The
melodica has all the irritation and the none of the charm of the accordion, but James Howard Young is doing amazing things with it... and multi-tracking. Bach's
Brandenburg Concerto no. 3, first movement, arranged for 10 melodicas (the video shows 9), Vivaldi's
L'Estro Armonico Concerto no. 8 in A minor for 2 violins, 3rd mvt arranged for 7 melodicas, Bach's
Brandenburg Concerto, no 1, first movement, arranged for 12 melodicas. All videos featuring just one melodicist.
[more inside]
posted by Jahaza
on Mar 17, 2011 -
40 comments
Carnaval (or Carnival) week is over in Brazil, and the judges have decided: the winning samba schools of the two main parades in the country, Rio and São Paulo, were Beija-Flor and Vai-Vai. And both chose musicians as their themes.
Beija-Flor honored Roberto Carlos, known as the king of Brazilian music. From his origins in Jovem Guarda (an early form of Brazilian pop and
rock'n'roll) to the adoption of romantic melodies, he is considered a living Elvis Presley.
Vai-Vai, on the other hand, chose as a subject
João Carlos Martins - whose life could be a MeFi post in itself.
[more inside]
posted by Trielli
on Mar 9, 2011 -
2 comments
Gödel, Escher, Bach, Tumblr Gödel, Escher, Bach, Tumblr is an online book group. We're reading one chapter a week of Douglas Hofstadter’s 1979 masterpiece book about artificial intelligence, mathematics, consciousness, puzzles, music, and language. They've been reading since the start of the month, so start in the
archive.
[Previously, More Previously, Event more previously, Previously in the future]
posted by Deathalicious
on Jan 20, 2010 -
33 comments
The University of Edinburgh, at the request of Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, used computer modeling to
redesign the lituus. The
horn, made of pinewood with a cow horn mouth piece, was called for by Bach's ‘O Jesu Christ, meins lebens licht.’
posted by Pants!
on Jun 4, 2009 -
6 comments
He wasn't the greatest technician on earth (he only studied a short time with a teacher, as states his
biography), he wasn't really famous outside Brazil, in spite of the
many recordings available under his name, of his various talents (
drawing, designing a
new string instrument), but his playing is really endearing, and whatever the material,
originals,
bach or
chico buarque, he made his point across easily.
posted by nicolin
on Aug 11, 2007 -
9 comments
"I haven't been in a concert hall in 4 billion years". Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, 54, had been excited about an invitation to see the
Los Angeles Philharmonic in action at
Disney Hall. "The anticipation is horrible". He'd started showering daily at a shelter, to gussy himself up as much as possible. Nathaniel was a music student more than 30 years ago at the
Juilliard School when he suffered a breakdown. Today, as he continues to battle the schizophrenia that landed him on skid row, he plays violin and cello for hours each day in downtown Los Angeles, lifting his instruments out of an orange shopping cart on which he has written: "Little Walt Disney Concert Hall — Beethoven." After the Philharmonic's rehearsal, Ayers has played Disney Hall -- the real one, this time. Without the bow at first, picking the strings with his right hand, Bach's Cello Suite No. 1: Prelude. Several Philharmonic staffers heard the music and wandered over, peering in to see a man of the streets, tattered and elegant, close his eyes and drift into ecstasy.
posted by PenguinBukkake
on Oct 9, 2005 -
14 comments
An unfinished work representing a centuries-old mystery and containing an encrypted signature, Pythagorean philosophy and celestial numbers... Could it be the new Neal Stephenson novel? Actually, it's Johann Sebastian Bach's "
Art of Fugue", believed by some to have been conceived as "absolute music" never intended to be played at all. Artist Elizabeth Harington has created a lovely and loving
visual interpretation of the work in the form of 14 folded sculptures (nicely presented by
Colophon).
posted by taz
on Sep 17, 2002 -
12 comments
