Friday 28 October 2011

L'Arlesienne Suite No.2 (4), by Georges Bizet



From Wikipedia:

The incidental music to Alphonse Daudet's play L'Arlésienne (usually translated as 'The Girl from Arles') was composed by Georges Bizet for the first performance of the play in 1872. It consists of 27 numbers (some only a few bars) for voice, chorus, and small orchestra, ranging from short solos to longer entr'actes.

Bizet wrote several folk-like themes for the music but also incorporated three existing tunes from a folk-music collection published by Vidal of Aix in 1864: the Marcho dei Rei, the Danse dei Chivau-Frus, and Er dou Guet. The score achieves powerful dramatic ends with the most economic of means.[1] Still, it received poor reviews in the wake of the premiere and is not much performed nowadays in its original form. It has survived and flourished, however, in the form of two suites for orchestra.


Thursday 27 October 2011

Jay Ungar - Ashokan Farewell

From Wikipedia:

Jay Ungar (born November 14, 1946) is an American folk musician and composer. In 1991, Ungar married fellow musician Molly Mason, whom he had first met during the 1970s, and they continue to perform together.

"Ashokan Farewell" is a piece of music composed by Jay Ungar in 1982. It was later used as the title theme of the 1990 PBS television miniseries, The Civil War, as well as the 1991 compilation album, Songs of the Civil War.

The piece is a waltz in D major, written in the style of a Scottish lament (e.g., Niel Gow's "Lament for his second wife"). The most famous arrangement of the piece begins with a solo violin, later accompanied by guitar.

Before its use as the television series theme, "Ashokan Farewell" was recorded on Waltz of the Wind, the second album by the band Fiddle Fever. The musicians included Ungar and his wife, Molly Mason, who gave the tune its name.

In 1984, filmmaker Ken Burns heard "Ashokan Farewell" and was moved by it. He used it in two of his films: The Civil War, which features the original recording by Fiddle Fever in the beginning of the film, and his 1985 documentary Huey Long.

Clarinet Concerto in C minor Opus 31 (1), by Gerald Finzi



From Wikipedia:

Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a song-writer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata Dies natalis for solo voice and string orchestra, and his concertos for cello and clarinet.

Born in London, son of John Abraham (Jack) Finzi (of Italian Jewish descent) and Eliza Emma (Lizzie) Leverson (daughter of Montague Leverson,[1] of German Jewish descent), Finzi nevertheless became one of the most characteristically "English" composers of his generation. Despite being an agnostic, he wrote some inspired and imposing Christian choral music.

The outbreak of World War II delayed the first performance of Dies natalis at the Three Choirs Festival, an event that could have established Finzi as a major composer. He worked for theMinistry of War Transport and lodged German and Czech refugees in his home. After the war, he became somewhat more productive than before, writing several choral works as well as the Clarinet Concerto (1949), perhaps his most popular work.

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Waiting for Your Call - Irfan Makki

Lyrics:
Miles away, oceans apart never in my sight but always in my heart the love is always there it will never die only growing stronger a tears rose down my eye I am thiking all the time when the day will come standing there before you accept this Hajj of mine standing in ihram, making my tawaf drinking blessings from your well the challenges that I have suffered and might were rekindles my imaan O Allah! I am waiting for the call praying for the day when I can be near the Kabah wall O Allah! I am waiting for the call praying for the day when I can be near the Kabah wall I feel alive and I feel strong I can feel Islam running in my Veins to see my muslim brothers, their purpose all the same greeting one another, exalting one True Name I truly hope one day that everyone's a Muslim. that they remember you in everything they say standing in ihram making my tawaf, making my tawaf drinking blessings from your well the challenges that I have suffered and might were rekindles my imaan O Allah! I am waiting for the call praying for the day when I can be near the Kabah wall O Allah! I am waiting for the call praying for the day when I can be near the Kabah wall Miles away

Waltz in Ab major Opus 69 No.1, by Frederic Chopin



From Wikipedia:

The waltz is in A-flat major, with a time signature of 3/4. The tempo is marked at tempo di valse, or a waltz tempo. The beginning theme, marked con espressione, is melancholic and nostalgic, and reaches a small high point with a fast flourish. The second part is marked sempre delicatissimo, or con anima in other versions. It is somewhat more cheerful that the previous theme, but soon gives way to the same first theme. After a second rendition of the first theme is a third theme, marked as dolce, the most playful theme. It leads to another theme with a series of ascending double-stops. This fourth theme is marked poco a poco crescendo, with other editions adding ed appassionato. This leads back to the third, playful theme, and returns back to the beginning with a da capo al fin.

The waltz was originally written as a farewell piece to Maria Wodzińska, to whom Chopin was once engaged. This autographed copy Pour Mlle Marie, given to her in Dresden, Germany, in September 1835,[1] is now in the National Library (Biblioteka Narodowa) of Poland in Warsaw. Another autographed version of the piece can be found at the Conservatoire de Paris, but is considered to be a less refined version[citation needed]. A third is presented as the posthumous edition of Julian Fontana, but has not been substantiated by any known autograph.

Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 by Ralph Vaughan Williams



From Wikipedia:

Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 in E Minor (1906, rev. 1914) is an orchestral rhapsody by Ralph Vaughan Williams based on folk songs he had collected in the English county of Norfolk, in particular in the port town of King's Lynn and the surrounding region. It is one of a set of three orchestral rhapsodies of 1905–06 based on Norfolk folk songs; Norfolk Rhapsody No. 2 in D minor still exists in a fragmentary form and has been reconstructed by Stephen Hogger, but the third Norfolk Rhapsody is lost.[1]

Monday 24 October 2011

Piano Dvorak Slavonic Dances, Op 72, B 145 No 9 in B major

Scarborough Fair

From Wikipedia:

"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional ballad of the United Kingdom.

The song tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she completes these tasks he will take her back. Often the song is sung as a duet, with the woman then giving her lover a series of equally impossible tasks, promising to give him his seamless shirt once he has finished.

As the versions of the ballad known under the title "Scarborough Fair" are usually limited to the exchange of these impossible tasks, many suggestions concerning the plot have been proposed, including the hypothesis that it is a song about the Plague. The lyrics of "Scarborough Fair" appear to have something in common with an obscure Scottish ballad, The Elfin Knight (Child Ballad #2),[1] which has been traced at least as far back as 1670 and may well be earlier. In this ballad, an elf threatens to abduct a young woman to be his lover unless she can perform an impossible task ("For thou must shape a sark to me / Without any cut or heme, quoth he"); she responds with a list of tasks that he must first perform ("I have an aiker of good ley-land / Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand").

The melody is very typical of the middle English period.

As the song spread, it was adapted, modified, and rewritten to the point that dozens of versions existed by the end of the 18th century, although only a few are typically sung nowadays. The references to the traditional English fair, "Scarborough Fair" and the refrain "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" date to 19th century versions, and the refrain may have been borrowed from the ballad Riddles Wisely Expounded, (Child Ballad #1), which has a similar plot.

Here is a version:
Another Version: Lyrics:
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me to one who lives there,
she once was a true love of mine.

Tell him/her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without a seam or needle work,
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Tell him/her to wash it in yonder dry well
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Where water ne'er sprang, nor drop of rain fell
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Tell him/her to dry it on yonder grey thorn
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which ne'er bore blossom since Adam was born
Then she'll be a true love of mine.

Tell him/her to find me an acre of land
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the salt water and the sea strand
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Plow the land with the horn of a lamb
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Then sow some seeds from the north of the dam
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Tell him (her) to reap it with a sickle of leather
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And tie up the sheaves with a rope made of heather
Then (s)he'll be a true love of mine

If (s)he tells me (s)he can't I'll reply
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
"Let me know that at least you will try;"
Then (s)he'll be a true love of mine

"Love imposes impossible tasks,"
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
"Though never more than your own heart asks,
And I must know you're a true love of mine"

Dear, when thou hast finished thy task,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Come to me, my hand for to ask,
For then thou art a true love of mine.

Saturday 22 October 2011

Sound of tears - Nader Khan

Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre



This originally aired on PBS in the 1980s featuring a poorly made up vampire host to introduce and discuss.
It used to be shown in elementary schools. One of the best short length Halloween animations ever created (in 1980s :).

From Wikipedia:

Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based in an old Frenchsuperstition. In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a tone poem, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin.

According to legend, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death calls forth the dead from their graves to dance their dance of death for him while he plays his fiddlerepresented by a solo violin with its E-string tuned to an E-flat in an example of scordatura tuning. His skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year.

The piece opens with a harp playing a single note, D, twelve times (the twelve strokes of midnight) which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section. This then leads to the E flat and A chords also known as a tritone or the "Devil's chord", and the solo violin's E string is tuned a half step lower to create this effect played by a solo violinist, which represents death. After which the main theme is heard on a solo flute and is followed by a descending scale on the solo violin which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section, particularly the lower instruments of the string section, followed by the full orchestra who then joins in on the descending scale. The main theme and the scale is then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra until it breaks to the solo violin and the harp playing the scale. The piece becomes more energetic and climaxes with the full orchestra playing very strong dynamics. Towards the end of the piece, there is another violin solo, now in modulation, which is then joined by the rest of the orchestra. The final section represents the dawn breaking (a cockerel's crow, represented by the oboe) and the skeletons returning to their graves.

The piece makes particular use of the xylophone to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in the Fossils movement of The Carnival of the Animals.

When Danse macabre first premiered, it was not received well.[citation needed] Audiences were quite unsettled by the disturbing, yet innovative,[dubious ] sounds that Saint-Saëns elicited. Shortly after the premiere, it was transcribed into a piano arrangement by Franz Liszt (S.555),[1] a good friend of Saint-Saëns. It was again later transcribed into a popular piano arrangement by virtuoso pianist Vladimir Horowitz. The pipe organ transcription by Lemare is also popular.

Eventually, the piece was used in dance recitals, particularly those of Anna Pavlova.


The BBC series of Sherlock Holmes featured this music as well.

