I recently got obsessed with this piece of tango music. To distract myself, I browsed the web and found myself surprised by the different versions that exist of it. Everyone presumably has heard it before, but for whatever reason, the 'pop' - versions seem to be much more known than the ones that have real character, real life in them (some of which, admittedly, one can not listen to whilst working - they are too attention demanding).
To mend this 'problem' and introduce you to the real fun: here are the versions of different styles which I found most remarkable.
Libertad Lamarque - female singer
Guitar version
Orquesta de Francisco Canaro - male singer
Roberto Filpo - milonga version
Hungarian violin version
Enjoy!
Visualizzazione post con etichetta music. Mostra tutti i post
Visualizzazione post con etichetta music. Mostra tutti i post
mercoledì 3 novembre 2010
mercoledì 16 dicembre 2009
lunedì 14 settembre 2009
sabato 25 luglio 2009
mercoledì 15 aprile 2009
domenica 1 febbraio 2009
martedì 20 gennaio 2009
Thoughts picked up on the way
Komik ist Tragik in Spiegelschrift...
[Freundeskreis - A.N.N.A]
I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am not your expectations, no, no
I am not my hair
I am not this skin
I am a soul that lives within
[India.Arie - I am not my hair]
domenica 4 gennaio 2009
4'33" or the absence of silence
today these music scores fell into my hands by mere chance. Of course I had heard about John Cage and his (in)famous piece before, but actually laying hands on the score and seeing how to write down 'nothing' really impressed me. It is nearly an offence to people to mock them in such way; but at the same time it is an act of a genius. In a handwritten introduction, one finds how to perform this piece:
It can be performed by any instrument or combinations of instruments, and there are different versions of subdividing it into the compulsory three movements. How this is done is up to the performer(s).
Then there is the piece - sketched down on one page three movements, all of them tacets... simply
nothing else...
Now my curiosity was definitely too much so I started searching more information on this piece. The most interesting ones I collected here for you:
first performance by david tudor
The reactions to this first performance were quite strong, from confused to furious. Somehow I can not even imagine how these people must have felt, being confronted with such performance, totally unexpectedly. At no time before this 'nothing', which actually reveiled the absence of total silence, had counted as music or had been performed as such in public. (Actually, the idea was not completely new. Other silences existed already at the time, however written down in another, more verbose way... )
By now, the piece has become very famous and is being performed with all kinds of groups of musicians for quite enthusiastic audiences. For me the most peculiar of those was the following:
performance by the bbc symphony orchestra
Isn't it incredible? To let this whole bunch of world class musicians sit and do nothing, apart from existing? As the presenter states, these performances incur a lot of tension.. I really believe this - actually I wonder if I could even sit out those 4 and a half minutes without bursting into laughter half way through!
But then, it surely must be a very fascinating experience.
If you are interested you might enjoy this short essay on the idea behind the piece, this article "the sounds of silence", and also the following one which raises the question who actually owns 'silence'?
last but not least, I wanted to share with you another one of John Cage's works - a sonata for prepared piano:
It can be performed by any instrument or combinations of instruments, and there are different versions of subdividing it into the compulsory three movements. How this is done is up to the performer(s).
Then there is the piece - sketched down on one page three movements, all of them tacets... simply
I
tacet
II
tacet
III
tacet
nothing else...
Now my curiosity was definitely too much so I started searching more information on this piece. The most interesting ones I collected here for you:
first performance by david tudor
The reactions to this first performance were quite strong, from confused to furious. Somehow I can not even imagine how these people must have felt, being confronted with such performance, totally unexpectedly. At no time before this 'nothing', which actually reveiled the absence of total silence, had counted as music or had been performed as such in public. (Actually, the idea was not completely new. Other silences existed already at the time, however written down in another, more verbose way... )
By now, the piece has become very famous and is being performed with all kinds of groups of musicians for quite enthusiastic audiences. For me the most peculiar of those was the following:
performance by the bbc symphony orchestra
Isn't it incredible? To let this whole bunch of world class musicians sit and do nothing, apart from existing? As the presenter states, these performances incur a lot of tension.. I really believe this - actually I wonder if I could even sit out those 4 and a half minutes without bursting into laughter half way through!
