Lang Lang and His Piano Story

As the year is quickly approaching its end, it’s about time to look back at what it brought us and what footprint it will leave for the next years to come. It’s always curious to watch how new talents are born and developed as you realize that that’s one of the magic parts of the humanity – the process art is transferred from one generation to another.

A lot has happened in music this year and there’s no easy way to enumerate all the happenings or to draw a certain conclusion to it. So I gave up this idea and instead decided to focus on some outstanding gifted people who made music and world a better place this year, in a way. Let me finish this year’s blogging with a post about a very talented pianist Lang Lang.

The funny thing is that most of the great-to-be musicians had been  professionally rejected at some point in their careers. And only those who had hope and true devotion to their passion managed to overcome the rejection and become what they wanted to be. Lang Lang admits to have been inspired for playing piano by Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 that he saw in the popular Disney cartoon “Tom & Jerry”. But the aspiring kid was told that he lacked talent and was expelled from a piano studio. Lang Lang didn’t give up though, and continued on his way. By the age of 13, he won a few competitions and could already play most advanced pieces by classical composers. And the adventure began.

His career proceeded in Berlin and Vienna Philarmonic, he was featured in such magazines as The Times, The New Yorker, Gramaphone, Esquire, Vogue, People. By now, Lang Lang has performed at all possible honorable events, including BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Philadelphia Orchestra 100th Anniversary, The YouTube Symphony, White House State Dinner, numerous dignitaries with world’s leading presidents, Nobel Prize ceremonies, 2008 Summer Olympics, Grammy Awards and many more.

Lang Lang travelled the whole world with his music and is said to have a very powerful charisma. He is one of those who easily promote classical music by just performing it in a very charming manner. This year became a real milestone for the musician – Ban Ki-moon announced him a United Nations Messenger of Peace. This role, according to Lang Lang himself, is way more important and noble than just being a first-class performer.

Danse Macabre

This month will end in a holiday that is full of mystery and darkness. The famous Halloween that came from the United States is now celebrated far beyond the borders of this country. It has already created certain associations for us in terms of dressing, atmosphere and, of course, music.

But some music pieces have earned the title of ‘most Halloween’ ones. Danse Macabre composed by the great French composed Camille Saint-Saens is definitely one of the Halloween’s main themes. What can be more related to this holiday than the “Dance of Death”? The score was created by the great composer in 1874 and was based on the popular French superstition according to which the last walk to other world was a special ceremony equal for everyone, no matter whether you were rich or poor, or what your status had been. The art genre that was born from it typically looked like a long dance to the grave with people from different social layer, popes, emperors, common people – to prove the vain of human glories.

The piece first started as an art song and was later expanded to a tone poem. The motif somewhat reminds of composer’s “The Carnival of Animals” and each instrument has its theater role – xylophone for bones’ rattling, oboes for crows, etc. Though not received well from the very beginning, Danse Macabre soon became pretty popular. Especially its arranged versions like Liszt’s and Horowitz’ piano arrangements, Lemare’s arrangement for pipe organ and others.

12 Cellos in Paris

Paris, the city of people in Love. The city of beautiful romantic stories. The city of creativity, fashion, music and art. I’ve visited it recently for the first time in my life and was so mesmerized that couldn't but dedicate a small post to it :)

Before proceeding to the music of Paris, let me write a couple of facts here that surprised me about this little charming paradise.

1. Paris the name of which derives from an old tribe Parisii is also known as “the city of lights” – but it is not explained by the big amount of lighting in the streets or at the bridges over Seine (90% of them are lit) but rather by the big number of intellectuals that live there.
2. Surprisingly, neither the Eiffel Tower nor the Louvre are the city’s most visited sights. Disneyland Paris is! 13 mln tourists annually (compared to ~5 mln visits for Eiffel or Louvre).
3. French baguette is not just an association with Paris but its symbol that has its very strict measurements: 65 cm in length and 6 cm in width – otherwise, it’s not a French baguette!
4. By the time of the great revolution, only 15% of the citizens spoke French as a native language – 75% didn’t! Maybe that’s why + a massive inflow of immigrants is the reason why you can hear/see such a mixture of various nationalities in the streets of Paris.

Paris would not be the city of art if it wasn’t the home of some of the world’s most outstanding composers. To start the list with the names of Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Faure, Lully, Ravel, Saint-Saens is just a warm-up! Those are the natives, and what if we start remembering how many music pieces have been dedicated to Paris during the lifetime. Here is a lovely tune for 12 cellos that was created in the love for this city as well. The wonderful thing is that you can be just strolling in the center of the city quietly and come across a professional musician just sitting out there at the corner and playing his beloved instrument for you.

Paris, I’m already in love with you and I’m surely coming to see you once again!

Guantanamera Arranged for Guitar

Cuba, ‘the island of liberty’, so original and exotic in its essence, is a highly patriotic country. So would be its music, it seems. But surprisingly, the song that is often perceived as a truly national tune of the country does not have so much of patriotism about it, if you dig deeper. “Guantanamera” (Spanish for ‘girl from Guantanamo’), both Cuban and international hit, is about a province girl and a romantic relationship – that’s how it began.

Cuban Grannies Smoking Cigars

The music of the song is now a decided matter – in 1993 Jose Fernandez officially won the battle being now called both composer and the first promoter of the song (mostly through his radio shows). But in terms of the lyrics, there is still a lot of arguing. Some say that originally it was a story about Fernandez himself and a girl that brought a sandwich to one of his radio shows and who he felt platonic love for. According to other version, Garcia Wilson, who claimed to be the song’s co-composer, also had a romantic story but the girl turned him down.

The original lyrics, however, are not to be heard in the song today. What we enjoy is the adaptation of 4 verses (stanzas) from various poems by Jose Marti, Cuba’s national hero and independence fighter. Maybe at least this sole fact adds up 80% of patriotism to the song and all the original versions stay in the shadow. Guantanamera soon received the unofficial status of the national anthem, the symbol of unity, and was even used as a ‘peace-maker’ during the missile crisis. The most successful recording of the famous song is attributed to The Sandpipers and is based on the song’s adaptation by Pete Seeger.

Springtime in Munich

Munich, the capital of Bavaria is a wonderful city famous for many things and dear to many people for their own reason, or two, or a dozen. "Munich loves you" is the city’s motto and that is indeed so. Apart from being the host city of the world-known beer festival called Oktoberfest, Munich has much more to offer.

The lovers of German cars would be delighted to visit this motherland of the renowned BMW car maker. Those who love history and museums would definitely enjoy walking a lot in the impressive center that has been kept pedestrian since the 1972 Olympics. Only here would you see office workers having a beer and getting some sun tan in the nudist area during the lunch break. Gourmets would start licking their fingers looking at the yummy white sausages with sweet mustard and pretzels. And if you consider moving to Germany, Munich would be the best destination as it is considered to be the most economically highly-developed German city with the lowest unemployment rate and the highest level of life. It simply tops the list of best places to live in in Germany. Getting back to the music theme, one cannot but mention the fact that Munich is the host town for numerous composers like the great Richard Wagner, Carl Maria von Webber, Strauss and others. Bavarian State Opera and Bavarian State Orchestra are situated here. So weighty is the city’s heritage that musicians from all over the world keep being inspired by it, dedicating their works to the heart of Germany.
One of such composers is Shao Suan Low who wrote her Springtime in Munich for Flute and Piano for it.
Although, according to the composer, she stayed there for two weeks in Autumn, the town’s atmosphere felt completely like spring. The soothing piece came out as a result and one more charmed heart was open for Munich.

Theremin: Music in the Air

When talking about the ‘rare’ in music, why not spot some curious music instruments. When asked to enumerate some music instruments most would mention the popular piano, violin, cello, flute, harp, organ, guitar and so on. Hardly would anyone’s list be headed by the curious name ‘theremin’. And this instrument does deserve some attention that I’m gonna pay to it today.

