheng, Evan Ziporyn, the composer whose pieces we heard at Le Poisson Rouge, has also composed a song for Wu Man.

Frank Sinatra has always been known as one of the greats, and his music has been present in my household for as long as I can remember.  You can imagine my excitement when I saw a New York Times article featuring a biography on Sinatra himself!  The biography (and the article) praise Sinatra, referring to him as “The Voice That Has Thrilled Millions.”  Author of the biography, James Kaplan wrote about how Sinatra’s drive and ambition are the two main factors that allowed him to become so great.  He learned so much so quickly by watching and studying with people such as Gene Kelly, Montgomery Clift, and Bing Crosby.  When Sinatra attended a performance by violinist Jascha Heifetz, he was amazed at how fluid Heifetz was able to play the lines, not breaking any phrases whatsoever.  But of all Sinatra’s role models, Kaplan claims that trombone player Tommy Dorsey was the most influential.  From Dorsey, Sinatra learned the importance of singing all the way through a line, not taking a breath until the phrase ended.  This feature of Sinatra’s singing gave his words meaning and feeling, and became a big part of why so many people loved him.

Professor Smaldone pointed out how excellent Sinatra’s diction is.  One never has a problem understanding the words to a song when sung by Sinatra.  Kaplan touches on this fact in his biography as well.  He called Sinatra’s diction “another crucial contribution to the magic”, and he couldn’t be more right.  Like Professor Smaldone mentioned in class, Sinatra never leaves off the ending of a word, yet he does not overdo it.  He creates a perfect blend of sound that allows for a clear pronunciation and easy understanding.  Listen to the following clip and allow yourself to be immersed in the wonderful crooning of the legendary Frank Sinatra.

This past October, Lincoln Center introduced the White Light Festival, a new annual fall festival which focuses on “music’s transcendent capacity to illuminate our larger interior universe”.

The Festival aims to explore the spiritual dimension of music. Performances throughout the series span many differing cultural and musical traditions. Instead of concentrating on these differences however, the Lincoln Center staff has formatted this festival to stress the similarities and to allow its patrons “to experience moments of connection and wholeness in an increasingly frenetic and fragmented world”.

The Festival has sparked a whole thread of commentary, accessible online through the New York Times’ Arts Beat Blog.

Music for me certainly has a very spiritual element. I was privileged in high school to sing with HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir and work with some phenomenal musicians and conductors who focused on both musicality and Judaism’s connection to music. Jewish texts took on new meaning and I learned about the intricacies of music and text to song associations.

Through my time with HaZamir, I grew both spiritually and musically.

I think this Festival is a wonderful thing and I hope that it enhances lives as my experiences with HaZamir have enhanced mine. And though I am upset that I am first learning about it now, I’ve already added the Second Annual White Light Festival to my calendar for next fall.

Since our class has been speaking a lot lately about jazz improvisation, I decided to post a blog comparing a couple of famous jazz musicians.  The first clip is of jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybFAxATVSWA

The video features Parker playing some rather impressive improvisation–and looking very relaxed doing so!  There are quite a lot of notes played very quickly, and I barely heard one time when Parker paused or held a note out.  In this way, his improv was technically impressive and sounded challenging.  However, the improv seemed to be lacking in emotion.  This would be an example of the opposite of what Victor Wooten meant when he spoke about saying more by playing less.  On the other hand, the following clip of jazz trumpet player Miles Davis provides a look at the other side of the improv spectrum.

This video is a great example of what Victor Wooten was talking about.  Davis does not play nearly as many notes as Parker, yet it does not diminish the impressiveness of the improv.  When Davis hits certain notes, he sits on them just long enough to let them sink in.  He clearly shows that “slow” does not mean “boring”.  The improv is filled with emotion, and still shows off Davis’ incredible talent.

Sometimes, less is more.

