Bach's Prelude and Fugue No.1 on Non-Instruments

The Well-Tempered Clavier is by far one of the most influential music works of all time (though I think it could easily be called THE most). Composed by Bach in 1722, this unique multi-purpose book of preludes and fugues was the starting point of many beginners as well a training material for music pros. The most popular prelude-and-fugue out of 48 compositions in the book is the first one – the one on the basis of which the famous Gounod’s setting for Ave Maria was made.

Now, since 1722, can you imagine how many times this prelude was performed? Incalculable, perhaps. Some play it indeed for studying purposes, others for sharpening the skills, and others for pure pleasure. And those who are always in search of new creative performances are trying to make something special even out of works as ‘over-played’ as this. I’ve just found a curious performance of Bach’s masterpiece on guess what – boomwhackers. How cool is that?

Eurovision 2015 Winning Song Score

Do you like to watch Eurovision? I’m personally a big fan of this song contest and I’m looking forward to it every year ready to vote for the best song. I know there have been a lot of rumors about the other side of this competition and the financial games behind it but that’s what happens, more or less, within any significant contest of such a scale. In my view, the most important thing in this case is the fact that in the end we do get some really great quality music product. The songs that sound on the stage become really popular among people, the nations get so knit together, for the time of competition at least, and the artists get a chance to deliver the result of their hard creative work to the listener who’s waiting for it.

This year was marked by another bright event and as a result brought us some really lovely music works. The winner of Eurovision 2015 – a Swedish singer Måns Zelmerlöw conquered the listeners’ hearts with his symbolic song “Heroes”. Now it can be played by any musician worldwide. I personally think that’s a very decent choice. Among other contestants that I believe could have shared the biggest prize are Belgium, Estonia, Russia… Though every contestant did a very good job representing his/her country.

Beethoven’s Ode to Joy Is Universal

Why do certain music works become the most performed in music halls of the world? To think about it, the list of such classical compositions is not that long considering the scale of the planet. So what made them cross the numerous borders and penetrate into so different cultures of the world? Let’s see how this happened at the example of one of world’s most well-known compositions to date – Beethoven’s SymphonyNo.9.

Since the bright premiere night of the symphony in Vienna in 1824, with Beethoven’s own rare appearance on the stage, the sounds of composer’s greatest work have been so widespread that there is hardly any hall – big or small – where it wasn’t performed. The symphony is known as ‘choral’ due to the vocals added to it: the final movement contains words from the poem by Friedrich Schiller “Ode to Joy”. This made a big novelty in classical music and made Beethoven (who was almost deaf at that time, by the way) the first composer to use voice in a symphony. Some experts criticized him for that but in the end many outstanding composers to come were deeply influenced by this work – Brahms, Bruckner, Dvořák, to name some.

The symphony became so iconic that a lot was measured by it. Just take the regular CD that was designed in such a way that it could be enough to hold the complete recording of the 9th.

Today, the 9th voices sound all over the world, words sung by so many different people from different cultures. Beethoven’s masterpiece is not just a symphony, it can be literally called an Ode to Joy in so many ways. The ‘ode’ used to sound as the Olympic Games anthem, it’s the Anthem of European Union and it’s been more than popular in Japan until now, sounding at all major symbolic events.

It’s something that’s already universal, no matter where it came from. The music legacy of humanity.

Rachmaninoff Performed by Lisitsa

Having a favorite composer, or two, or a dozen – is one thing. But even the most well-known and widely-recognized music masterpieces can be performed in so diverse ways. Thus having your favorite performer, I believe, can say a lot about a person. It’s all in the small nuances, and colors, and mood, and energy that are present in a certain performing style.

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is no doubt among my unchanging all-time favorites and I’ve listened to quite of a lot interpretations of this almost-piano-concerto. Those include the original performance of the master Rachmaninoff himself (as we know he often played his own works), the version of Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Rubinstein at the piano, of course, and my favorite perhaps – Valentina Lisitsa’s performance. Here she plays on piano Variation 18 from the Rhapsody. Isn’t it wonderful? It’s definitely one of Valentina’s brightest performances of Rachmaninoff to me. Just listen and enjoy.

Who’s your favorite performer now?

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars: “Uptown Funk”

I always couldn’t help but agree that all the new stuff is just the well-forgot old stuff. Same in fashion, same in architecture, same in any form of art, including, of course, music! It all returns.

That’s what I thought when heard “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson, featuring Bruno Mars’ vocals. (The actual impression was that it was Bruno Mars’ song with Mark Ronson and not vice versa, but well). The good thing about this song is that it becomes one’s flashback into the popular cultures of the past and conveys them perfectly! The flavors of disco, funk, RnB and the entire spirit of the 80ies make you wanna groove from the very first chords. No wonder Ronson got a British Single of the Year award for it and during the first week Uptown Funk could be intensely streamed, listened and danced to all over the world.
Verdict: it worked just fine!

Here, take the score, and here, taste the video:

Sentence Me to Bach!

So I run into this short note on NBC News saying that a certain guy, Andrew Vactor by name, was listening to music too loudly in public and to be punished for that received a most curious sentence. Andrew could simply pay a fine of $150 but the judge thought of an alternative. She allowed reducing the fine ($35 instead of $150) on condition that the guy would spend 20 hours listening to classical music! How do you like that?

The idea is clear, of course – the judge simply wanted to show Andrew what it's like, to be forced to listen to something against your will and taste. But the fact itself made me wonder. How many of today’s teenagers would perceive listening to classical music as punishment? I’m afraid to know the answer, to be honest. It’s kinda sad that we are gradually losing that fragile sense of the beautiful that is brought up by classical music. Parents, please, if you like classics, try planting it in your kids from early childhood!

As for Andrew, he was an ardent fan of rap music so he chose to pay the full fine. The guy, however, mentioned that it was rather for the ‘lack of time’, not because the unbearable punishment.

LEGO harpsichord

I sometimes wonder how people get inspired for creating certain things. Isn’t it wonderful that at some point of your life you may get ‘hit’ by some crazy idea and find it embodied in real life after a while? I truly respect people who have courage and strength for both developing an idea and fulfilling it.

 Here’s an amazing example of how a guy called Henry Lim created a most beautiful harpsichord from as many as a hundred pieces of LEGO.  I’ve always found some special charm about harpsichords and that’s why this caught my eye. As you probably know, the harpsichord had two ‘birth times’. The original harpsichord era is the 18th century, when it could be heard in all courts and could boast of having a great patron – Bach, who loved it a lot and thus scored a lot of music works for it.

Unfortunately, by the 20th century harpsichord completely gave way to it more popular follower – the piano. And it seemed to have faded for quite a long time until Mrs. Landowska brought back to life again. And I’m glad we have it back, really! With the amount of music compositions for harpsichord that are abundant today, I’d definitely consider possessing one myself. And especially if it’s as original as Mr. Lim’s creation.

The most beautiful thing about this LEGO instrument is that it’s actually fully PLAYABLE! Considering that it’s fully made from those tiny LEGO pieces (well, but for the strings, of course), it’s a little miracle to me. There are, surely, a few tricks used to make it possible (like covering some pieces with special resonant tiles), but we are to face the fact: it cost a lot of effort, time and it works!