Wachet Auf
"Wachet auf!" ruft uns die Stimme. "Wake up!" the voice calls to us. The first Sunday of advent is already behind us. Are you awake? Christmas is on the way. Do you have your tree? Have you found your fiesta …
Christmas!
Thanksgiving is over. Now Christmas. When I think Christmas, I think Puccini. Not his Messa di Gloria, which is underrated, but La Boheme. Rodolpho and Mimi meet and fall in love on Christmas Eve. Spoiler alert, she dies. The music …
Frostiana: Seven Country Songs
If you sang in high school choir, any high school choir in any city or town, then one of your favorite choral pieces is Randal Thompson's "Frostiana". In 1958, the town of Amherst commissioned Randal Thompson to compose a choral …
Guilty Pleasure
Sometimes it is necessary to take a break and indulge in something cheap and easy. Granada is just that. This Mexican song written about the Spanish city of Granada has been recorded by just about everybody from Johnny Mathis to …
Walt Whitman
On some days, Walt Whitman is my favorite poet. I'm not a literary critic so all I can truly say is that I like him. The British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams also liked Whitman. Vaughan Williams used Whitman's poetry in …
The Dishonesty of Nostalgia
Images from a simpler time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLVyRvp2Qbg The music in this video is the quintet from the end of Act I of Copland's "The Tenderland." The editors of this video went with an instrumental version of the music which I think …
From the New World
Dvorak, pronounced duh-vor-zjack, wrote his 9th Symphony on a commission from the New York Philharmonic during his visit to The United States. Dvorak took the task seriously and tried to write music that represented "The New World." This 9th symphony …
Grand Canyon
Keeping with our theme of Americana, Ferde Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite is a nice slice for us to taste. Born Ferdinand Rudolph Von Grofe IV, Ferde was a fourth generation classical musician. However, Grofe was famous because of his jazz. …
Hardcore Americana
November is a month that requires some hardcore Americana. For some reason I associate this month with America more than any other. I suppose it is the combination of Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. Many countries have independence days but thanksgiving …
MP3
Classical music on MP3 is a mixed blessing. Lest we forget, some classical music audiophiles haven't accepted CD's because they compresses the sonic spectrum. An MP3 compresses CD quality. You can imagine the outrage. The biggest drawback I can see …
Operatic Requiem
Mozart's Requiem may be the piece of music I value over all others but Verdi's Requiem is by far my favorite Requiem. After it's premiere, many thought it was sacrilegious and better suited for the theater and opera stage than …
Atomic Requiem
Mozart's Requiem is one thing and Berlioz's is quite another. Mozart's score calls for 7 pieces of brass and 1 set of timpani along with woodwinds, strings and chorus. Berlioz's score is for 20 pieces of brass, 16 sets of …
A Requiem for Innocence
When push comes to shove and someone demands that I name the piece of classical music I value over all others, I always go with Mozart's Requiem. The opening requiem aeternam has a solemnity that declares Mozart's innocence has died. …