French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel might have been surprised to know that Bolero, which premiered as a ballet score in 1928, would endure as one of the most popular pieces of twentieth century music. Ravel was a master of orchestration and he considered this piece to be “an experiment in a very special and limited direction” and “orchestral tissue without music.” Orchestration refers to the combination of instruments that a composer chooses to …
My last post featured two contrasting performances of the Winter and Spring concertos from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Now, here is music written around 1965 by the great Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzolla. The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires was originally written for Piazzolla’s quintet (bandoneon, piano, violin, electric guitar and electric base). Violinist Gidon Kremer commissioned the Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov to create this version for solo violin and string orchestra. You might hear …
Javelin…Michael Torke (b. 1961) Find on iTunes Find on Amazon In my last post we explored a fun, eight minute piece called Javelin by contemporary American composer, Michael Torke. I asked you to pay attention to the rich orchestral colors in the music. Now go back and listen a few more times to pick up some new details. Do you hear bright, shimmering colors? Do you feel swept along by the music’s motion? Maybe …
Javelin…Michael Torke (b. 1961) Find on iTunes Find on Amazon When you listen to music do you hear colors? The idea of musical color may seem like a strange mixing of the senses, but color is an important element of music, along with motion, energy, flow and fabric.* For violinists, color is synonymous with timbre. We often choose between playing the same pitch in a lower position on a higher string …