Everyone watches television, even if it’s just a little bit. While watching our favorite shows, it is inevitable that we see some commercials. Whether it is Macy’s, McDonald’s, ASPCA, or whatever, there are hundreds and hundreds of different commercials. Sometimes, whether we want it to or not, the jingles get stuck in our head. Commercials are very much like brain washing, it’s sounds a bit insane and paranoid, but really just think about it. One of the most popular jingles that people know: “Want a Fanta? Don’t you want a, want a Fanta?” You probably all know what I’m talking about (unless you really don’t want any TV). There so many more jingles that we sometimes can’t get out of our head. Here’s a few of the catchiest and at times annoying jingles:

Subway’s Five Dollar Foot Long Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHIo4VruGZY&feature=player_embedded

McDonald’s Gimme that Filet-O-Fish Song:

Meow Mix’s Meow Meow Meow Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDIkpY6QsQU&feature=player_embedded

We’ve talked about the power of music a lot in this blog, so let’s not forget how it can brain wash us when it’s catchy. I may have missed or forgot some of the most annoying commercials ever, so if you have one that you would like to mention, feel free.

While waiting for Philosophy class to start today, a few of my classmates were huddled around a laptop, amazed at the concept of Vocaloids. You basically make your own lyrics and melody, and by using the Vocaloid synthesizing software, you can create your own fictional character to sing along to it.

Yamaha’s Vocaloid software became immensely successful after Crypton Future Media used this engine to develop Hatsune Miku, the singing Japanese pop sensation. The biggest catch is, she isn’t a real person! The blue haired, school uniform dressed girl made her debut on August 31st 2007,  after Crypton Future Media used Vocaloid 2 software to take voice samples from a voice actress named Saki Fujita at a controlled pitch and tone.

And here you have it! Hastune Miku, the pop-singing sensation!

This futuristic diva recently had her own sold out concert! (Click here for article) She had a live band, millions of fans with glowing sticks, and stood on stage singing some of her greatest hits. Of course, the person onstage doing all of the dance moves and singing was a “3-D hologram.”

Crypton plans to hold many more concerts in the future with Miku and her friends (oh yes, they didn’t just stop at one sensation, though she is the top hologram here) in other places besides Japan. Even here in New York, there are many fans of this anime-esque icon.

Would you see this as a stroke of genius or just plain frightening? The article provided above states that it’s a good way for people to make their own content and share it with people. Think ugly basement nerd with no singing talent who can write lyrics and create some beautiful music. I myself have heard from cousins and friends that it’s not Miku or her artificial voice that makes them go crazy, but the lyrics themselves. Japan always seems to be one step ahead of the rest when it comes to technology, and it would not be surprising if Vocaloids did start making more of an impact on the music industry.

That’s not necessarily a good thing. I myself, prefer a real person with a naturally good voice to use their music to connect with fans. Ignoring Vocaloids for a second, a good number of “singers” on the charts have their voices “mixed and fixed” until it doesn’t even sound like what they originally sung. So all in all, while I am old fashioned and would prefer someone talented and real to take us by storm, Hastune Miku and her other hologram friends wouldn’t be the worse addition to modern culture.

Here is a video of one of her hologram performances from her last concert!

Actually, looking at it a couple more times, I think it’s a little creepy..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTXO7KGHtjI&feature=player_embedded

When we hear the word “symphony,” famous works by Beethoven and Haydn usually come to mind first. After this immediate reaction regarding the Classical, perhaps Romantic composers such as Dvorak and Mahler are recognized as well. There seems to be a general connection between the term “symphony” and tonal music, since the consonant pieces are so well-known. All listeners should take note, however, that a symphony can feature music so dissonant and atonal, it may be categorized as noise.

Glenn Branca is a successful minimalist composer who has been giving birth to experimental symphonies since the early 1980’s. The American musician strives to achieve sounds that present themselves as alien and as if not from this world. What a better way to do so than to experiment with the modern phenomenon of musical atonality?

Like any artist, Branca’s works have become more complex over time. His first symphony, Symphony No. 1: Total Plexus (1981), featured many electric guitars, which he had been experimenting with previously. Using other common instruments, including keyboard and percussion, he intended to create an extensive theater-like piece. Branca’s curiosity with sound began early; for instance, he used unconventional resources for his guitar strings. This inspired him to completely reconstruct instruments for his 1982 piece, Symphony No. 2: The Peak of the Sacred. These creations, resembling the timbre of a zither, were utilized for further harmonic exploration. Microtonality with harpsichords began with Symphony No. 3: Gloria (Music For the First 127 Intervals of the Harmonic Series) (1983), and his touring career launched with Symphony No. 4: Physics (1983).