Theremin was invented in 1919 by the Russian physicist Lev Termen, who, on arriving to the USA was called Leon Theremin (thus the name of the invention).  The marvelous thing about the instrument is that its construction allows playing without actually touch the instrument itself: it consists of two antennae, one responsible for the pitch, and the other one – for the volume. You can play by ‘touching the air’ between those two and adjusting the melody with your vertical and horizontal moves. It’s quite challenging I should say – constant skill training is required.

Leon Theremin was forced back to the Soviet Union in 1938 having to leave behind his studio, work, family and friends. However, during those years he managed to leave tangible work for his disciples. One of his best students is Clara Rockmore – a violinist who after having some health problems with hands switched to theremin and became world’s most outstanding theremin player.

In the 1930-ies theremin was quite promoted. Theremin music could be heard in popular movies (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Lost Weekend, etc.), in music bands’ creativity (Led Zeppelin, Hand People, the Bonzo Doo Dah Dog Band, etc.). Today, there is no that ‘boom’ in theremin’s fame but it is still produced, played and valued.

Largest Classical Piano Sonata Ever

When we are doing something that truly interests us, at some point there grows a wish to achieve some height in our favorite endeavor. There are different ways of estimation of this ‘height’, but since 1955 there has been published a book a listing in which can shout about your uniqueness – Guinness Book of World Records. The fun thing is that there is even a listing about the book itself there, as one with the biggest circulation.

But since we have a music blog here, why not have a look at the music records of Guinness, particularly those in classical music. Here are some of them:

• The most popular classical music album: “The Three Tenors In Concert”, recorded by Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti – 13 mln copies.
• The biggest concert audience: 800 00 thousand people, at the free concert by the NY Philharmonic in the Central Park.
• The most fruitful conductor: Richard Rodgers, with over 800 classical music recordings.
• The lowest and the highest note: both in works of Mozart, in opera “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” and aria “Popolo di Tessaglia” respectively. 
• The oldest classical music: Chinese music, with a 3 000+ years history. 
• The most outstanding classical music teenager: Charlotte Church, double platinum album at the age of 12.

There are people who put many years of hard work in their pieces of music in order to create a most unique masterpiece in the end. One of such examples is Piano sonata No.5 by Maurice Verheul which had been composed during 9 years (!) and is likely to get in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “largest classical sonata ever”.

Would you dedicate so many years to a music piece?

Vltava for Solo Guitar (from Ma Vlast by Bedrich Smetana)

Bedrich Smetana is considered to be the Father of Czech music and is known for his exceptional love for the motherland, its beauties and independence. Smetana started his music career very early – as a pianist at the age of 6. But with age he became more and more concerned about the future of his homeland – Bohemia – and his started composing music with nationalistic features.

The river Vltava

Smetana’s late years of life were quite pathetic – the great composer gradually lost his hearing and ended his life in an asylum for mentally ill people. However, the heritage he left remained unsurpassed. Among composer’s most famous works are the opera The Bartered Bride, string quartet From My Life and of course the renowned symphonic cycle known as Ma Vlast.

The latter is actually a set of six individual works-movements that were recorded individually too. But the part of this tone poem – Vltava – stands even more aside. Its German name is “Die Moldau”, the work is dedicated to a country’s ‘blood’ – the rivers, particularly the majestic Vltava. The tone is painted in such a way that it brightly describes all the natural phenomena of the river – its current, streams, day and night niceties, life on its banks. This music piece involves one of Smetana’s famous tunes, and exactly the adopted melody of La Mantovana which is also known to be the base of the national anthem of Israel.

Below is a curious adaptation of Vltava for solo guitar:

Unique sheet music for children

Talking about RARE sheet music I’ve stumbled across something way beyond it. It’s not only rare but it’s so original and, most important, useful for the whole generation of musicians (or generationS, who knows). Okay, pompous world aside, let me share the idea with you.

