Bernat Vivancos – catalan song-Lo jardí de la mort

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Bernat Vivancos (1973-

Bernat Vivancos is a Catalan composer and teacher.  He studied piano and composition in Barcelona.  He later moved to Paris to study composition at the Conservatoire Superieur de Musique et de Danse for five years and then moved to Oslo Norway to complete his studies.

Vivanco’s music is full of colourful harmonies and beautiful melody.  He has written a lot of vocal and instrumental music.  Vivancos has received many commissions from international ensembles.

Nuria Rial (1975-

Nuria Rial is a Catalan soprano.  She studied voice and piano at the Barcelona Conservatory and got diplomas from the Barcelona Conservatory in piano and voice.  Nuria studied voice at the Music Academy in Basel and got a soloist diploma.  Her specialty is Renaissance and Baroque music.  She has made many recordings.

Here is a recording of a Catalan song by Bernat Vivancos called La jordi de la mort (Death’s Garden).  It is performed by soprano Nuria Rial and Bernat Vivancos is the pianist.  Enjoy!

“Ad Coelum” by Bonporti

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Francesco Antonio Bonporti (1672-1749)

Bonporti was an Italian composer, violinist, and priest.  Bonporti may have studied with the Italian violin virtuoso and composer Arcangelo Corelli.  His music is full of imaginative harmonies, lively part writing, and an unusual concentration to melodic detail.  J.S. Bach copied out some of Bonporti’s Inventions.  For a long time, four of Bonporti’s Inventions were attributed to J.S. Bach.  Recent scholarship has shown that the inventions Bach copied out are actually by Bonporti.

Here is a recording of a motet by Bonporti.  It features a soprano, Ellen Hargis, and Ensemble Ouabache.

Music of the Troubadours

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The Troubadours were lyric poets and poet-musicians from France.  The poets and poet-musicians active in Southern France were referred to as Troubadours.  The poets and poet-musicians active in Northern France were referred to as Trouvères.  Many of the songs were about courtly love.  Here are two troubadour songs.  The first song is called Humils forfaitz and it is by Giraut Riquier (c.1230-c.1300).  The second song is called Ai tal domna and it is by Berenguier de Palau (early 12th century).

Mozart : Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581 (featuring Benny Goodman on Clarinet)

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Mozart : Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581

W.A. Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581 is his only completed clarinet quintet.  It was composed in 1789 for clarinettist Anton Stadler.  The Quintet is one of the earliest and best-known compositions written for one clarinet and a string quartet.  It is a very popular work because of its lyrical melodies.  The second movement is the most widely known movement of the whole work.

Benny Goodman was an American jazz clarinettist and bandleader.  He formed his first big band in 1934.  It was the top band of the swing jazz era.  Benny Goodman mostly played jazz but he also had an interest in classical music written for the clarinet.  Goodman commissioned works from Bartok, Copland, and Hindemith.

Here is a recording of Benny Goodman and the Budapest String Quartet playing W.A. Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581.  This recording was made in 1948 and was Benny Goodman’s first classical music recording.  Enjoy!

Johannes Brahms wax cylinder recording (1889)

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Johannes Brahms wax cylinder recording (1889)

On December 2nd 1889, Theo Wangemann (who worked for Thomas Edison) recorded Johannes Brahms performing two segments at the piano in the home of Dr. Fellinger.  The works recorded were a paraphrase of Strauss’ Libelle and part of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance no.1 in g minor.

For a time it was thought that the wax cylinder had been lost.  It was re-discovered in the 1980s.  Unfortunately the recording was almost entirely masked by noise.  Wax cylinders get more and more worn each time they are played.

In the 1990s, Jonathan Berger and Charles Nichols (two PHD students at Stanford University) were able to remove some of the noise masking the music in the recording.  Here is the wax cylinder recording that Brahms made in 1889.  You will need to turn up the volume on your speakers to hear what little  remains of the recorded music on the cylinder and use your imagination to fill in what is missing.  Enjoy!

 

 

Paginini’s Thing | Dick Wellstood | Stride Piano Masterpiece

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Dick Wellstood (1927-1987)

Dick Wellstood was an American jazz pianist.  He was one of the great stride pianists.  Wellstood had a real knack for taking just about any jazz tune or classical tune and turning it into a really exciting stride piano piece.  Here he takes a well known piece for violin called the Caprice no. 24 in a minor by Niccolo Paganini and turns it into a stride piano piece.  If you aren’t familiar with the original version of the piece on the violin, I suggest that you listen to that before you listen to Dick Wellstood’s version.  If you understand what the original piece sounds like you will appreciate the stride piano version of the piece more.  Enjoy!

 

 

Vivaldi – Piccolo Concerto in C major, RV 443 – Il Giardino Armonico

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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Vivaldi is known today among music lovers and the general public for his four violin concertos, the ‘Four Seasons.’  He also composed sacred and secular vocal music, about 50 operas, several sonatas for various instruments, and 550 concertos (more than half of them are written for the violin).

The Concerto in C Major, RV 443 is often referred to as a concerto for piccolo because the first edition of the concerto referred to the piece as a piccolo concerto. The concerto has been performed on the piccolo but it is most often performed on a recorder. Vivaldi originally wrote the concerto for the flautino (a small flute that is a baroque cousin of the recorder).

Giovanni Antonini (recorder soloist)

Giovanni Antonini is an Italian conductor, recorder and transverse flute soloist.  He is one of the leading period instrument performers.  In 1985 he founded the early music ensemble Il Giardino Armonico with Luca Pianca, a Swiss lutenist.

Here is a recording of Giovanni Antonini on a sopranino recorder (the highest pitched instrument of the recorder family) performing Vivaldi’s Concerto in C Major, RV443 with the early music ensemble, Il Giardino Armonico.  Enjoy!

 

 

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Viola Organista

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Viola Organista

The Viola Organista is an instrument that was invented (but never built) by Leonardo Da Vinci.  Leonardo Da Vinci first sketched his concept of the instrument in about 1470.  The first person to build the instrument was Hans Heiden from Nuremberg.  The instrument is a keyboard instrument with strings (it looks like a harpsichord) with little wheels inside it.  The instrument also has a pedal.  It sounds like a viol when it is played.  The instrument was around in the Renaissance and Baroque periods and one of Bach’s sons and Liszt were interested in it.  For some unknown reason the instrument vanished from the music scene.  The instrument was re-discovered by a Polish pianist and composer named Sławomir Zubrzycki.

Here is a video of Sławomir Zubrzycki talking about his discovery of Leonardo Da Vinci’s instrument.  He talks about the instrument’s historical background.  Mr.Zubrzycki also plays the instrument.  Enjoy!

Vivaldi Opera Andromeda liberata Aria ”Sovente il sole” by Philippe Jaroussky

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Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer and violin virtuoso.  He is known by music lovers today for his four violin concertos, ‘The Four Seasons.’ Vivaldi composed 550 concertos.  230 of Vivaldi’s concertos are for the violin.  Vivaldi also composed other works for instruments including 40 violin sonatas, 9 cello sonatas, 10 flute sonatas, 27 trio sonatas, and 22 chamber concertos.  He also composed sacred vocal music and secular vocal music including around 50 operas (20 operas survive).

This recording is of an aria “Sovente il sole” from an opera by Vivaldi entitled Andromeda liberata.  It is sung by Philippe Jaroussky (a French countertenor) and Ensemble Matheus under the direction of Jean-Christophe Spinosi.