Noise level increased in 1984 with Symphony No. 5: Describing Planes of An Expanding Hypersphere. The piece, featured below, contained simple instruments again to be performed in an acoustic space. This time, however, the music had such intricate harmonics that it actually simulated the sounds of absent instruments, such as voices and strings. These illusions cannot translate well onto recordings, unfortunately. This is something we had experienced first-hand with Michael Gordon’s piece, “Timber.”

This video is a clear example why live performances are better than the recorded aftermath. The drums cannot be heard well over everything else, and our computer speakers cannot deliver the same exciting vibrations and emotions that Branca could directly feel. The cacophony he creates sounds as if it would appear in a cinematic score, like that in “Inception.” Without percussion, it feels as if the piece has little to no movement, which makes his dynamic conducting seem excessive. Combined with the music/noise created, it looks as though he’s controlling an exorcism, not a symphony.

If you are interested in reading about his later works (Symphonies 6 through 15), you can find the article here.

Symphony No. 15: Running Through The World Like An Open Razor (Music for Strange Orchestra), which is Branca’s latest symphony, is actually being performed at Le Poisson Rouge this Sunday! I’m sure that it would make a wonderful outing for anyone interested.

After seeing Susan’s post about the MysterGuitar Man, I realized that technology has caused people to be able to make music using regular everyday objects. For example, my friend showed me this one Youtube video the other day that involved using cellphone sounds to do a cover of Pachelbel’s Canon, which is apparently a very famous and popular classical piece. I am sure many of music people will immediately recognize this piece but as a non-music major with very little knowledge of music, I had to do a little research to find out that that piece was composed by German composer, Johann Pachelbe. When I looked it up though, I actually did recognize it because I have heard it before but I never knew the name of it.

I thought it was really creative and amazing that the guy in the video above was able to make so many sounds with a cellphone and then put it all together. I never thought a cellphone could actually have so many sounds. It really shows how technology has changed the different factors in society.

Another video that used a similar concept used an instrument I had never heard of before: zither. This is a string instrument that is most likely to be found in countries like Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, and even China. In the video using this instrument, he did a more modern song. That’s why I found it very interesting that a very modern technological object was used to do a cover of a old song while a older piece of instrument was used to do a cover on a new song. See the video below:

By now, Rihanna is a household name. Her latest album, “Loud” premiered today, and the reviews are in. This album, unlike her previous album “Rated R” is fast-paced and upbeat, featuring songs where the star flaunts her flirtatiousness and sex appeal. “Rated R” was a dark and moody album, following the assault made by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown. In this album, Rihanna reasserts herself as a party girl, ready to get “Loud”. Rihanna’s music is all synthesized, pop music, or “club bangers”, as is appropriate. Rihanna’s music contends with other pop music singers such as Kesha and Lady Gaga, but Rihanna has been on the music scene long enough to hold her own, with a fan base that is ever-growing. On this album, Rihanna collaborates with other well known artists like Drake, and a personal favorite, Nicki Minaj. Rihanna’s music doesn’t necessarily present anything “new” to the table, however it is her unique voice that sets her apart from her musical peers. Rihanna originates from Barbados, and she plays up her West Indian accent well in her songs, especially “Loud”‘s “Man Down”. On top of all this hype, RiRi is also sporting a bold new look, bright red hair that has already been termed “Kool Aid-tastic”. MTV’s Kyle Anderson says that “at times the album’s lurid sexuality can feel forced: kink as oversold diva commodity. What Loud showcases best, though, is a star undefeated by her worst circumstances — and finding redemption in exactly the kind of pop nirvana that made her famous in the first place.” Well said.

Rihanna was featured on the New York radio station Z100 this morning and will be performing tonight on David Letterman, in the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. New York City seems to be especially excited about this new Rihanna milestone.

Review!