Music book "Maestro-in-the-Making"

Right now out there online there is a nice campaign going on that is turning to crowds to find support and raise funds for a unique music project for children of the world – “Maestro-in-the-Making”. There is not that much time left but I hope guys will manage to reach their goal and get the necessary funds to proceed to the project’s stages. The idea is awesome. They are going to hold an international competition among contemporary composers and in this way issue a call for new original scores. The pieces should be easy and fun, something that would make music education for kids more diverse and engaging.

The best works then will be awarded and included into a special sheet music edition for children “Maestro-in-the-Making”. The book will be sent for free to numerous music schools all over the world. And all that – FOR FREE. Cool, huh?

The idea is pretty real and doable, if only people cared to make a little contribution of their own, the sooner the better... I believe the project is of real importance and it is something really worthy. Let’s help the guys to bring it to life!

Hava Nagila, Jewish ‘business card’

“Hava Nagila, Hava Nagila…” and Jerusalem flags pop up in the head with the image of happy dancing people at the traditional Jewish wedding sing in excitement holding the just-married on the two chairs as an old-time tradition. That’s exactly the rejoicing in its pure form as sung in the lyrics of Hava Nagila – “Let's rejoice and be happy”, in translation from Hebrew.

Jewish wedding

So well-recognized today, the song has a long and pretty obscure story behind it and not many are familiar with its roots. Would you be surprised if found out that its homeland represents a mixture of Russia and Ukraine, where this Hasidic melody first was born being called a ‘nigun’ – a single melody not accompanied with any words.  After some time the nigun immigrated to Jerusalem and Avraham Idelsohn – the father of Jewish music – gave it a second birth in a form of a folklore song. There is was, a business card of the Jew with a mix of German, Russian, Yemenite communities’ features in it. The song with lyrics taken from the Psalms was included into the Hebrew folklore songbook and was selected as a celebration song to mark the defeat of Turks by the British during the World War I. The tune caught up immediately and soon the whole Jerusalem was performing it.

Rabbi

So many times was the song re-made, re-sung, re-arranged that counting them would be barely possible. At a certain point it even became the object of various parodies and humor sketches by both Jewish and non-Jewish artists. But let’s stick closer to the beautiful original-like versions. And here’s a lovely one – arrangement of Hava Nagila by Tal Zilber. And the author himself performing his work on piano:

Danza Margarita: Manuel Gregorio Tavarez

He died long ago – in 1883 – but is still deeply respected and remembered by his people. Manuel Gregorio Tavarez up to date presents an endless inspiration source for new music generations of Puerto Rico. Though not completely a Puerto Rican (his father was French and his mother from Puerto Rico), Tavarez grew up a very talented and patriotic boy who became a zealous pianist at an early age. The French roots helped a lot too as after studies in San Juan he was granted a scholarship for courses at the Music Conservatory of Paris. Despite the health problems Manuel returned to his homeland and sat down to work on his masterpieces.

Manuel Gregorio Tavarez is mostly renowned for splendor in the so-called genre of “danzas” - short piano pieces that were flourishing during his lifetime. Tavarez even received the title of “Father of the Puerto Rican Danzas” and critics say that his music style can easily be compared with that of the famous Polish colleague’s – Frederick Chopin. Among the greatest works are such danzas as Rendencion, La Sensitiva, Un Recuerdo. But his biggest pieces in many sense is of course the passionate Margarita. If composers were to give out business cards – Margarita would surely be the one for Tavarez. Here’s a transcription for advanced intermediate piano for those who like some challenge in a piece of classics.

Schindler's List on piano

An epic drama with deep sense, exceptional director’s work and, of course, stunning music scoring – that all gives a faint image of one of my favorite movies ever - Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg. And for those who still haven’t watched this piece of art I strongly recommend doing it at the first opportunity available.

