Ludovico Einaudi, the 12 “Elements”

Einaudi’s music, already known for its emotional and moving nature seems to be evolving further in its beauty.

Composer’s latest album titled “Elements” has shown another side of the author’s talent. One might be surprised to find out that that the title does not come only from the literal elements like water, fire, air and earth, but is a more complex vision of the world’s essence. According to Ludovico, the idea was to walk on the bridge of the known and the unknown to him, so a great part of the music explores the unexpected sources of inspiration like the myths of creation, Kandinsky’s work, the periodic table, the geometry of the landscape, sound, colour and what not.

The ethereal texture of some of the 12 Elements pieces is changed by the powerful music force of the others. Thus the title track of the album, “Elements” that embodies the ‘organic growth’ is supported by the explosive accompaniment of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, making it even more invigorating.
The critics agree that the new album is quite experimental for Einaudi, compared to his previous piano writing, with more emphasis made on the genre of piano-based electronica (check out the pieces “Numbers” and “Four Dimension” to feel the change of style). However, while listening to the new poignant tracks like “Drop” or “Mountains”, we realise that what Einaudi became recognised and loved for at the very beginning – is still there.

A Psychedelic Orchestra

Sometimes even the most serious musicians are a little bit tired of being serious and way too responsible. Everyday rehearsals and lots, lots of work on themselves is tiresome and can make one need some way to release the accumulated stress. Symphonic music is a hard work so why not have fun from time to time?

I do love it when the industry monsters like BBC can make fun of the things that are considered to be a ‘serious matter’. So here’s a great thingy I found on the web that made me sincerely laugh aloud and praise BBC for the little fun post compilation. The called it "Orchestral Disturbance No 1 in E flat Major" and it really is something psychedelic yet very entertaining.

To very musically sensitive souls: don’t get mad at the creators, no feelings were intended to be hurt!

Recorder Is Back!

The instrument that has been neglected for dozens of years seems to cause a splash of interest among contemporary musicians. They say that fashion, be it clothing, music, art or even lifestyle in general, comes and goes in rounds, so the long-forgotten things are highly likely to come back to fashion one day. It seems to me that this is exactly what’s happening to the Recorder at the moment. We might be at the start of the 3rd wave of its popularity right now (1st – Renaissance, 2nd – 20th century).

Traditionally associated with the natural soothing sounds of singing birds, recorder has been known for its wide range of articulations. The effects that can be produced with the help of this unsophisticated musical stick are surprisingly diverse. Modern recorder music thus is quite varied too. Although it is still being widely used in educational purposes, being perfect for starting kids’ musical journey, the recorder has also become interesting to the alternative musicians for all sorts of experiments. I’ve found this adorable video (below) of a guy playing some mind-blowing beatbox on the seemingly classical-only recorder. I believe the true capabilities of this tiny shepherd’s instrument are only being discovered now.

Hidden Music Illusions in Classical Music

Some composers were not only great in their music-writing abilities but even went beyond great in ‘having fun’ with some of their creations, already great.

Let’s look at Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 47. Besides being an outstanding and quite a complex composition in general, it has a specific menuet (“Minuetto al Roverso”) which is now called a palindrome. Haydn wrote it in such a way that the 2nd half of the piece is the mirror of the 1st one. It means that it sounds the same when played backwards:

Some other examples of palindrome can be found in works by Alban Berg, James Tenney, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern and others.

Another fun phenomenon can be seen in Bach’s collection of fugues and canons known as “The Musical Offering”. Today the term is known as ‘table canon’ and formally means that the music combines inversion with retrogression. But in practice, it’s explained easier: if two musicians are placed in front of each other and the music score is put on the table between them, they will be reading the same line in opposite directions and play the piece together. The same musical set by Bach also contains a ‘crab canon’ which is quite similar to the palindrome, where two lines are backward and complement each other.

Music Surrealism by Michael Cheval

And there’s also a ‘mirror canon’ (e.g. “Quaerendo invenietis” from the same set by Bach). Just like the table canon, it can be popularly explained with the help of the mirror: the sheet music is placed in front of a mirror, while the leading voice is played along its own inversion (the upside down reflection of the score).

I find it quite an exciting revelation of a composer’s genius, don’t you?

Do you know of more curious examples?

Going to a Concert: Things to Remember

Attending a concert of classical music might be a very exciting event, and if you are not a frequent concert-goer – especially. But even experienced concert-lovers might feel anxious every time before getting ready for a classical gig. It’s an overwhelming experience after all. I have come across a brief and clear guide on how to be a proper concert-goer and I though it’s a good thing to remind ourselves what should be remembered first of all in order to avoid embarrassment.

My own biggest problem is the uncontrollable urge to clap. I really can’t hold it back if the music is really good. But the rule is you can only clap before and after the performance. No intermission clapping.

Another problem is the health issues. I mean coughing or sneezing. If you caught a cold, I suggest you don’t go to the concert at all, don’t be an egoist. As for spontaneous coughs, better get some pills beforehand that would help you deal with the urges for a few hours.

And the biggest issue of the modern world – the inability to go without our mobile gadgets. Come on, guys, if you’ve chosen to come to enjoy such a unique experience as a classical concert is – enjoy it! Let your phones be forgotten at least for this time. Phones off, music on!

Well, some artists do not get disoriented so easily. Here’s how a pianist punished the disobedient listener for the unsilenced mobile phone: