Friday, April 22, 2016

A vision for guitar



Guitar is not an everyday member of classical music family. It's soft, so it may get lost with the orchestral sounds. Here is a bang-on reason:
Guitars are often solo instruments, but before the days of amplification, they wouldn't project over full sections of strings or winds. [source]
Yet, we will see that it sounds magnificent with the orchestra. Today, we listen to a guitar concerto, and probably the most popular one.

Wikipedia tells us straight
Rodrigo's music is among the most popular music of the 20th century. In particular, his Concierto de Aranjuez is considered one of the pinnacles of Spanish music and of the guitar concerto repertoire.


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Sunday, April 10, 2016

When classical music is a poem

Classical music connects with your soul, I often say. It can remind you of a story of the past or it can inspire you to create a new one.

Today, a cello has an important and exciting story to tell you. The story is continuous -- sometimes rhythmic, sometimes the cello tells you a sad event, sometimes he fills you with hope and the orchestra joins him in fervour.

The music, rondo for cello and orchestra by Daniel François Esprit Auber, is like a poem. The 'starting lines' are repeated throughout, as are a few other musical themes. It's like this:


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