Category Musical Passion
What’s an Octave?
An octave is an interval in music. The concept forms the basis of Western music’s notation – A B C D E F G A – 8 notes. In this example, A and A are an octave apart. Though we don’t know which “As” I’ve specified, we can know that, if written in ascending order, […]
Hilary Hahn – Mozart 5, Vieuxtemps 4
I’ve not mentioned Hilary Hahn before except once in passing, but as far as violinists go she is one of the greats – everybody thinks so. I have thought that she makes the violin sound like it has buttons. There’s a phenomenal YouTube recording of her playing Mozart’s 3rd Violin Concerto for Pope Benedict’s birthday […]
Canon in D
On Monday the ubiquitous wedding march Canon in D, by Johann Pachelbel, popped into my head. I’m not really sure why – I do enjoy the tune, but it’s quite well-represented by others in the universe. I’ve never considered it to be one of my favorites, personally speaking. But it did occur to me that […]
Dvorak Plays Chicago
In 1893 all eyes were on Chicago – the Columbia Exposition was happening in Hyde Park, demonstrating to the rest of the country and the world that Chicago is a first rate place. Guests to the fair rode the first Ferris wheel and many saw their first electrically lit-up spectacles – there were lights all […]
Boccherini
The final piece in Suzuki Book 2 is a minuet by Luigi Boccherini. The piece is exceptionally well-known – somehow I’ve had it coursing through my brain since childhood. I’ve hummed it for many years in the shower, on the bike, while running, doing dishes, and folding laundry. When I learned it was going to […]
The Handel and Haydn Society
The Handel and Haydn Society celebrated its 200th anniversary yesterday. The Boston organization was established March 24, 1815 to allow its members to get together to sing the works of the two great composers. That’s it – I love the singular purpose for which this group came together. They were amateur musicians, and no formal […]
The Soviets
Growing up we had a monolithic evil force in the world – I’m part of the tail end of the generation that considered the USSR and its brand of communism to be existential threats to not only the USA, but to basic human decency. And that’s the way it was cast – an epic battle […]
Sunday Sonatas
Brahms wrote three sonatas for violin and piano – G Major (Opus 78, 1878), A Major (opus 100, 1886), and D Minor (Opus 108, 1887). Like his canonical Violin Concerto (Opus 77, 1878), all were composed for his very close friend Joseph Joachim, the legendary and prodigious violinist of the 19th century. The Guardian online […]
See Roda Say Hoda
Aside from my violin practice, musical exploits for me as a participant are few and far between. Yesterday afternoon, however, I was fortunate enough to get to broaden my horizons both musically and martially in a special martial arts workshop at my school. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art I’ve written about before, and I’ve […]
Strings and Hard Things
Last night I was talking to my friend who has just taken up the cello. She’s slightly north of 60 years old and she’s never played any instrument before at all. I talked to her about the difficult nature of fretless stringed instruments – there’s just so much that goes into playing the things. I […]
Ryan Libel 