Pianist Frantisek Janoska was born in Budapest, Hungary. He started playing the piano when he was 5 years old. He then studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, and the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. Frantisek won many competitions, and played for many years with the Roby Lakatos Ensemble. Frantisek sometimes plays gypsy style duets based on classical pieces with his brother Roman Janoska. He founded the Janoska ensemble in 2013 (which is made up of Frantisek, his two brothers, and their brother-in-law) . The ensemble performs and records gypsy style improvisations based on classical pieces (all in their own unique style).
Here is a funny video of Frantisek playing the piano… Enjoy.
The Cuban tune, Lagrimas Negras, was one of several songs written by composer, singer, and guitarist Miguel Matamoros (1894-1971). Miguel Matamoros had a very popular group called Trio Matamoros that was formed in 1925, and was active until 1961. They recorded many of Matamoros’ songs and were very popular. Miguel Matamoros was a singer in the group. If you do a search of Trio Matamoros on YouTube, you can find many of their recordings.
Lagrimas Negras (Black Tears) was recorded by Trio Matamoros in 1931 and became a huge hit. The song is about profound sadness over the loss of a lover. Despite the sad subject matter of the song, the sad melody is creatively mixed together with a lively and upbeat rhythm. Here is a recording of Lagrimas Negras that I made on the violin and piano. I played both parts in this recording. The piano part is based on a solo by the great Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés. Enjoy.
Hello dear blog viewers. Here is a Polonaise that I wrote called “Moonlight on the Vistula.” The Vistula River is the longest river in Poland. It goes from Silesia (Southern Poland) to the Baltic Sea near the very old city of Gdańsk. The river passes through the edge of historic Kraków and goes through Warsaw. Here is a YouTube video of my Polonaise for your listening pleasure. If you would like to purchase the sheet music for this piece, please go to this link: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/moonlight-on-the-vistula-22540565.html?srsltid=AfmBOortHkk-tkQlvygPrs-AhStQbA-5zXIdHvevYvMmI_w7v2dzztec
Comedian Jack Benny (1894-1974), whose real name was Benny Kubelsky, began his career in Vaudeville. He started his career playing the violin and wanted to be a professional violinist, but discovered that he was having more success with his jokes than with his violin playing. Jack became a comedian instead and decided to use the violin as a prop to get more laughs by playing the violin badly. Following his Vaudeville years, Jack Benny was on the radio in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s he went on television with his own show called “The Jack Benny Show.” Jack had great comedic timing, and could get people to laugh by simply pausing for a long time or by using a single facial expression (something that many comedians could not do).
Liberace (1919-1987), whose real name was Władziu Valentino Liberace, was mainly known as a pianist, but could also sing and act. He was very entertaining, and he would often make fun of himself by wearing outlandish outfits. Old ladies loved watching Liberace’s tv show, “The Liberace Show” which first aired in the 1950s. He began his career as a pianist playing classical music but discovered that it was hard to make a good living at it, and that he could do extremely well playing popular music. Liberace made many recordings of popular music, and like Jack Benny, he also had a talent for comedy. He claimed once that he was probably the only pianist to perform the piano piece Chopsticks in Carnegie Hall.
Here is a video clip of Liberace and Jack Benny playing a popular song called “September Song.” I found this to be very funny, and I hope that you will enjoy it and get a good laugh watching it.
I started composing and arranging music in 2021. Since then I have published a few piano pieces, an arrangement for two violins and harpsichord, several organ pieces, two pieces for violin and piano, and one choral piece. I am still working on more arrangements and compositions. If you are interested, I have YouTube demo recordings of some of my compositions and arrangements on my website www.robertjandukarm.com . Links to purchase sheet music can be found under the YouTube demos under the Compositions/Arrangements section of the Home Page of my website. You can also do a search for Robert Jan Dukarm on SheetMusicPlus.com and purchase my sheet music there. Thank you for your support.
In the meantime, here is one of my compositions which is a waltz for piano called “Fragrances of Spring.” Enjoy.
Dmitri Shostakovich composed his most famous film score for the 1955 Soviet film, The Gadfly. The Romance from the Gadfly for violin and orchestra is often performed as a standalone piece because it is so popular. BBC’s series, “Reilly Ace of Spies” famously had the Romance from the Gadfly as the soundtrack to the series.
I have recorded a violin/piano arrangement by Donald Fraser of Shostakovich’s Romance from the Gadfly. Here is a YouTube link to my recording if you would like to listen to it. Thanks for listening.
Musical Treats 