Musical Moments #111 - Midori

 Midori

Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy

Midori was born in Osaka in 1971 and began her violin studies with her mother, Setsu Goto, at an early age. In 1982, conductor Zubin Mehta invited the then 11-year-old Midori to perform with the New York Philharmonic in the orchestra’s annual New Year’s Eve concert, where the foundation was laid for her following career. 

We got to see Midori earlier this year in recital. Now 50 years old, she continues to tour, doing recitals as well as performances with orchestras around the world. It is hard to believe that this "child prodigy" has turned 50!

In 1988, to celebrate Leonard Bernstein's 70th birthday, Midori (at that point a mature 16 years old) was invite to perform. She chose the show piece "Carmen Fantasy" by Pablo de Sarasate. Written in 1882 on themes from the opera "Carmen" by Georges Bizet, it is considered to be one of the most challenging and technically demanding pieces for the violin. Seiji Ozawa conducts The Boston Symphony Orchestra.

https://youtu.be/DI7E04suRH0

Musical Moments 110 - Victor Borge

 Victor Borge

Dance of the Comedians

Victor Borge was born Børge Rosenbaum on 3 January 1909 in Copenhagen, Denmark, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family. His parents, Bernhard and Frederikke Rosenbaum, were both musicians: his father a violist in the Royal Danish Orchestra,[5][6] and his mother a pianist. Borge began piano lessons at the age of two, and it was soon apparent that he was a prodigy. He gave his first piano recital when he was eight years old, and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

Borge played his first major concert in 1926 at the Danish Odd Fellow Palæet (The Odd Fellow's Lodge building) concert hall. After a few years as a classical concert pianist, he started his now famous "stand-up" act, with the signature blend of piano music and jokes. 

When the German armed forces occupied Denmark on 9 April 1940, during World War II, Borge was playing a concert in neutral Sweden and decided to go to Finland.He traveled to America on the United States Army transport American Legion, the last neutral ship to make it out of Finland, and arrived 28 August 1940, with only $20 (about $369 today), with $3 going to the customs fee.

Borge went on to have a very successful career in comedy and music in the United States. He started the Comedy in Music show at John Golden Theatre in New York City on 2 October 1953. Comedy in Music became the longest running one-man show in the history of theater with 849 performances when it closed on 21 January 1956.

He continued to perform until his death in 2000, performing about 60 shows when he was 90 in 1999. Over the years he performed with The Chicago Symphony, The New York Philharmonic, The London Philharmonic, and in this video the Boston Symphony.

There is not enough humor in the world right now - lighten up, folks!!!

https://youtu.be/jDI1XkempTo

Musical Moments #109 - Bill Charlap

 

All The Things You Are

 The other week I had the pleasure of seeing Bill Charlap play piano at the Catalina Jazz Club.

 Bill is a phenomenal New York based jazz pianist who rarely travels west of the Mississippi. He has the ability to play like Art Tatum, Bill Evans and Errol Garner all rolled into one. This video, recorded at a radio station KPLU in 2012, gives you a little sense of his talent.

In 2000, he was signed to Blue Note Records and received two Grammy Award nominations, for Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein and The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard. They are both wonderful recordings

In this video Bill takes on two jazz standards, and gives a little talk in between the two songs. Ellington's Sophisticated Lady rounds out the set.

https://youtu.be/zO4UmbBQTQw

Musical Moments #108 - RIP Gary Brooker

 PROCOL HARUM

A Whiter Shade of Pale

Fifty-five years ago, in May of 1967, a revolution began in Rock and Roll. With a structure reminiscent of Baroque music, the song features a countermelody  based on J. S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major played by Matthew Fisher's Hammond organ. The song, written by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid and sung by Brooker, starts with a 30-second instrumental which keeps showing up during the tune. The chorus, (the hook,) does not show up until 1:15, an INTERMIDABLE amount of time in pop music, when Motown tunes made sure the hook took place in the first 5 seconds. The band with an obscure name (PROCOL HARUM) and equally obscure lyrics seemed to rise out of the psychedelic ether. This song came out one month before the Beatles released Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

 An enthusiastic response from listeners of the pirate radio station Radio London prompted Deram Records to rush-release the single for 12 May 1967.It was  an instant worldwide success, reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for six weeks and the same spot in eleven countries. In three weeks, it became the fastest selling record by a new group. In the US, it peaked No. 5. For a young 15-year old pianist at New Rochelle High School, this song opened up a new world where rock n roll and classical music were allowed to collide, and song lyrics could be vague and mystical. The song has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. 

.Gary Brooker, the only constant member of the band and the main songwriter, died on 19 February 2022.

