The Whole Music Experience

Wikipedia As I mention in my book Whole Music , when I was a child I fell in love with timbre and the voices of the individual instruments we listened to in music class.  Each instrument conjured a specific emotions or feeling in me.  The French horn caused me to feel majestic and the cello invoked melancholy.  My moods would shift with each instrument that I heard and my moods would shift quickly. Today, I listen to more than timbre, but I have an understanding of how tone, frequencies of the tone and timbre (the color of the tone) affect me on all levels.  And I wonder what listening to an entire symphony does with its many voices, themes, keys, musical passages etc... In the concept of "whole music" I prefer not to separate musical components, but in the case of this post, I will present solo instruments for your listening and feeling pleasure. If you keep a music journal (and I hope that you do by now), write down the emotions that come up with each instr...

World Maria Ana Bobone Fado & Piano Arc Music I would think by now fado has become a household word around the world with the international fame of Mariza and Ana Moura.   If you’re searching for a queen of fado, you’ll find yourself wading through an ocean of talent.   While Amalia Rodrigues still inspires the Portuguese people and younger generations of fado singers, the younger singers realize that folk traditions live on through innovations.   Maria Ana Bobone though is the first fadista I have come across who plays piano while she belts out fados.   She’s not the first to innovate or to bring in new instruments to a traditional setting since Cristina Branco has included piano on her recordings while also bringing in jazz elements, and Mariza has performed with orchestras or ensembles featuring trumpet and keyboards such as on her album, Fado Curvo . Honoring her generation of singers, Bobone keeps her instrumental arrangements s...

Daniil Trifonov, Valery Gergiev Mariinsky Orchestra Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Mariinsky label Distributor--Harmonia Mundi While I returned to college in 2007, I relied on classical music for memory retention and for stress-reduction.   I recall listening to the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto, No. 1, along with pieces by Mozart.   The famous concerto seemed as familiar to my ears as melodies from the composer’s Nutcracker Suite .   Now, I’m listening to a new recording by a young Russian virtuoso Daniil Trifonov, who also performs songs by Schubert, Schumann, and Chopin’s Barcarolle .   Certainly, I feel impressed with Trifonov’s wide emotional palette and great dexterity as he interprets Romantic era music representing several countries.   Joining with the Mariinsky Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev (no stranger to me), the program’s focus on the recording, Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 , lands on the piano...