It’s never been easy to reflect properly the events that took place back in the history. And if those events bear a very negative emotionally character the task gets even harder. One has to be somehow spiritually connected with the subject to make people re-live the history watching the movie.  Steven Spielberg used to hear a lot of stories about Holocaust from his granny and his Jewish roots made the needed connection work for him. He did want to create a film about those shocking events but didn’t feel mature enough to take up that ‘unmanageable’ work. But time came and he gathered the team and pulled himself together. Not hoping for big success and rather expecting the movie to flop, Spielberg set a small budget and shot a black-and-white documentary in Krakow within 72 days. He didn’t even use expensive cameras opting for handheld cams for a more realistic effect. According to witnesses, most shooting days were full of tears, for the director himself experienced hard times going through all the horrible scenes.

The choice of music was an especially responsible and challenging task for that would make half the impression. That’s when Spielberg turned for help to John Williams asking to compose the score to the whole movie. William, too, felt immature, despite the fact that he had an impressive music experience in his baggage. The composer was stunned by the film itself and got to work with great effort. Once the piano score to Schindler's List was ready, Williams also hired Itzhak Perlman to perform the main theme on violin too. The result was rewarding. The score was awarded “Best Original Score” at the 66th Academy Awards Ceremony along with the other 6 awards.

Unexpectedly for Spielberg, his B&W film was a box office success being rumored as one of the greatest movies made ever.

Fantasy for Bass Clarinet

Why not dedicate a little post to an interesting from my point of view music instrument – bass clarinet. You know that old joke (well, and many others, similar ones): “How do you stop an oboe from being stolen? – Put it in a clarinet case.” So yeah, by the way, I WOULD steal the clarinet case because I do like this instrument, I do!

It’s like a man with a low beautiful voice, powerful and charming – an octave lower than its relative ‘soprano clarinet’. Today it’s a common music member to see in various orchestras and ensembles but it was apparently underestimated in the 19th century before its construction was improved by, ironically, Adolphe Sax, the sax inventor. The interest grew and the clarinetists soon were turning into bass clarinetists as well, being lured by the new instruments sounding. Composers, too, grew a liking for it – Ravel, Liszt, Strauss, Berlioz, Meyerbeer and a long row of other wrote for it. The number of solos was very small of course at the beginning, but with time musicians both arranged the classics and later started widening the solo repertoire for bass clarinet.

David Ocker playing Bass Clarinet

Today it’s a loved instrument of great composers like Brian Ferneyhough, David Lang, musicians like Henri Bok, Dennis Smylie, Luciano Berio and many others. Bass clarinet is a ‘reinforcing’ instrument so it’s a common thing in marching bands, orchestras and choirs. Gorillaz, Muse loved and used it a lot, you may hear it in The Beatles songs too. Some clarinet lovers love to dedicate whole works for it – here’s an example of a Fantasy for Bass Clarinet (Natalie Schindler).

So, yeah, bass clarinet doesn’t lack charm.

“Try”: Pink Makes Another Hit

That’s right, the Blog is supposed to be dedicated to the rare and overlooked classical masterpieces or curious arrangements but today I feel like diving into some old good rock and feed the ear with a nice quality rock ballad. Here’s why the post will dwell on the unexpected recent hit by American rock/pop singer, the eccentric and athletic Ms. Pink.

From my own experience and thus point of view, the vastly-grown popularity of the song can be attributed first of all to the very subject of the song as many of us at least once had to overcome a difficult time in a relationship. And those who had to live through a tough beak-up would especially live the lyrics of the song. No matter how hard it may seem, despite frustrations, drama and hardships, one should never give up but rise to one’s feet and try to move on, whether trying to assemble and fix the broken pieces of the relationship or to get over it and continue to live a full life. Moreover, the music really is catchy and the video adds its great impact on the visual perception of the whole image.

