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 | Copyright © 2002 Eric Cheng. All Rights Reserved. |
This seems to me to be a brute-force approach to stamp out any fun that may ensue, even though the intent is to tame down the violence and property damage this year. I am mildly opposed to the sudden stoppage of the wild antics, when most of us are just here to cavort, but I am downright appalled that it will be STREET SWEEPERS that scoop the fun right out of the neighborhood. Will there be a human blockade? Will there be arrests? Tune in for next week's episode of... "The Night of the Sweepers."
On a lighter note, in the spirit of the performing arts, try out this Halloween song rendered by a vocal jazz trio. It's a must-listen!
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross: Halloween Spooks
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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Midori, the Japanese-American virtuoso, arrives in San Francicso this week. She's one of the world's most prominent violinists, yet she's a little soft on style when given contemporary music to perform. Nevertheless, she often sells out concerts at Davies Symphony Hall, causing us to book tickets well in advance. Last year, she gave us only an average performance of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto #1, and this year, she will render Benjamin Britten's Violin Concerto, a very rare treat in any symphony hall! Obviously, I look forward to her performance this coming Friday, and we'll hold our breaths and trust that she will deliver the finest Britten yet.
Drugs
In October 2005, I blogged profusely regarding a series of events involving a troubled roommate at the time, which just happened to include Midori's concert that we attended together. After the Midori concert this week, I will repost and update that disappointing story, as few readers have learned of this drug-related disaster that actually wound up in court. It is a worthwhile read, however, since the unhealthy choices and egregious mistakes that the ex-roommate (and PhD student) made should be lessons learned for the rest of us.
Classical Music Lesson #1
And since I'm able to spin anything into a positive light, let me now offer you a quick lesson in classical music, which appropriately focuses on violin music! We'll listen to two different forms of violin music, from two different eras, to compare and contrast the styles of two vastly different composers.
The first excerpt is the adagio from Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 5, for violin and piano. This is referred to a chamber work, meaning that the score calls for only a few instrumentalists, or two in this case. In very easy terms, it is called a sonata mainly due to the fact that it features a piano and another instrument. You'll hear a simple and perfectly-formed romance in this movement, which is one of my favorite of Beethoven's masterpieces.
And the second excerpt is, of course, from the Britten Violin Concerto in D Minor, as performed by the violinist Ida Haendel. You'll hear the unsettling second movement, in which you'll hear both virtuosity but also insecurity. It takes a damned good violinist to open the audience up to this concerto, which was finished just days before World War II broke out. Will Midori save this eccentric work next week, or will she toss it forever into the symphonic abyss below Davies Hall? I will also be very interested to hear whether you could bear listening to the whole movement, and what you think of this idiomatic style of mid-20th century British music.
Beethoven: Violin Sonata #5 in F Major, Op. 24: Adagio
Britten: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 15: Vivace
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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Have you ever been ambitious to start a new hobby or explore a new discipline, only to be discouraged by the sheer volume of information, sources, and endless tangle around the subject? Even a trip to the book store proves that there is so much material to absorb on a new topic, that you don't even know where to begin! And forget the Internet, where as much as 75% of all information is general nonsense.
Wouldn't it be a refreshing switch to know that there is someone out there willing to guide you through an unknown region, in very easy terms, such that you would actually enjoy learning something new? Enter stage left: Daniel's Five Minute Guides... something the Internet has been missing since it was born!
Try out this first primer, a quick five minute guide to learning and loving classical music. Five minutes is all you need, so grab a glass of your favorite wine, and enjoy your newfound knowledge! If these prissy little installments are truly helpful, I may just have to take more requests!
Classical Music 101
Welcome to the world of classical music. It's my world, a place where music in endless forms and varieties give me an entire lifetime of listening pleasure. It's the oldest recognized type of music in Western civilization, and it dates back well into the Middle Ages. Since classical music is the oldest and largest genre of music in existence, let's study this music from one era to the next.
Most music historians identify anywhere from four to seven distinct eras in classical music, and since I recognize all seven, let's learn about each one:
1. Middle Ages (450 A.D. to 1450 A.D): Shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire, the first era of classical music was born. Our first composers were mostly supported by the church (surprise!), and religion influenced early classical music more than any other source. There was no formal system of notation, making composing very difficult and time-consuming. Gregorian chants were written during these ancient times.
2. Renaissance (1450 - 1600): Humans discovered that Earth is not the center of the universe, so classical music changed along with the rest of the arts. Music became more of an expressive art than a science, and music was now being printed, allowing sacred, secular, and instrumental music to spread everywhere. Governments now influenced the spread of the era's music more than the church. Claudio Montiverdi was one of the most prominent composers of this era.
3. Baroque (1600-1750): The era of Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi saw the development of almost every modern instrument in use today, particularly the violin, clarinet, and piano. Composers developed the idea of the sonata, the concerto, and the symphony, where great performers (called virtuosos) found enormous success. Composers used counterpoint, dance rhythms and repetition in their music.
4. Classical (1750-1825): Yes, this era just happens to have the same name as the whole genre that we're studying, yet it has the shortest time span of any classical music period. Think of this brief period as a launch platform of all the modern music to follow. If you speak to a music snob who claims that this is the only "real" era of classical, then politely extend your middle finger while mooning the person. Just kidding. Anyway, classical music wasn't even called classical music back in this time. You can find nearly all of the most popular composers in this era, namely Mozart and Beethoven (both of whom didn't know they were writing "classical"). It's pretty funny if you think about it. They used simple ideas, simple textures, and simple forms, all of which make for great listening material.
5. Romantic (1825-1900): Lush and beautiful music was the prevailing theme during most of the 1800s, and music was written to tell stories, to depict the mysteries of nature, or to express the upper reaches of human emotions. Composers of this era such as Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Chopin wrote music with a wider dynamic range, using a larger variety of instruments. Their melodies were longer and more dramatic, and their harmonies were fuller, richer, and more dissonant. Female composers gained more visibility during this period, such as Clara Schumann.
6. 20th Century: 1900-1999: Classical music exploded, evolved and splintered faster than it ever had before. New subcategories of classical music were born every year, and more composers were writing music than all previous eras combined. Music of this era was influenced by anything and everything, including world wars, politics, SEX, and cross-pollination by other types of music such as jazz. And anything and everything was possible, from atonal to experimental to electronic. Finally, music could be recorded and distributed widely, creating a burgeoning market for all types of new music. Over one hundred thousand composers fall into this period, including Copland, Stravinsky, and Ravel. Needless to say, neither the church nor the government contributed much to classical music in this century.
7. Contemporary Classical: 1970 - 2050 (projected): If the 20th Century period ends in 1999, then what do we call all classical music written thereafter? Welcome to the contemporary classical period, where we see even more subcategories such as the minimalism of Philip Glass, the electric opera by John Corigliano, and the twelve-tone works of John Bilotta, a Bay Area composer! The few creative barriers that may have been left after the 20th century have been crushed by a whopping 300,000 living composers, and this contemporary period gives new meaning to the phrase "Anything Goes!"
That was painless, wasn't it? There is so much more to learn, but this is your first step into removing the mystery from these vast eras. Your next few leaps into classical music should now be a little easier!
Next week, I will begin serving some of the grandest, most stunning, and most daring classical music the world has seen. The autoplay in each entry will be set to off, but please don't be shy, click play! Add a little passion to your life each time you visit, and share my world with me!
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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I have been grumbling about how my job was bludgeoning my social life (and cultural life), but taking a step hither, I realize that the damage isn't quite as bad as I thought.
- I have been eating my way around the city with friends, including Kevin, Vincent, Weldon, John, Jonas, and Lyn.
By the way, why Kevin and Vincent aren't blogging is beyond me!
- I have started joining my German co-worker on cross-country flights in the single-engine planes that we love so much. Our first flight was to the gold-mining town of Columbia, California. Stay tuned, as I will report about our adventure in my next entry. Next flight: Lake Tahoe Airport!
- I just chose 13 performances at Davies Symphony Hall for the 2006/2007 season. Last night was my first visit with friends, where Joshua Bell tried to dazzle us with his watered-down Hollywoodish cadenzas (unsuccessfully). Sorry, you get a C+, buddy.
- I have met a few more classical musicians as I traverse the local music scene. I could gush for days about how deeply enriching my growing interest in modern classical has been.
- Kevin and I are going to try out the newest restaurant in the Castro, Barracuda. Hello, Pomegranate Glazed Stuffed Quail, nice to meet you!
I skipped Folsom Street Fair and this weekend's Fleet Week in San Francisco, and I've lost touch with most of my old acquaintances. Yet, I'd say that I am maintaining that delicate balance between the sphere of work and the sphere of life.
I will be adding an embedded media player to introduce all visiting Xangans to different classical works. I will politely set autoplay to off, but I would like everyone's feedback and opinions about whether it's acceptable to set a media player's autoplay on Xanga blogs to on.
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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