TSO & Rob Kapilow's What Makes it Great?

Last night I went to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's performance of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. They were conducted by Rob Kapilow. It was my second time going to one of his "What Makes it Great?" performances. (Last year I got to see them do "Spring" and "Summer" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons with Jennifer Koh.)

Rob Kapilow breaks the music down so that even my Mom can understand the music!

For Mozart's Jupiter Symphony he showed us how simple isn't always simple and how doing things slightly different can make a big difference.

We bought his book "What Makes It Great: Short Masterpieces, Great Composers"
He talks about masterpieces by composers like Bach, Handel, Schumann and Tchaikovsky. There is a website that has clips of what he's talking about in the book. We already downloaded the clips and I can't wait to read it and learn more about some of my favourite pieces of music.



The best part of the night was getting to meet him. He doesn't know it, but he's one of my musical heroes!

If you can't make it to one of Rob Kapilow's concerts you can hear him talk about "Summertime" by George Gershwin on NPR
http://www.npr.org/2008/10/23/95761927/a-languid-look-back-to-gershwins-summertime
There are links to other pieces as well, but Summertime is one of my favourites.

Here's a link to his website:
http://www.robkapilow.com/index.shtml

Classical Guitar - Drew Henderson

Here is a great piece by J.S. Bach played on guitar by Drew Henderson. It was written for the cello and Drew did the arrangement for guitar.
http://youtu.be/oFSG7ViivHs

Pretty cool!


Here's another piece.
Recuerdos de la Alhambra by Francisco Tárrega played by Drew.
http://youtu.be/Db2MVldD-N4

John Cage's 4'33

John Cage really did write a silent piece. I found out about it from the Horrible Histories Big Prom Party.
It's so funny! The orchestra doesn't play. They sit there quietly.
The conductor gives the downbeat and he uses a clock to time it.
You can hear all the coughs and you can see all the people looking at the orchestra.

Here's a recording of it:
http://youtu.be/zY7UK-6aaNA

I did find out that tacet means "It is silent".

I wonder how many bars each movement is?
What key signature is it written in?
Does the orchestra have to rehearse it?

Here's what John Cage says about 'silence'
http://youtu.be/pcHnL7aS64Y

The MILOŠ concert

I went to the MILOŠ  concert at Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music last night.
I am so happy I got to go!

Miloš Karadaglić is a classical guitarist and he's a great performer and entertainer. He seemed comfortable talking in front of everybody. He played songs that were slightly different from what was in the program but I was happy because he played one of my favourite songs in the world!

This is the song I'm talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWZUbp8jSyI&feature=relmfu

It's Albeniz's Asturias (Leyenda) - No.5 from Suite espanola op. 47
He said that if it weren't for this song he would have been a lawyer. 
The first time I heard it on the radio, I bugged my Mom to buy the CD on itunes. 

He played Batucata by Isias Savio. I really liked it. 

He also played Carlo Domeniconi's Koyunbaba. He tuned the guitar to C# minor instead of E.  I liked that he talked about it. We pictured ourselves on a cliff above the sea when we were listening to it. 

After the concert, Miloš signed CDs and we got the chance to meet him! He thinks I look like Jaden Smith. 

Here is a picture of the ceiling in Koerner Hall. It's different from any other ceiling I've seen. I wonder if it helps the sound?

Violincello da Spalla

This instrument is new to me but it is pretty old.

It's like a little cello that's held up. 

It must be heavy.

Here is a concerto written for the Violincello da Spalla by Antonio Vivaldi.

Get Well Uncle J.

This post is for my Uncle J.

Uncle J,
I hope you feel better soon!

I played these two songs for you. I hope you like them.


Minuet in D Minor by J.S. Bach

http://youtu.be/bjzlTQULN9U

Play it Again by Christopher Norton

http://youtu.be/PO4NA05Rp-U

Horrible Histories Big Prom Party 2011

I love "Horrible Histories". It comes on on BBC Kids here. I got to see the Proms special on youtube.
http://youtu.be/mWn9jJ9ptvY

It was great!

Nick Collon conducted the Aurora Orchestra and the cast of Horrible Histories performed with them.

They talked about Beethoven and Mozart and they argued over who was the greatest composer of all time. They also talked about Lully's 'stupid death' and gave a brief history of the orchestra! They even played some historical instruments like the lyre, serpent, rackett, crumhorn and the sackbutt.

I knew most of the songs but I looked up some. 

They played: 

• Overture from "The Marriage of Figaro" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
• Danse Macabre Op. 40 by Camille Saint-Saens
• Romeo avenging Mercutio's death from Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev
• March to the Scaffold by Hector Berlioz
• Royal Fireworks Music by George Frideric Handel
• Marche pour la ceremonie des Turcs by Jean-Baptiste Lully
• Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn
• Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner

They also had some really cool songs by the cast of Horrible Histories like:

• The 4 Georges
• Richard III
• Charles II
• George IV 
• Cleopatra

My favourite HH song is Henry VIII's song about his wives. "Divorced, beheaded and died. Divorced, beheaded, survived". I still can't believe three of his wives were named Catherine. 

(One interesting thing is that Jean-Baptiste Lully was Louis XIV's composer. Louis XIV built the Chateau de Versailles. I visited Versailles when I was in France in May.)