Here is a performance from 2006, shortly before the 40th anniversary of the song, performed by the band with the Danish National Concert Orchestra and choir at Ledreborg Castle, Denmark.

https://youtu.be/St6jyEFe5WM

Musical Moments #107 - Jakub Orlinski

 Jakub Jozef Orlinski

Mea Tormenta, Properate

Last night I saw a recital by the genius Countertenor, Jakub Orlinski.

To say that it was a mesmerizing experience is an understatement. I have never seen anyone with such control of their vocal technique. The fact that he has chosen to develop the abillty to sing as a countertenor (a man who sings in the range of a female soprano voice) is just one more astonishing element of this 31-year old phenom.

Oh, and he break dances as well.

https://youtu.be/AAI4tvqcbBI

If you search his material on YouTube you will find some recent high-quality music videos of Baroque opera arias with acting, costumes and LOTS of modern distractions. But here is a performance from 2018, where he makes a dramatic entrance with the aria ‘Mea tormenta, properate’ by Johann Adolf Hasse.

https://youtu.be/g8Ue_7Tg08c

Who says Baroque music can't be sexy and exciting?

Musical Moments #106 - Itzhak Attias

 Yitzhak Attias

Ezkerah

It is almost impossible to ignore the international news now. Just when we thought we were getting past one crisis, another shows up. A friend sent this video to me by Yitzhak Attias, a musician who was born in Gibraltar Spain, and then moved to Israel when he was 16. He now lives with his family near the city of Jerusalem. His current music is a family affair with Yitzhak, Tamar his wife and his four children all participating.

It based on a passage from Psalm 77

4You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
6I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7“Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
8Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
9Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

10Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”b

If you have headphones, give a listen - the sound quality and stereo is phenomenal!  

https://youtu.be/8XXgO71u7M8

 

Musical Moment #105 - Randy Newman

 

Randy Newman is best known for his song "I Love L.A.", the unofficial theme song of our fair city. Who else could write a song that includes a mention of the homeless people and some of the ugliest street corners in the city, and have 50,000 people sing it at Dodger Stadium every time we win a ballgame?

If you know Randy's music, you know it can be highly satirical and character-driven. Not to make light of the crisis in Ukraine today, I thought it was a good time to share his 2017 song, PUTIN. This was written over 5 years ago, but it is worth a listen today.

https://youtu.be/6Ya-FGHdBso

Here are the lyrics, if you wish to sing along:

Putin puttin’ his pants on One leg at a time

You mean he’s just like a regular fella, huh?

He ain’t nothing like a regular fella

Putin puttin’ his hat on Hat size number nine

“You sayin’ Putin’s gettin’ big headed?”

Putin’s head’s just fine

He can drive his giant tractor Across the Trans-Siberian plain

He can power a nuclear reactor With the left side of his brain

And when he takes his shirt off He drives the ladies crazy

When he takes his shirt off Makes me wanna be a lady

It’s the Putin Girls!

(Putin Girls) Putin if you put it when you Put it where you put it

Putin if you put it Will you put it next to me?

Putin if you put it when you Put it where you put it

Putin if you put it Will you put it next to me?

Now Putin hates the Putin girls ‘Cause he hates vulgarity

And he loves his mother country And he loves his family

He and his ex-wife Lyudmila Are riding along the shore

In his beautiful new Russian Black "C"

Let’s listen in, A great man is speaking

"We fought a war for this? I’m almost ashamed

The Mediterranean Now there’s a resort worth fighting for

If only the Greeks or the Turks Would start to sniff around

I’d bring the hammer down So quick their woolly heads would spin

Woolly head, woolly head, woolly head

Or, wait a minute Even better What if the Kurds got in the way?

Hey! Kurds and way, curds and whey!

Sometimes a people is greater than their leader

Germany, Kentucky, France

Sometimes a leader towers over his country

One shot at glory, they don’t get a second chance

I dragged these peasants kicking and screaming Into the 21st century

I thought they’d make it I must have been dreaming

These chicken farmers and file clerks gonna be the death of me

I can’t do it (PG – Sure, you can)

I can’t do it (PG- Yeah, you can)

What makes you say that girls?

(PG – Tell you why. ‘Cause you’re the Putin man)

Who whipped Napoleon? PG- We did!

Who won World War II? PG- The Americans!

That’s a good one ladies

It’s our turn to sit in the comfy chair

PG – And you’re the man gonna get us there!

I don’t know, Lenin couldn’t do it

I don’t know, Stalin couldn’t do it

They couldn’t do it Why you think I can?

PG – You’re gonna lead our people To the Promised Land

You’re right, ‘cause, Goddamn,

I’m the Putin Man

https://youtu.be/6Ya-FGHdBso