So the single “Try” from Pink’s sixth album “The Truth About Love” becomes both a commercial success and audience’s pick. Warmly praised by the music critics, it steadily climbed up the numerous Billboards being compared to a “breakup salve”. The video deserves a special attention. According to Pink, this has been her favorite video from all the works she had ever recorded before that. So many efforts have been put in it by Pink herself and her dancing partner Colt Prattes. The fierce metaphorical dance was staged by best stunt choreographers Floria Sigismondi and Sebastien Stella and was inspired by the Apache dance, a street dance from Paris, quite aggressive and savage. Originally it used to depict a fight between a prostitute and her pimp actually.

Pink’s artistry and athletic shape left many fans speechless, including her mom, so sincere and powerful the dance is. The live performance proved to be no less emotional either.

Pavane ‘Et bons Jours’!

It’s such a l-l-l-lovely sunny day outside today! I’m more than sure that Gabriel Fauré composed his majestic Pavane on a no less lovely day back in 1887. There are two possible explanations for this name: it’s either the Italian for ‘dance’ or the Spanish for ‘peacock’. I’d prefer to stick to the Spanish version because it’s known that exactly the rhythms of the traditional processional ‘pavan’ dance in the court of Spain inspired the French composer for his little six-minute masterpiece.

The composer himself first considered the piece quite dull, or better say ‘pallid’, but as soon as he decided to dedicate it to his patron, comtesse Elizabeth, adding some more grandeur seemed a must. That’s when Fauré wrote an additional invisible chorus as an accompaniment to the orchestral version. The lyrics were not devoid of romantic touch and the tragic helplessness of a man in love. And there it was, the secret, now the whole piece was a completed integral music work.

The F-sharp minor Pavane, although meant for piano, was mostly used for orchestra during its historic usage. Anna Cooper had interpreted it in her own manner too, scoring the piece for flute, oboe and bassoon. A graceful arrangement was born as a result of her work.

The Jazzy Canon

When talking about classical music someone hears the word 'canon', the first thing it's usually associated with is the work by Johann Pachelbel. Although the word itself signifies a whole type of a music piece consisting of three parts, "Canon in D" will forever be tied with the music of the great German composer. Interesting that despite being composer's only 'canon', this work has become so popular.
Even the fact that the score lay forgotten for the good couple of centuries before it was published in the 20th century, and despite the fact that even after publishing it was not noted at once – now you may hear it sound at weddings and as part of any famous compilation of classical music.

Originally Pachelbel's Canon was written for three violins and basso continuo; it was as well accompanied by a gigue, but it's usually skipped in the name of the score. It often takes time before the uniqueness and the greatness of a certain piece of art becomes duly valued, and when it happens there are always a number of zealous 'authors' who would like to steal the fame. The pupils and scholars of Johann Pachelbel didn’t let it happen and greatly contributed in the popularization of the piece, including it in their research on classical music. The piece became popular with arrangers and thus many versions of Canon appeared, and, to be more precise, keep appearing up to now. Michael Silverman, specializing on the blend of classical, jazz and world music, has presented his arrangement of Canon in D too.
It was pretty rewarding – due to the original style of the musician, the arrangement has turned into another masterpiece and enjoys hundreds of views and downloads every day.

Happy St. Valentine’s!

I know that for many that might not be a sound reason to celebrate anything but I personally think it’s such a beautiful and extremely lovely occasion to say aloud what we feel for those we love. Of all the numerous forms of love there are, the romantic relation between a man and a woman is one of the brightest and basic things! It is such a joyous feeling to watch an elderly couple kiss and hug in their late 80ies for example – respect to those people who have managed to bring their love through years and not let it die in the routine of life!

There have been so many attempts to describe the essence of love through various shapes of art – but in my opinion there is no better combination for it than poetry and music that speak for themselves. In connection with this wonderful holiday I would like to share a very nice score for soprano and cello “The Love Poems of Marichiko”. This is a set of six poems by an American poet Kenneth Rexroth in quite an unusual delicate musical setting. It’s a duo and I would gladly like to imagine a couple-in-love performing the pieces together :)

“Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.” – Victor Hugo once said. So I want to wish all you not to skimp on words of caress and love. Life is so short, so live it in love!

                                               Happy Valentine’s Day!

Censored Rigoletto for 4 Cellos

Let’s draw today’s attention to the loved-by-many work by the opera master Giuseppe Verdi. The story of creation of the Rigoletto opera was a long and complicated one. The music we can hear today in all the prestigious halls of the world is in fact not exactly the version it was meant to be by the author. If today we complain about the censorship dictating its unchangeable laws, the 19th century censors were no less mild, especially in regard of cultural objects. Back then the severe Austrians who controlled much of Italy tried to impose the limitations on music themes as well. Verdi was composing the opera on the basis of Hugo’s “Le roi s’amuse” (that also had problems with the French censors), finding the topic immense and full of vivid character. Giuseppe, a man with utmost feel for irony, humor and sarcasm, was first prohibited to touch the topic of the King too and particularly his amusement ways.

However, after many struggling attempts of negotiations with those who set the rules, the opera finally was presented to the audience and was premiered with great success in Venice in 1851. Despite the avalanche of things that had to be changed, the public adored the opera so much that the morning after the premiere Venetian gondoliers were all singing the Duke of Mantua's canzone “La donna è mobile”.

Venetian gondolier

But to beginning musicians who may easily fall in love with this piece it will probably seem sort of challenging to master. And what if you want to perform it on a non-traditional cello? Here’s a good way to practice – an easy arrangement for FOUR cellos will come in handy. It was written in such a way that all the parts are designed to easy the melody. Cello challenge is solved!

Gnossiennes: Erik Satie’s love for making up words

We know that Mr. Erik Satie was a great fan of inventing new words for his compositions. As an anecdote goes, he once presented himself as “gymnopaedist” not quite knowing himself what this word actually meant and if it existed at all. That’s when his famous “Gymnopedies” appeared. Among other words coined by Satie were the ‘vexations’ or ‘croquis et agaceries’, all meaning a separate type of a music composition.

“Gnossiennes” also was a new name by the inventive composer. Although a non-existing word too, it was attempted to find explanations to. There are versions that ‘gnossienne’ might derive from the name of either ‘ogive’, an architectural element, or ‘gnosis’, as in ‘gnosic sect’ Satie was involved in.  Others think that it might have the root in ‘gnossus’ and relate to the myths about Theseus, Minotaur and Ariadne, taking into account that at the time of the composition there were several interesting archaeological excavations made.

Minotaur

All in all, there are 6 ‘obvious‘ Gnossiennes. But there is also a seventh music piece – “Le Fils des étoiles” – that contains a music form of a Gnossienne according to Satie himself, as he wrote while corresponding with his publisher. All the 7 are charming anyway and can be rather compared with “dances”. Their easy listening character was the reason for all the Gnossiennes to be frequently used in numerous films and shows. It's most often for piano (vid.), but here, enjoy a lovely guitar arrangement of “Gnossienne No.1” from G. Pylarinos.

Joplin’s Entertainer arranged for violin and piano

Not so long ago there was a post dedicated to the music of Scot Joplin and his being under-recorded among the American colleagues. Today I would like to dedicate another post to this wonderful composer and one of his great works – “The Entertainer”.

"The Entertainer" Cover

The song that partially got its popularity after sounding in the Oscar-winning movie The Sting is sometimes associated with the revival of the ragtime music. After the release of the “Piano Rags” recording by Nonesuch label it became the company’s first million-selling record. Among other music recognition item are the top in Billboard pop chart, number 10 on the “Songs of the century” list and number 5 in the "Best-Selling Classical LPs" Billboard.

Did you ever buy ice cream cones in one of those colorful street trucks? Remember the familiar tune? Right, Joplin’s easy-listening Entertainer is the mostly widely used tune there. The song has been recorded in various arrangements, and modern composers have their own versions. Take this lovely piano-violin arrangement by Ariel Davydov. And the younger the composers’ generation the more eternal the Entertainer is. Have a look at the brilliant Ukrainian performer and composer Stepan Grytsay in the video! I so love the duet of these instruments.