The Mystic Scriabin in the Himalayas

Sometimes music is all we need to dive into some special world of art, beauty and comprehension. But when music is enhanced by other senses – vision, smell and touch – a powerful effect is created.

We know Alexander Scriabin as the music master who developed the atonal music language putting major focus on mysticism. He had a very special and unique musical system where colors and harmonies played the central role. Alexander Scriabin is considered to be the main symbolist composer of Russia. His music was both innovating and controversial, its influence later stretched on Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Roslavets, among others.

Despite all the fame and appreciation, Scriabin was very soon forgotten after his death in 1915. However, years passed and his music was re-evaluated, his contribution re-acknowledged.

Yesterday I came across this trailer and then watched the entire unique performance - a tribute to the great Russian composer.

I applaud to the idea itself, it is such a great thing to embody what Scriabin would have wanted. The multi-sensory performance organized in the Himalayas is a well-thought event that puts all the necessary highlights on Scriabin’s music values. The colors, the sounds, the height, the sacred mysticism of the Himalayas  - all that creates a perfect setting for the music of the talented symbolist.

Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 is for Harpsichord

Brandenburg Concertos composed by Johann Sebastian Bach are without exaggeration the most notable orchestral works of the Baroque period. There are six of them all in all, each composed at a different stage of Bach’s life, but all joined in a set to be presented to the Malgrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt – Christian Ludwig – in 1721.

Bach playing organ

Brandenburg Concertos embrace a wide range of music instruments and were unprecedented in many ways, in scoring particularly. Bach himself being an outstanding organ and harpsichord played, gave special spotlight to the harpsichord. In fact, his Brandenburg Concerto No.5 is the first concerto where a solo keyboard instrument has such an important part.

Too bad that these unique concertos were not given to the rights hands: Christian Ludwig was not a big connoisseur of music, so the Brandenburg Concertos were left without the proper attention until they got re-discovered in 1849 by Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn who found them in Brandenburg archives.

Many notable orchestras have performed the six famous works. The concertos were also played as chamber works. The two most famous batons under which these pieces sounded were those of Herbert von Karajan and Karl Richter. The latter also did a stunning harpsichord solo of the 5th concerto that definitely deserves to be listened to (start at 6:30):

Adele Is Back, Hello!

She’s back and is as stunning as ever! A lot of fans worldwide have been waiting for Adele’s comeback for an eternity it seems. And she brought them the joy by presenting the new song “Hello” released in October 2015.

Adele in the music video to the song "Hello"

As we know, Adele took a pause in writing music having dedicated herself to the family and the new-born son. We also know that Adele doesn’t write songs without inspiration and huge personal involvement. This is why everyone was patiently waiting to hear the new hits from the new Adele so much. When you first hear the title of the new song – Hello – you may think that it’s just a symbolic “Hello, everyone, I’m back!”, but it’s definitely not.

The comeback song symbolizes a telephone conversation of Adele with the younger version of herself. It is a dialog with all those who used to be a part of the singer’s life and no longer are. An iconic song that once again stresses the importance of finding strengths to move on whatever happens in life. The vocals are stunning as always and the message as global as it can be, concerning way too many of us. Hello from the other side..

Hello is the lead single from the upcoming album by Adele under the simple title “25”. Let us hope that the new album of the ‘grown-up’ Adele is even more powerful as her previous work (due in November 2015, soon!).

The Eternal Ave Maria

Since early times, men of art have been dedicating a good part of their creative work to religious themes. Virgin Mary is perhaps one of the biggest religious objects of inspiration for painters, poets and, of course, musicians. The majority of greatest composers of all time have at least a piece dedicated to the Blessed Mother of God.

Despite the big number of such music compositions, there’s still one that can now be called almost unrivaled, and that’s the Ave Maria by Schubert (a music setting of "Ellen's Third Song" from Walter Scott’s poem “The Lady of the Lake”). This piece is recognized and played worldwide and is perhaps the major dedication to the Blessed Virgin.

So many versions of Ave Maria appeared since the moment of its creation. Both classical composers of the past and contemporary ones made their own arrangement of the piece. In order to present their own vision of the composition musicians have gone through various experiments. Here’s a video of the piece performed on musical saw. To me it sounds very harmonious and the high poignant ‘voice’ of the saw suit the image perfectly.

In fact, to my own surprise I found out that the size of the repertoire for the musical saw is quite extensive. Moreover, there were composers who created music specifically for this instrument (Penderecki, Minden, Enescu).

I believe that some eternal composition like Ave Maria are so refined that would sound admirably played on whatever instrument.

Taylor Swift's Intense Hit "Bad Blood"

They say that the best works in different spheres of art are mostly begot as a result of some sad, tragic or shocking events in a human’s life. The cases when enormous happiness became the reason for a masterpiece are tangibly less frequent. The anger, the anxiety, the offense seems to be a powerful creative driving force, especially among musicians.

Taylor Swift created a lot of mysticism on the eve of releasing her new single “Bad Blood”, and even more preliminary discussions took place right before the video was uploaded to her YouTube Vevo. Numerous Taylor’s fans are already accustomed to listening about the singer’s personal life in her songs. The long list of star boyfriends gave her a lot of inspiration for writing music. But it’s a different story with “Bad Blood”. This time the fan club was eager to find out why Swift wrote a song about a close friend’s betrayal and who was the female who had set her up.

The person whom the song is addressed to was never mentioned publicly but the journalists hurried to draw parallels and come to the conclusion that the only possible ‘friend’-subject of the song was Katy Perry and the incident with the concert sabotage that had taken place earlier.

No matter what pushed Taylor for it, the result managed to conquer the music arena no worse than the boyfriend stories. The team she gathered for the video is quite powerful, which also added to the intensity of the song. Should the fans thank Katy now?

Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major

If the desire to achieve something is too big – there is almost no way anything can stand in your way to achieve it. History remembers so many cases of amazingly strong will displayed. And I’ve forever been admiring those people who can proceed with their aims despite even the hardest hardships.

Below is the 1937 recording of the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein playing the Concerto in D Major composed by Maurice Ravel between 1929 and 1930.

The peculiarity of the piece is that it was written for the left hand only, specially for Paul who lost his right arm during the Second Word War. He was the one who commissioned this music work by his friend composer and the one who premiered it in 1932.

Ravel was deeply dedicated to ‘protect’ the original form AND meaning of the concerto – for left hand players only, for people like Paul. However, ever before the day of premiere, there were attempts to change it. Alfred Cortot made his own arrangement for a regular two-hand piano performance and orchestra. Ravel struggled to not let it get published and performed, and contacted many conductors on the matter. Only after the composer’s death, the two-hand arrangement resumed its public appearances and even got recorded.

Bruckner’s 8th, Perspective-Changing Symphony

As an organist and composer of a lot of choral music (both secular & sacred), Anton Bruckner had a special composing style that to some may seem quite complex and sophisticated. Composer’s works were always very original and most often monumental. It first of all regards his symphonies – there are 11 of them.

The crown of monumentalism is Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 which was his last work. It was not the last numerically (there’s also No.9) but it’s the last that he completed. The 8th was dedicated to the then emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I – composer officially asked for permission to make it so.

Sometimes one may find a nickname used for this epic work – it’s called “The Apocaliptic” (not by composer himself). The other day I’ve run into a short simple video that perfectly witnesses the truly apocalyptic character of this classical masterpiece. The amount of drama that emerged after the 8th was set as background to the video is just unbelievable! That’s the power of music that can instantly change the perspective, isn’t it.