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Musical Explorations

Musings and random ramblings in response to my exploration of music... especially within the classical genre.

  1. Some Marvelous Medieval Spanish Music

    I've long been fascinated with the medieval Spanish culture. Spain prior to the "Reconquista" of the whole of the peninsula from the Islamic rulers was one of the greatest cultures in the history of Europe. Their contributions to music, art, architecture, poetry, literature, philosophy, etc... still resonates today.

    Some beautiful "early" music from Spain... complete with equally beautiful and appropriate imagery.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwPoW4R_ULc ...
  2. Franz Schubert's Wintereise: A Masterpiece of Song



    Franz Schubert's early death at age 31 may have been the greatest loss in classical music... even greater than the premature death of Mozart. Schubert was a phenomenally prolific and prodigal composer. While still in his teens, Schubert was already composing mature lieder (German art songs) such as Gretchen am Spinnrade which sets lyrics from Goethe's Faust. Schubert was afforded little formal musical or compositional ...
  3. La Pasión según San Marcos

    In 2000... the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death, the International Bach Academy of Stuttgart commissioned new settings of the 4 passion narratives of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These commissions went to four very different contemporary composers: Wolfgang Rihm, Sofia Gubaidulina, Tan Dun, and Osvaldo Golijov:



    ...
  4. Samuel Barber- Adagio for Strings

    My own musical tastes are all over the place, and I will admit that some of what I love can be thought of as quite esoteric... especially to those just beginning to explore "classical music". With that in mind, I offer up the following:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pVW4Z8qOUE

    If there is one piece of classical music composed by an American that I certain will last, it is surely Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. This piece of music must surely be one of ...
  5. More "Early Music": Soeur Marie Keyrouz and Byzantine Music

    Continuing on with my exploration of "Early Music":



    According to Wikipedia: Byzantine music remains the oldest genre of extant music, of which the manner of performance and (with increasing accuracy from the 5th century onwards) the names of the composers, and sometimes the particulars of each musical work's circumstances, are known (although Robert/Musicology will probably be along to ...
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