I'm a sucker for the cello rock.
Posts Tagged ‘Cello’
Edward Elgar – "Cello Concerto in E minor" (1919)
2011/03/06
Winter's grip holds firm and has left me sullen and weary this morning, not unlike this piece, "Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85" by Edward Elgar.
"The piece represented, for Elgar, the angst, despair, and disillusionment he felt after the end of the War, and an introspective look at death and mortality." …beautiful, no?
These recordings feature cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who really gave the piece what popularity it has, in the 1960s.
First Movement: Adagio – Moderato
Second Movement: Lento – Allegro molto
Third Movement: Adagio
Fourth Movement: Allegro – Moderato – Allegro, ma non troppo – Poco più lento – Adagio
Fourth Movement: (part 2 of the video)
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Click here for more info on Edward Elgar – "Cello Concerto in E minor".
The MP3 may be purchased here… Edward Elgar - Cello Concerto in E minor
Tina Guo – "Apres un Reve" (2009)
2010/09/29
It appears I will never be allowed to leave work again. Our main file server is a desktop computer, and I made the mistake of rebooting it because I had to move it. Now it simply says the following on a black screen when I try to start it up:
"strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility"
Despite attempting many things thus far (including removing the RAID, replacing the battery, running diagnostics tests, booting from either of the hard drives) I have yet to find what the issue even is, let alone fix it!
I thought this song "Apres un Reve" (or "After a Dream" for those of you who took German or Spanish or whatever) by Tina Guo captures nicely the melancholy I feel as I sit waiting for one of the many diagnostics tests I am running to finish. I kind of get the feeling these tests may take hours, and still not tell me anything.
Oddly this next (bonus) song is also applicable to how I felt when it first happened and expresses my haste to try to fix the situation! Obviously based on Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight Of The Bumblebee", Tina Guo's "Queen Bee" is an awesome addendum & interpretation. (…and kinda hot!)
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Click here for more info on Tina Guo – Autumn Winds – "Apres un Reve".
The MP3 for "Apres un Reve" may be purchased here… Tina Guo - Autumn Winds
Apocalyptica – "Somewhere Around Nothing" (2003)
2010/07/18
Last night my sister-in-law and I went to see Apocalyptica in Buffalo, NY at the "Town Ballroom" (a cool venue, with a tiered amphitheater like levels), and it was AWESOME! Made up of the three cellists, Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso, as well as drummer Mikko Sirén, all from Helsinki, Findland, I was very entertained and very impressed. Being a cellist and a drummer myself, I had a unique perspective on being able to judge their technique and skill. I bow to their abilities as musicians for they would all easily blow me away, and they are great entertainers on top of it. Their ability to make a cello sound like a guitar is unreal, and yet I have seen and heard it myself. Though they seemed to play countless songs, I was still sad that it had to come to an end. The crowd was thoroughly engaged, including some members of the audience joining in the hair swirling headbanging as the band members did. They are inspirational in their success in bridging the gap between classical and metal. I would happily see them again given the opportunity and suggest it for anyone with any interest in heavy metal or the cello, one of the best instruments in the world, of course I am heavily biased! Their new album, "7th Symphony" will be released August 24th, and I now wait with baited breath.
Although today song, "Somewhere Around Nothing", is not from the new album, it is from their album "Reflections" which included all original songs by the band, and I think the video truly shows the band and a bit of the flavor and feeling of what it was like to see them in concert. Enjoy!
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Click here for more info on Apocalyptica – Reflections – "Somewhere Around Nothing".
The MP3 may be purchased here… Apocalyptica - Reflections
Ethan Winer – "A Cello Rondo" (2005)
2010/01/30While looking for videos of "Christian Petzold – "Minuet in G Major" played on the cello, I came across this piece by Ethan Winer. So cool. One dude. One cello. Lots of time and a bit of music software. I had to share this bonus song!
By the way, what genre would you consider this?
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Click here for more info on Ethan Winer – "A Cello Rondo".
The MP3 may be download for free here…
Christian Petzold – "Minuet in G Major" (1725)
2010/01/30
I had a dream. I was at work and my team had to perform a song as a band, but we barely had any time to practice or any time to even pick the song. But before the performance I would have to play a solo piece on my Cello without any practice at all, in front of the entire company. When I awoke, my thought was "Yup. That is basically how I feel all the time at work." I'm frequently part of a larger project while at the same time working solo on a project. It can be intense.
In the dream though, I had an easy solution for selecting the solo song. I would play "Minuet in G major, (BWV Anh. 114)". I know this song cold. As a friend of mine use to say about me… "[TSotD] gets all the chicks cause he plays the cello". Although a gross exaggeration of my prowess, this song is certainly a crowd pleaser when played live.
The song was previously thought to be by Johann Sebastian Bach, but is now credited to Christian Petzold. I was taught it in the spirit of the Suzuki Method, and thus have referred to it as "Minuet No. 3 by Bach" for years and years, as it is printed in my Suzuki book. Anyone classically trained on a string instrument knows this song and can likely play it by heart. I'd image most pianists and harpsichordists know it too.
Here it is on the harpsichord, the originally intended instrument:
Of course when I played it in my youth for a competition, it was more like this:
I've done the solo cellist on stage bit, but no that is not me. That is how I felt in the dream, except no piano back up. Just me out on the excessively big stage, bright hot lights shining down on me, looking out into the dark of the audience. I woke up before I could play it, but the song was stuck in my head all the same.
Keeping with the "dreams" theme, perhaps some of you remember the 80's movie "Electric Dreams" where an architect, Miles, buys a state of the art computer. After a little champagne spill, the computer, named Edgar, becomes a self aware intelligent life and also emotional. Both Miles and Edgar fall in love with the neighbor, Madeline, who is a cellist. In one of the scenes, Madeline and the computer play a duet of this song through the heating vent, although she thinks it is Miles. It is a little Short Circuit (which came afterwards) meets 2001: A Space Odyssey (which came before).
Also some may recognize this song as something completely different… "The melody from the 1965 pop song "A Lover's Concerto", written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell was based on Minuet in G major. The song was recorded by the girl group the Toys and reached #2 in the U.S. and #5 in the U.K. Billboard Hot 100 list." Check it out! Here is the the cover of "A Lover's Concerto" by "The Toys":
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Click here for more info on Christian Petzold – "Minuet in G Major".
The MP3 may be purchased here… Christian Petzold - Minuet in G Major
Apocalyptica – "Nothing Else Matters" (1998)
2009/11/30G, a couple friends, and I did some impromptu jamming yesterday. I was prompted to pull out my cello. I was hesitant for a moment, and then I remembered this song played by Apocalyptica. It was awesome playing my cello along with the electric guitar, bass guitar, and drum set. There is certainly not enough cello in rock and roll, but then again I am partial.
I totally drooled over Apocalyptica's album "Inquisition Symphony" when it came out. You may recognize "Nothing Else Matters" as classic of Metallica's. I thought the idea of playing heavy metal with classical instruments, and especially a quartet of cellos, was so cool! (We never did this kind of song in my high school or college orchestra!) Over 10 years later I am still geeking out about it.
The cover is SO different than the original and yet, pays tribute to it, and compliments it beautifully. AND I love that the lines between classical music and heavy metal are blurred. Why choose between one and the other when you can have both? It really blew my mind at the time and I have been convinced ever since that the barriers between musical genres are entirely artificial, and those that tear them down are to be commended for their bravery and creativity.
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Click here for more info on Apocalyptica – Inquisition Symphony – "Nothing Else Matters".
The MP3 may be purchased here… Apocalyptica - Inquisition Symphony
