Monday YouTube Fix: Stravinsky Conducting Firebird

The title really says it all. It's pretty incredible that we have the ability to watch a performance like this so easily.  In this clip, Stravinsky is conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The Firebird Suite has been one of my favorite pieces of classical music since I was in high school.  The recording of David Fedderley playing with the Baltimore Symphony & David Zinman was one that I played almost on a loop as a kid.  The tone that Mr. Fedderley plays with on the last line of that recording just smothers you.  That album played a huge role in the development of my concept of sound and I still cherish it to this day.

What an invaluable resource it is for us to be able to see Stravinsky himself conducting one of his own masterworks.  I love his conducting style.  It's no nonsense and to the point. I'm especially a fan of his left hand on his hip from time to time. Priceless!

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2geXJ5Oiq60&feature=youtu.be]

Monday YouTube Fix: Ranaan Meyer

Ranaan is one of the greatest bass players in the world and I am lucky to call him one of my best friends.  He is also an incredible entrepreneur and is one of the founding members of the wildly successful trio Time for Three. The bass and the tuba of course have a lot of similarities.  Any time I am having trouble making something sound effortless on the tuba I like to listen to musicians like Ranaan.  The basses limitations are obvious compared to a violin or a trumpet, yet when Ranaan is playing they seem to not exist.  The clarity and "amount" of tone he can achieve on very fast sixteenth note passages in this version of Czardas is nothing short of amazing.

Ranaan is a bass clef inspiration to many.  Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFtFXw3FEho]

Monday YouTube Fix: New York Philharmonic/Kurt Masur - Schumann Symphony No. 3

This is such a great clip. The trombone section, lead by Joe Alessi, makes this seems so easy and effortless. But anyone familiar with this movement realize that it is anything but easy. I love the close-up of Joe at the most difficult point of the excerpt.  He looks so relaxed that you wonder if he was about to fall asleep.  Just another day at the office for the best trombone player on the planet.  Good stuff.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZbc63pN7ZE]

Monday YouTube Fix: Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic

Clips like this one are why the internet was invented.  YouTube is just a mind-blowing musical resource.  It really is amazing how many clips like this one are out there. I attended my first concert of the season at Tanglewood yesterday.  Every time I am there I am reminded of Leonard Bernstein.  I've never seen a conductor command an audience and an ensemble as well as he did.  He was a truly gifted musician and communicator.

This is the final movement of Shostakovich 5 recording live by the New York Philharmonic in 1979.  What an incredible performance.  The intensity on Bernstein's face at the end of this clip is both amazing and genuine.  Thank goodness we have performances from the past like this one on video.  There's so much to learn from them.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarFI7r2shY&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

Monday YouTube Fix: Wilhelm Kempff

This past week I came upon a very interesting article in Limelight Magazine about the 10 greatest pianists of all time.   It was a very thought provoking piece which also included YouTube clips.  One of the clips that really struck me was of Wilhelm Kemff. I am a sucker for Beethoven all the time and when it is played with this much personality I am a captive audience.  The intensity of this performance is perfectly summed up by the calm yet urgent look in his eyes.  When he hits the recap at the very end of this clip it is done with such a haunting tenderness that chills are almost automatic.  A truly incredible performance.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqSulR9Fymg&sns=em]

Monday YouTube Fix: Tom Waits

Style. Tom Waits simply oozes style out of every pour.  I don't know a single musician with more style than him.  Style is of course a difficult thing to qualify let alone quantify.  But he has it in spades.   In fact, he has so much that he is a very polarizing artist.   I think he's a genius and should thank Rex Martin for introducing me to his music back in the mid-90s.

As a side note, there is only one country in the world where I have heard Tom Waits being playing in a convenience store: +1 for Japan.

This is a live performance from the BBC program The Grey Whistle Test in 1977.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrkThaBWa5c&feature=youtube_gdata_player]

Playing Like Yourself

"Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself."

This might be my favorite Miles Davis quote ever.  Practicing is essential to both improving as a musician and mastering an instrument.  But sometimes we can all focus too much on the technical aspects of practicing and lose sight of our only true goal: finding our own voice.

Monday YouTube Fix: Sam Pilafian and Gabe Hall-Rodrigues

Tuba and accordion. Lots and lots of jokes have been told about each of these instruments but not when these two guys are playing them.  It's an instrument combination that seems to be made in heaven.  The conical, wide sound of the tuba with the punchy sound of an accordion. Probably the coolest thing to me about Sam Pilafian's career is the constantly changing settings of his performances.  I've seen him perform for packed concert halls with the Empire Brass and also seen him play a free jazz gig for about a dozen people at an Inn in the middle of the Berkshires.  He has never surprised me with any project he's been involved with and as a result always keeps me as a listener on my toes.

This is a fantastic version of the jazz standard Sweet Georgia Brown performed at Arizona State.  When I grow up, I want to be just like Sam.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-X64Z9GacM&feature=colike]

Monday YouTube Fix: Lisa Hannigan

Last night, my wife and I saw a performance by the Irish singer Lisa Hannigan here in Washington DC.  It was simply put the greatest vocal performance I've ever witnessed and that includes the likes of Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, and many other famous singers.  We were both truly stunned. In fact, when I looked at my wife after the very opening song she exhaled as if she had been holding her breath the entire time.  I then realized that I too had been almost scared to breathe.  The music was so ethereal and the message of the song so piercing that to interrupt it with even a breath seemed inappropriate.  The beauty, resonance, and character of Lisa's voice is impossible for me to put into words.  There is a stunning innocence with a simultaneous grit that takes your breath away.

The worst note ending of her performance was quite possibly better than the best I've ever played in my career.  Every note was hand delivered to the next with an attention to detail left the audience speechless.  I was a better musician by the end of the evening, simply by being present.  It was a master class in every sense of the word.

When people say there is no money in music I can't completely agree.  When you sing or play an instrument to the level of Lisa Hannigan you will make a living performing.  Period.  I do not know of a single exception.  She is a breathtaking talent that you should see perform at all costs.  Below is a clip from the wonderful Tiny Desk Concert series from NPR.  I think you will hear what I mean in the very first tune.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-B_fkZfWjk]

Monday YouTube Fix: Jascha Heifetz

I'll never forget the first time I heard Heifetz play the violin.  It was the summer of 1998 and I was in Breckenridge playing with the National Repertory Orchestra.   My friend John Grillo was in the bass section and he had a passion for sharing great music with others.  He asked me if I had ever heard Heifetz's recording of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas.  When I told him no his face lit up and he proceeded to put it on at a very loud volume. My mind was blown by the precision and insistence of interpretation that I was hearing.  Heifetz has been a favorite of mine ever since.  I just stumbled upon this clip of Heifetz in his late 60s playing the Chaconne from the Bach Partita No. 2 in D Minor.  Even late in life, his playing is simply impeccable.  He is able to get so much tone out of each sixteenth note.

Enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q-Zqz7mNjQ]