In my last post, I explored ideas about music inspired by a recent book. Pretty soon after I finished the book and the blog, I went to a concert at the Center for Spiritual Living that was a Beatles tribute. Michael Gott has been the musical director there for 17 years and is an excellent singer/songwriter/pianist in his own right. He was joined by Robin Hackett on vocals and a guitar player to create a unique interpretation of Beatles songs for a 2 hour concert.
One testament to the Universal appeal of the songs is the power they embody in so many different interpretations. This was especially true at the Sunday evening concert where many of the songs were slowed down, allowing the essence to become appreciated. One example was "Help" which was played as a duet with piano accompaniment at a moderately slow tempo rather than the fast rock-n-roll version recorded by the Beatles. Other memorable songs from that evening include Imagine, Yesterday, With a Little Help from my Friends, Because, Across the Universe and I Want to Hold Your Hand.
Since I grew up with this music, lots of memories that had long been split up in the various bit buckets of my mind came together to create a heighted sense of enjoyment and sensitivity to the music. Time stopped for a couple of hours as I enjoyed the classic melodies, harmonies and rhythms that spoke to the era of their composition as well as "across the universe" of time to September of 2009.
For the record, my favorite Beatles albums are: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Abbey Road, Magical Mystery Tour.
Showing posts with label Concert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Concert. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Super Bowl Sunday at the DSO
The DSO concert Sunday afternoon was great. Hungarian dances by Brahms and a Bartok classic were the orchestral pieces while the featured Liszt piano concerto was awesome.
I had never heard most of the Dances by Brahms. I am very familiar with many other Brahms works including the symphonies and a piano concerto or two. These works are cornerstones of abstract Romantic literature and exemplary works of all of music history. The Hungarian Dances are billed as light orchestrations, which they are. However, Brahms, being the master composer he was, found a way to weave profundity with levity in the right proportions to avoid any hint of triteness.
Historically, I have been negative toward hearing live concertos. Generally I prefer more balanced orchestral works where instrumental lead is shared across many orchestral sections, dictated by the abstract needs alone. Concertos seemed to artificially put the spotlight on one instrument and favor virtuosity over pure truth and beauty.
However, Sunday's performance of the Liszt concerto may have changed my mind. Maybe it was the excitement of seeing a 21 year old Russian pianist perform masterfully. Perhaps the concerto itself was more integrated with the orchestra than typical classical concertos. Whatever the reason, the piano was blended as a perfect complement to the orchestra and the solo sections were virtuosic, yet musical. Maybe I will retain my discrimination toward violin or other concertos, but bend a bit for piano concertos, since the piano is like a mini-orchestra itself.
The Bartok composition was a great contrast to the Romantic orchestrations that came before. Nothing like a little early 20th century expressionism to sanitize any hint of schmaltz that might have been felt during the Romantic music portion (Romantic with a capital R as a classical period, not romantic with a little r that might resemble a soap opera :))
I had never heard most of the Dances by Brahms. I am very familiar with many other Brahms works including the symphonies and a piano concerto or two. These works are cornerstones of abstract Romantic literature and exemplary works of all of music history. The Hungarian Dances are billed as light orchestrations, which they are. However, Brahms, being the master composer he was, found a way to weave profundity with levity in the right proportions to avoid any hint of triteness.
Historically, I have been negative toward hearing live concertos. Generally I prefer more balanced orchestral works where instrumental lead is shared across many orchestral sections, dictated by the abstract needs alone. Concertos seemed to artificially put the spotlight on one instrument and favor virtuosity over pure truth and beauty.
However, Sunday's performance of the Liszt concerto may have changed my mind. Maybe it was the excitement of seeing a 21 year old Russian pianist perform masterfully. Perhaps the concerto itself was more integrated with the orchestra than typical classical concertos. Whatever the reason, the piano was blended as a perfect complement to the orchestra and the solo sections were virtuosic, yet musical. Maybe I will retain my discrimination toward violin or other concertos, but bend a bit for piano concertos, since the piano is like a mini-orchestra itself.
The Bartok composition was a great contrast to the Romantic orchestrations that came before. Nothing like a little early 20th century expressionism to sanitize any hint of schmaltz that might have been felt during the Romantic music portion (Romantic with a capital R as a classical period, not romantic with a little r that might resemble a soap opera :))
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