But then, it surely must be a very fascinating experience.
If you are interested you might enjoy this short essay on the idea behind the piece, this article "the sounds of silence", and also the following one which raises the question who actually owns 'silence'?
last but not least, I wanted to share with you another one of John Cage's works - a sonata for prepared piano:
domenica 26 ottobre 2008
mercoledì 22 ottobre 2008
martedì 7 ottobre 2008
surprisingly easy
More and more one hypothesis is growing in my mind, namely that no matter how crazy, prestigious, or ambitious a matter might be it's roots are simple and trivial.
Probably in the beginning there is some informal email, where someone you knows invites you to join a project, like a concert somewhere (in this case Florence). You think to yourself 'alright, sounds cool', accept and start preparing yourself; something that you have done thousands of times before. Of course, on the way you will find out how difficult it can be to coordinate people for rehearsals etc, but still when you arrive there things go as usual. Just maybe that you don't really know when and where you go or where you will stay, but someone will tell you in time so no reason to bother. Quite suddenly you find yourself in a hotel, putting down your things and some strange thought crosses your mind 'actually, how come that I am here in this foreign place for playing a concert? i did everything as always but things somehow changed to a different track'. And only from there you realise that the whole thing was planned that way, that you doing something you would not have thought possible but that you are still the same and actually quite capable of living up to the expectations. From that point, everything continues as before - it's the same ritual every time, everywhere. Tune, adjust yourself, rehearse, relax, tune again, and there we go.
Just around this routine there are millions of details, things that simply happen when one meets new people, and some of them are nearly hilariously funny :) For example the guides of the church in which we played told us: 'no, it's closed for the public now, you are not allowed to enter! but if you want, there is a concert this evening, you can come back then.' When we explained that we actually were the musicians, they first gave us a quite puzzled look but then showed a lot of understanding and let us pass. However, things continued like that when we had a look at the instruments or were depositing our stuff as at first there was noone to show us around :) Also the coordination during the concert was a bit spontaneous, but luckily only the formalities were affected by this. In the end it turned out that exactly one link had been missing: the lady coordinating between San Lorenzo and the external music institutes had not appeared this evening.
In the end all that chaos did not matter: it was a real pleasure to play in this beautiful and huge church, whose dimensions gave great possibilities to experiment with sound whilst still providing a somehow homely atmosphere.
In the evening all this seemed so different already, somehow unreal. But still I could fall asleep with the happy and grateful feeling that on my first solo trip everything had gone well.
Probably in the beginning there is some informal email, where someone you knows invites you to join a project, like a concert somewhere (in this case Florence). You think to yourself 'alright, sounds cool', accept and start preparing yourself; something that you have done thousands of times before. Of course, on the way you will find out how difficult it can be to coordinate people for rehearsals etc, but still when you arrive there things go as usual. Just maybe that you don't really know when and where you go or where you will stay, but someone will tell you in time so no reason to bother. Quite suddenly you find yourself in a hotel, putting down your things and some strange thought crosses your mind 'actually, how come that I am here in this foreign place for playing a concert? i did everything as always but things somehow changed to a different track'. And only from there you realise that the whole thing was planned that way, that you doing something you would not have thought possible but that you are still the same and actually quite capable of living up to the expectations. From that point, everything continues as before - it's the same ritual every time, everywhere. Tune, adjust yourself, rehearse, relax, tune again, and there we go.
Just around this routine there are millions of details, things that simply happen when one meets new people, and some of them are nearly hilariously funny :) For example the guides of the church in which we played told us: 'no, it's closed for the public now, you are not allowed to enter! but if you want, there is a concert this evening, you can come back then.' When we explained that we actually were the musicians, they first gave us a quite puzzled look but then showed a lot of understanding and let us pass. However, things continued like that when we had a look at the instruments or were depositing our stuff as at first there was noone to show us around :) Also the coordination during the concert was a bit spontaneous, but luckily only the formalities were affected by this. In the end it turned out that exactly one link had been missing: the lady coordinating between San Lorenzo and the external music institutes had not appeared this evening.
In the end all that chaos did not matter: it was a real pleasure to play in this beautiful and huge church, whose dimensions gave great possibilities to experiment with sound whilst still providing a somehow homely atmosphere.
In the evening all this seemed so different already, somehow unreal. But still I could fall asleep with the happy and grateful feeling that on my first solo trip everything had gone well.
domenica 27 luglio 2008
And there shall be jazz
or at least this is my plan after yesterday's success in improvising with piano and violin together with my cousin. I always wanted to try this but never could work up the confidence (especially not in public) as my very classical music education formed a safe but rather rigid corset to my experiments. And with improvisations... what if in the middle of performing you suddenly loose each other, the harmony, or the idea?!? what a terrifying idea! but - as so often in life, it does take surprisingly little for ending up in entirely new waters. and, consequently, once you end in there you have only two options - to sink or to swim... we opted for the latter and the result was simply fascinating! (probably more so for the two of us performing, as we had never before given it a try... what a mistake! ;) therefore, I have decided to try myself taking some more steps in that direction. if anyone of you has a good recommendation or tip for how to proceed, they would be appreciated very much.
domenica 25 maggio 2008
evening out
#3: never thought you could relax so much in a club. but with that kind of music everything just goes with the flow.. nice
domenica 13 aprile 2008
Blind Husbands
I want to point out one event to you which takes place in the scope of the Festival Bolzano Cinema:
next Friday, the 18th of April
at 1800
in Capitol Cinema
there will be the presentation of the re-edited and re-musicated film “Blind Husbands” (1918) which was written and directed by Erich von Stroheim.
As I have mentioned to you in an earlier post, one of the musical projects I joined was the recording and performance of the new soundtrack, composed by Tiziano Popoli. I have heard some parts of the new mix and seen some preliminary version, however the final result will only be shown on that day. Furthermore, everyone attending the event will obtain the DVD for free :)
Hope to see you there!
(This link gives some more information in Italian)
next Friday, the 18th of April
at 1800
in Capitol Cinema
there will be the presentation of the re-edited and re-musicated film “Blind Husbands” (1918) which was written and directed by Erich von Stroheim.
As I have mentioned to you in an earlier post, one of the musical projects I joined was the recording and performance of the new soundtrack, composed by Tiziano Popoli. I have heard some parts of the new mix and seen some preliminary version, however the final result will only be shown on that day. Furthermore, everyone attending the event will obtain the DVD for free :)
Hope to see you there!
(This link gives some more information in Italian)
venerdì 11 aprile 2008
domenica 16 marzo 2008
sabato 15 marzo 2008
all that jazz
Together with a few of my friends, I got infected by the 'summertime' virus.. so if around any of us, don't be surprised if someone randomly starts (more or less successfully) imitating ella fitzgerald.. :)
As a side effect, I installed some jazz radio on my blog. I really love it, it produces so much lovely, old fashioned music, so happiness is nearly guaranteed. However, the whole thing is not absolutely quirk-free.. there are a lot of christmas songs falling in this category, so it happens that randomly rudolph the rednosed reindeer comes along, followed by some unbelievably funny and hilarious 'oh tannenbaum' sung by some englishspeaking guy with a marvellous german prononciation!! so even very comical moments are ensured! isn't it great what a little radio can do?
As a side effect, I installed some jazz radio on my blog. I really love it, it produces so much lovely, old fashioned music, so happiness is nearly guaranteed. However, the whole thing is not absolutely quirk-free.. there are a lot of christmas songs falling in this category, so it happens that randomly rudolph the rednosed reindeer comes along, followed by some unbelievably funny and hilarious 'oh tannenbaum' sung by some englishspeaking guy with a marvellous german prononciation!! so even very comical moments are ensured! isn't it great what a little radio can do?
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