jmc's classics
Bluegrass music is a sub genre of Country Music. It originates in Kentucky - the "Bluegrass State" I have found an article on thestrad.com about Bluegrass. It is an interview with Jeremy Garrett from The String Dusters which is a Bluegrass group. I am not going to type it up. It looks like there are some connections between Classical and Bluegrass.
It usually has vocals and for instruments a fiddle (aka violin), banjo, mandolin, bass violin, and maybe a guitar. The songs are about everyday life in Kentucky and Appalachia including coal mining, railroading. and other aspects of life in that region. I am not familiar with that type of music. Both mining and railroad work were common occupations in Kentucky. It makes use of acoustic musical instruments and not electric guitars. It draws influence from Scotch-Irish music. Many of the original settlers in that area are of Scotch-Irish decent. In the article, Garrett discuses the different violin playing techniques and differences between the two genres. Bluegrass has some different techniques than Classical. in the article he said that he grew up with both Classical and Blue Grass. With the advent of Rock and Roll Bluegrass Music began to fade in popularity. However it has made a come back. It has a following in America and abroad
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With The Concert seasons winding down, summer is coming. During the summer, there are outdoor concerts and outdoor theatre. I like outdoor concerts and theatre.
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will be at the Touhill Center during the renovation of Powell Hall. It is on the campus of University of Missouri St. Louis and is named for Blanche M. Touhill who was Chancellor of UMSL.
When we think of "Indian" we can think of people from India or Native Americans. We get that term from Christopher Columbus' mistake when in 1492 he thought that he had landed in India. The term "Indian" is not politicly correct any more. American Indians now prefer the term "Native Americans" instead of Indian.
Today is the premier of Carlos Chavez's Sinfonia India in 1936 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the composer conducting. It was his second symphony out of six. This symphony is only in one movement and lasts about 12 minutes. Less than many movement from a works with three or four movements. Some of the movements of Bruckner's symphonies last 20 or more movements-The first movement of Brahms' First Piano Concerto lasts for 22 minutes. This is the most popular of the works of Mexican composer Carlos Chavez(1899-1978). He was also a conductor. Chavez to some extent is to Mexican music what Greig was to Norwegian Music and Dvorak was to Czech music. He was part Spanish and part Indian. His father died when Carlos was three years old. Carlos' father invented a type of plow which is used in the United States. He spent his vacations in Oaxaca and other places with Indian influence. He worked for the Mexican newspaper El Universal starting in 1924. Chavez was friends with American Aaron Copeland. In 1928 he was appointed director of The Mexican National Conservatory in Mexico City where. he led efforts to study native Mexican music. After the Mexican Revolution in 1910, interest grew in Native Mexican culture including music. As a boy he frequently heard the music of Mexican Indians. He started working on this symphony in 1935. It is related to his first symphony. There are three themes in this work. The first is from the Huichol Indians, the second form the Yaqui Indians and the third from the Seri Indians. These are all tribes from the north part of Mexico. The last part makes use of percussions. The first part sounds more European or American to me. The last part does sound like Indian Music. I have heard several versions of this work. The version that I have is of the London Symphony Orchestra with Eduardo Meta conducting. It features Chavez' five other symphonies. This is on the Brilliant Classics label. I am not familiar with this label. The first movement of his Fifth Symphony and the Third movement of his Sixth Symphony last longer than the Second Symphony! The First Symphony is also in one movement. This one is called "Sinfonia de Antigona". It was composed as music for the Ancient Greek Tragedy Antigone. Was based on an Ancient Greek tragedy by Sophoclese. Antigone was a character in Ancient Greek mythology. I am not in to Ancient Greek mythology. I had to study it in school. It was worked in to a play by the French writer Jean Cocteau (1889-1963). I have not seen this play. I don't know much about ancient music. However, Chavez did use some ancient Greek themes in this work. It lasts a little over ten minutes in length. Chavez also wrote chamber music including sting quartets and solo piano music. He wrote one each concerto for piano, violin and trombone. I have not been able to find any recordings of his violin concerto. There are recordings of Native American music available. Some of the American, as well as Canadian and Latin American genres of music are influenced by Native American music! Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) is mainly known to non-classical fans for his Ninth Symphony "From the New World" (Opus#95). It first premiered in 1893 and is inspired by Longfellow's poem Hiawatha. He wrote 14 string quartets which are still popular.
The same year his 12th quartet "American" (Opus#96) premiered. it was also written during his time in America. The third movement of this was inspired by birds chirping while in Spillville, Iowa. It took him only about a month to complete this work. some other works it has taken years to complete! This is his most popular string quartet. His later quartets are the more popular ones Quartets 9-14. They are now in the standard repetoire. The early quartets are not as popular. Some of them are long and one lasts over an hour. Dvorak's early symphonies are not as popular as his later ones. I am not familiar with Dvorak's early string quartets There are a lot of excellent recordings available of the Dvorak String Quartets. I have a copy on the 14th and 12. It is of the Cleveland Quartet on the Telarc label. Both works last 21-25 minutes and are in four movements. The 14th was completed in 1895 before he completed his 13th string quartet. He was still in America when he wrote this work. Dvorak spent about 2 years in America from 1893-95. He was in New York City and in Spillville, Iowa which had a large Czech immigrant community. While in America, he drew inspiration for some of his works. |
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