Friday 21 October 2011

Game of Thrones - Title Theme Song



From Wikipedia:

Game of Thrones is an American medieval fantasy television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Based on authorGeorge R. R. Martin's best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones, the television series debuted in the U.S. on April 17, 2011.[3] The production is based in Northern Ireland, with additional locations elsewhere in Europe, and a mainly British and Irish cast.

Procession Of The Sardar - Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov




From Wikipedia:

Caucasian Sketches (Russian: Кавказские эскизы) is a pair of orchestral suites written in 1894 and 1896 by the Russian composer Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov. The Caucasian Sketches is the most often performed of his compositions and can be heard frequently on classical radio stations. The final movement of the Caucasian Sketches, Suite No. 1, entitled Procession of the Sardar (French: Cortège du Sardar; also popularly known as March of the Sardar or Sardar's March), is often heard by itself, and is a favorite of "Pops" concerts.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Usman Riaz - FIRE FLY



More info on Facebook.

Dmitri Shostakovich - Jazz Suite No. 2: VI. Waltz 2 - Part 6/8



Waltz, from Wikipedia:

A waltz, or valse from the French term, is a piece of music in triple meter, most often written in time signature About this sound 3/4-beat but sometimes in 3/8 or 3/2. Waltzes typically have one chord per measure, and the accompaniment style particularly associated with the waltz is (as seen in the example to the right) to play the root of the chord on the first beat, the upper notes on the second and third beats. This is known as an "oom-pa-pa" beat.

Dmitri Shostakovich, From Wikipedia:

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich Russian pronunciation: [dmʲitrij ˌdmʲitrɪjevʲiʨ ʂɨstɐˈkɔvʲɪʨ] (Russian: Дмитрий Дмитриевич Шостакович[1]; 25 September 1906 – 9 August 1975) was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century.

Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Leon Trotsky's chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he also received accolades and state awards and served in theSupreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962) and the USSR (from 1962 until death).

After a period influenced by Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky, Shostakovich developed a hybrid style, as exemplified by Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1934). This single work juxtaposed a wide variety of trends, including the neo-classical style (showing the influence of Stravinsky) and post-Romanticism (after Gustav Mahler). Sharp contrasts and elements of the grotesque[2] characterize much of his music.


Kill Bill-soundtrack whistle

Kill Bill Theme Song

Thursday 6 October 2011

Razia sultan - Aye Dil-e-Nadaan

From Wikipedia:
Razia al-Din (1205– October 14/15, 1240) (Urdu: رضیہ سلطانہ, Hindi: रज़िया सुल्ताना), throne name Jalâlat ud-Dîn Raziyâ (Urdu: جلالۃ الدین رضیہ, Hindi: जलालत उद-दीन रज़िया), usually referred to in history as Razia Sultan, was the Sultan of Delhi in India from 1236 to May 1240. She was of Seljuq slave ancestry[citation needed] and like some other Muslim princesses of the time, she was trained to lead armies and administer kingdoms if necessary.[1][dead link] Razia Sultana, the fifth Mamluk Sultan, was one of the few female sovereigns in the history of Islamic civilization. She was the only women ruler of both the Sultanate and the Mughal period.[2]

Slavonic Dance, Op. 46/8 / Rattle - Dvořák




The Slavonic Dances are a series of 16 orchestral pieces composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and 1886 and published in two sets asOpus 46 and Opus 72 respectively. Originally written for piano four hands, the Slavonic Dances were inspired by Johannes Brahms's ownHungarian Dances and were orchestrated at the request of Dvořák's publisher soon after composition. The pieces, lively and overtly nationalistic, were well received at the time and today are among the composer's most memorable works, occasionally making appearances in popular culture.


Wednesday 5 October 2011

Opera - Bizet Carmen Toreador Song



May remind you of the classical Nokia Ringtones

From Wikipedia:

Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in1845,[1] itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies (1824) by Alexander Pushkin.[2] Mérimée had read the poem in Russian by 1840 and translated it into French in 1852.[3]
The opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique of Paris on 3 March 1875, but its opening run was denounced by the majority of critics.[4] It was almost withdrawn after its fourth or fifth performance, and although this was avoided, ultimately having 48 performances in its first run,[5] it did little to bolster sagging receipts at the Opéra-Comique. Near the end of this run, the theatre was giving tickets away in order to stimulate attendance. Bizet died of a heart attack, aged 36, on 3 June 1875, never knowing how popular Carmen would become. In October 1875 it was produced in Vienna, to critical and popular success, which began its path to worldwide popularity.[6] It was not staged again at the Opéra Comique until 1883.

Movie: The Big Country Theme



From Wikipedia:

The Big Country is a 1958 American Western film directed by William Wyler. It stars Gregory Peck, who also co-produced the film with Wyler, plus Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker,Charlton Heston, Burl Ives, Charles Bickford, and Chuck Connors. It was based on the serialized magazine novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon by Donald Hamilton.[1]

Ives won the Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor as well as the Golden Globe Award. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for the musical score by Jerome Moross.