Paul Hindemith was one of the most important composers of the beginning 20th century. Watch this video where he is conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing one of his own compositions, the Concert Music for Strings and Brass, Op. 50.
Glenn Gould Performing Prelude in C Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
In this little video clip Glenn Gould plays Prelude in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 1 by Johann Sebastian Bach. This clip is an extract from the movie “32 Short Clips about Glenn Gould” and is published on youtube.
Glenn Gould is very famous for his interpretations of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach who wrote a huge amount of compositions for piano solo, with the orchestra and for other ensembles of instruments in different combinations.
The video clip doesn’t show Glenn Gould performing, instead you can see how the different parts of a piano move as Glenn Gould’s interpretation of the tune is sounding.
Rubinstein Performing Impromptu by Schubert
Watch this video with piano player Arthur Rubinstein performing the Impromptu Op. 90 No. 4 by german composer Franz Schubert. Even though Arthur Rubinstein was already 90 years old when he recorded this version of the Impromptu by Schubert, he still plays very well, I would say he finally plays it the best way he could, after such a long life of playing music, taste must have strongly evolved.
The Fly Trio Performing a Tune Called Child’s Play
Watch this video with the Fly Trio. This trio counts with Jeff Ballard on drums, Mark Turner on tenor saxophone and Chris Lightcap on accoustic bass. The song is a composition by drummer Jeff Ballard, however, some people think it is kind of a remake of Billie’s Bounce, the famous song by the legendary alto saxophone giant Charlie Parker.
The composition might be influenced by Charlie Parker’s original melody, but the drummer’s introduction is very original: Jeff Ballard playing the drumset with his bare hands. Later he plays with one bare hand and one stick and finally plays the conventional two drum stick style.
This kind of trios require excellent musicians, there are only three instruments in charge of the interpretation. In this case it is especially heavy work for the bass and tenor saxophone players since the band does not include an instrument like the piano or the guitar which can play simultaneously sounding chords. Here the bass player has to perform bass lines that fill the space.
The Arne Jansen Trio Performing On the Shore
In this video clip you can see and listen to the Arne Jansen Trio performing the tune On the Shore live on stage. Arne Jansen plays the electric guitar, Eva Kruse is playing the double bass and Eric Schaefer is performing on drums. The song is in a quiet mood with an melancholic feel. Just as the title says, it could be a day on the shore, have the ocean in front of you, get calm with the huge amount of water and the endless rolling waves, maybe some birds flying in the air, a boat or two passing by, just a day On the Shore.
It is remarkable how these great musicians can play such a quiet piece, most listeners won’t appreciate their skills, everybody is expecting them to show what they can do.
However, musicality or musical talent certainly doesn’t have much to do with virtuousity, virtuousity sometimes even kills musicality just because the musician has to perform extra fast runs on his instruments, play them smoothly and don’t make any ‘mistakes’, don’t leave out notes, play wrong notes or anything that could be interpreted as evidence of his lack of talent. Many times, these fast parts don’t sound like music and the performers seem to be like secretaries who can type real fast, regardless of the content they are writing.
Straight No Chaser Jazz Guitar Lesson Fingerstyle Solo
This video features a jazz guitar lesson where people can learn how to play chords and melody of the Thelonious Monk tune Straight, No Chaser in what is called fingerstyle. The guitar plays chords and melody simultaneously. According to the author of this video clip, this piece is pretty easy to learn. However, easy is a relative term and of course it is not thought for a beginning guitar player. I think it requires intermediate guitar playing skills.
Thelonious Monk is one of the most important jazz piano players and composers and has contributed to the repertoire of standard jazz tunes with several compositions like Epistrophy, Blue Monk, Well You Needn’t and others. His style is very particular and sure includes rhythmic and harmonic challenges for the average jazz musician.
Choir of the Opera Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi Performed by the National Opera of Paris
Watch this video of the famous choir music composition “Va pensiero sull ‘ali dorate” from the opera Nabucco composed by italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. This recording is from 1979 and features the Choir of the National Theatre from the Opera of Paris conducted by Nello Santi.
Giuseppe Verdi is the best know italian composer of opera music, however, music was not his only talent, he also was a politician and became an elected senator in the italian parliament after the triumph of the revolution against Austria.
The opera Nabucco was performed for the first time in 1842 and made Giuseppe Verdi famous all over Europe for the beauty of its music, while in Italy the opera became famous too because of the political message it contains: the singing of the oppressed people who desire freedom, represented here by the choir of the jews. For this reason the choir you can listen to in this video clip has become the anthem of the oppressed people from all over the world.
In the opera Nabucco one can observe Verdi’s pertinence to the epoche of romanticism. The opera also features beautifull arias and more choir passages that are worth listening to.
This composition has also been used in many movie pictures.
The Nightingale Written by Alban Berg Performed by Anne Sofie von Otter
This video features female soprano singer Anne Sofie von Otter performing The Nightingale, the third song of Alban Berg’s composition Sieben Frühe Lieder (Seven Early Songs). Alban Berg is an austrian composer who together with Anton Webern studied with Arnold Schönberg. Schönberg showed them the rules of modern twelve tone music but Alban Berg developed his own style, combining the twelve tone techniques with more traditional musical forms from earlier centuries.
The most known composition of Alban Berg are probably Lulu and Woyzeck, two operas which stand in the atonal tradition. Atonality was the logical consequence of the evolution of western concert music which can be regarded as the progressive acceptance of formerly not accepted notes in the harmonic context of a composition.
Tenor Saxophone Giant Sonny Rollins and Guitar Legend Jim Hall Performing The Bridge
Watch this video with the great jazz tenor saxophone player Sonny Rollins playing his composition The Bridge and being accompanied by Jim Hall on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Ben Riley on drums. This tune is written and performen in up tempo which is a challenge for all musicians. However, these giants here have no problem with the speed and it’s a delight to listen to them and watch them executing the most difficult passages without hesitation …
Sonny Rollins is one of the greatest saxophone players ever and we invite you to participate in our poll regarding the best saxophone player known to mankind. Of course we know that it is very difficult to decide who is the better player when you have to choose between Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Michael Brecker and other tenor saxophone legends. More than establishing the better player, our poll is about taste and preferences of our readers, you even might consider some unknown or not mentioned sax player as the one you like best … Go and vote!
Atmospheres by Györgi Ligeti with Animation Video Art
This video shows a video animation over a piece composed by Gyorgy Sandor Ligeti (1923 – 2006) who has experimented with sounds beyond the ones conventionally produced by the traditional instruments of the symphonic orchestra.
Atmospheres was performed first in 1960 and forms part of the first electronic music pieces which certainly don’t have to do much or maybe anything with what more superficial people call electronic music (like what Chemical Brothers and many others perform).
This piece also was chosen by movie director Stanly Kubrick for some scenes of his masterpiece A Space Odyssey.
Music and Video Guide 