Great Performances - Dietrich Fischer Dieskau Sings The Erlking

This chilling performance by baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau and pianist Gerald Moore has been hailed on Youtube as one of the best interpretations of this German lied.

Franz Schubert based this "Der Erlkönig" (The Elf King or "Erlking") on a poem by Goethe of the same name.

In a nutshell, the singer portrays four characters: the narrator, a young boy, his father and the Erlköning. Dieskau superbly captures the nuances each character while Moore gallops through those triplets with an enviable pinnache. They paint us a soundscape of a young boy as he rides on horseback in the dark and of his encounter with the Erlking.

The duo are completely in sync, which is a feat considering I read once that the two hated each other. Dieskau's word painting is stellar. Every time I listen to this, I get shivers when the Erlking becomes forceful and the young boy meets his fate.

Great Performances - Ella Fitzgerald in Berlin

Here is a fantastic example of how to handle those performance glitches. This is from jazz singer's Ella Fitzgerald 1960 performance in Berlin. Partway through, she completely blanked out on the lyrics. True to form, she improvised flawlessly. She was rhyming, she made up lyrics that really made sense. She didn't lose her cool and just went along with it - and it sounded just fine. More than fine.

World Music Exploration - R.E.M.

And here I thought I would have a tough time choosing a pop/rock music selection for this week's entry. R.E.M. made it an easy decision for me. On September 21, 2011, the American band R.E.M. announced that they would be disbanding after 31 years of music collaboration.  The band formed in 1980 in Athens, GA and was comprised of Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass) and Bill Berry (drums). The band is credited for having a profound influence on the development of alternative rock.

I couldn't decided between The One I Love  or Losing My Religion, so here's both:

(c) 2011 by Musespeak(TM), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Great Performances - Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma and Perlman

This is a new weekly blog series I cooked up while having lunch. Each week, I will highlight a great performance that I have stumbled upon online.This is a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Triple Concerto in C Major, op. 56 for violin, piano and cello. It's a beautiful collaborative work that showcases Beethoven's ability to balance several weaving passages.This clip features three giants of the concert world: Daniel Barenboim (piano/conductor), Itzhak Perlman on violin and Yo-Yo Ma on cello.Watch how Barenboim cues in the orchestra with his body language. Also, look at how confident and comfortable the trio is with each other. They don't need to look at each other much. They cue each other in very subtly.

September 3, 2020 note: Looks like the videos were removed from Youtube, so here’s a video of Anne-Sophie Mutter with Maestro Barenboim and Yo-Yo Ma:

Arca & Arca Perform Pia no Jac

My students, my brother's students, our family, friends and I are exhausted from a weekend full of recitals. My studio recital took place on Saturday, while my brother's was yesterday. The kids did fairly well and there were many pleased parents and grandparents.

One thing we like to do is to perform at our studio recitals. The purpose is two-fold: to keep our own skills up and secondly, to show our students and their families that yes, we really can play.

This year, we have been exploring the music of Pia no Jac, a Japanese piano/cajon duo. The technical challenges are quite different from what we've encountered when we were taking lessons. 

Here's footage of our latest performance. First off is Crossbeats, which features Jay on piano and myself on the cajon

The second is Habanera based on Bizet's Carmen. This time, I'm on the piano and Jay's playing the cajon:

I wonder how many of my students looked up "Pia no Jac" after the recital.

Want to explore Pia no Jac? Click on the CD below and off you go: