Sunday, September 04, 2011

Classical music and then some

Good music is music that moves us. Be it any genre, a music piece that stirs a certain emotion (or more than one) is something that we listen to over and over again.

A friend recommended the book An Equal music by Vikram Seth. It is a story about a love affair between two successful musicians who meet after a decade of separation.
The writing style is in first person, so it took me a lot of effort to get into the mode of reading the story as spoken directly from the author's point of view.
What I do like about the book is the description of the music pieces and references to the classical compositions. The first piece described in the book is Beethoven's C Minor Trio. So along with reading about the music, listening to it and actually understanding what the author describes adds to the effect.

I love the way the lady plays the piano so beautifully and effortlessly.



These are the other classical/based pieces that I've been playing in a loop recently:

Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi's Divenire. Listening to this piece as well as watching the musicians play it is a treat.



David Lanz's Christofori's Dream. There is something very subtle at the same time very intense about this tune.



And it is time to note that the CDs with the works of Beethoven and Mozart received as a gift eons ago are being put to good use :)

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Victor Wooten

Bass, played on a lower key, generally provides a harmonic/rhythmic support.
When Victor Wooten is playing, bass gets a whole new meaning. It does not support, it IS the music.

Today's Victor Wooten trip includes:
The Lesson
Joe's Journey
Sacred Silence
Yin Yang
The Vision
What you won't do for love
On and On

More music streaming here: http://www.victorwooten.com/music.html

Sunday, April 17, 2011

A post for: Music of the Heart and Bach

Yesterday I watched the movie Music of the Heart. This falls in the categories music and inspiration. The movie is a sure #win for several reasons - the main ones being Meryl Streep, the music, the true storyline. Meryl Streep is a versatile actress. Be it her role in Devil wears Prada, Julie and Julia or this one, so very different - yet so well adapted.

The movie is about Roberta Guaspari. When her husband leaves her, Roberta's mom and friend push her into pursuing her passion - teaching music. Roberta teaches in a school at Harlem and life is a struggle. When the music program at school is cut due to budget constraints she fights back and wins.
Roberta later went on to found Opus 118 - Harlem centre for Strings.

At the very end of the movie, a charity show to be hosted by Roberta is almost scrapped due to non-availability of venue. That is when her friend arranges for musical greats like Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern help conduct the concert at Carnegie Hall. The finale gave me goosebumps when these musicians along with the children play Bach's double concerto. Such beautiful music.

Since last evening, I have been listening to classical music specially Bach's. These are in my current playlist:
Double concerto
Prelude - Cello Suite No. 1
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Brandenburg concerto No. 3 (Allegro)
Cantata No. 29 Sinfonia

Friday, March 25, 2011