Beauty for the ears!

For no particular reason except that I think it is an absolutely beautiful piece by Gregorio Allegri...



To me, having the words in front of you just enhances the song!

Midwinter...

Time for another Christmas Hymn...by Sissel!

O Come, O Come...

Enya has such a hauntingly beautiful voice...and is singing one of my all time favorite Christmas hymns...



"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" by Enya
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times did'st give the Law,
In cloud, and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Little Drummer Boy...

One of my favorites...A Capella...definitely worth a watch, and a listen!

Piano Guys....

Must admit, this is the first time I've heard these guys...what an interesting way to make music!

Cricket Choir....

Listen to the crickets....(you have to click up top for it to play)

According to the article, this is two tracks...one played at regular speed and one slowed waaayyy down...it sounds like a heavenly choir...such a meditative quality!

Renaissance in the streets!

On a recent Sunday afternoon, 17 people with sheet music gathered in a semicircle in the Graybar Passage at Grand Central Terminal. People streamed by. After a brief warm-up, the group’s conductor, John Hetland, dressed in dark jeans and a green plaid shirt, lifted his hands and the chorus began its a cappella rendition of a polyphonic hymn, “Kyrie,” by the 15th-century German composer Heinrich Finck.

Founded in 1973, the Renaissance Street Singers are one of approximately 350 groups with public performance permits granted by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. 

The hallway filled with sound, the baritones roiling like cumulonimbus clouds, the altos and sopranos shooting through like light, the melodies intertwining. The voices carried down the hall and were faintly audible in the Main Concourse. A crowd gathered to listen, but no one gave money, because there was nowhere to put it. When the song was over, Mr. Hetland turned around to face the small audience. 

“We’re the Renaissance Street Singers,” he said, “singing the music that we love to sing and to share.” 

Founded in 1973, the singers are one of approximately 350 groups with public performance permits granted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as part of the Music Under New York program, but they are perhaps the only one that does not accept donations. “I’ve been known to run after someone to give them back their $5,” said Mr. Hetland, the group’s founder. “We want to make it clear that the performances are free. We love to sing this music, and we enjoy it even more if someone else is listening.” 

And so, two or three Sundays a month, the group performs 15th- and 16th-century hymns, magnificats, psalms, motets and other sacred music in a variety of public spaces in New York; the Graybar Passage is one of its usual winter spots. “Grand Central has pretty good acoustics,” Mr. Hetland said. “This music was made to be sung in a church with resonance, and this has that resonance.” 

In years past, the group performed a mixture of sacred and secular music, until Mr. Hetland realized that all of his favorite pieces were religious. He decided to focus on sacred music instead. “The composers, in my opinion, really put their best efforts into it,” he said. “They believed there was a purpose to the music — that they were glorifying God.”

Read the entire piece....


If you'd like to hear them, http://nyti.ms/10mrbVB click this link...sorry, no embedding allowed!

Mozart and goats...

The other day, I told you all that I am a big fan of classical music. Although they don't always go hand in hand, I love opera also. I guess I should not have been surprised to find the following on "Classic FM's" website! And just for fun I thought I'd share it with you...



 Mozart's 'Queen of the Night' aria from The Magic Flute has gone the way of Justin Bieber, One Direction, Taylor Swift and others - a 'Goat edition' of the song has surfaced online, using a Royal Opera House production of the opera.

The 'Goat edition' meme has seen popular chart songs manipulated so that certain snippets of the song are replaced with footage and sound of a goat (or sheep) screaming like a human. It stems from a separate internet meme where footage of goats screaming like humans are compiled and posted online.

In the Mozart goat version (which actually features a sheep) it's still possible to hear much of the vocal acrobatics, but the phrase-ending F natural and D natural in the most famous section have been replaced with the goat screams, as well as the C natural in the line "meine Tochter nimmermeh r."

The 'Queen of the Night' aria is one of the most famous Mozart works and an enduring standard for operatic sopranos. It's not the first time goats and opera have crossed over - goats take a central role in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and Cilea's L'Arlesiana, in which a whole aria is dedicated to a courageous goat.

Van Cliburn

Harvey Lavan ‘Van’ Cliburn, one of the most popular classical pianists of recent years, passed away on Wednesday morning after losing his battle with advanced bone cancer. He was 78. Born in Louisiana in 1934, Cliburn began taking piano lessons from his mother aged just 3. By the time he was 12, he had already won a state piano competition and performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He made his Carnegie Hall debut aged just 20.

Educated at Julliard, he won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow in 1958, aged 23. At the height of the Cold War, it was unusual for an American pianist to be recognised in such a public way.

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Every day, at work, I listen to live streaming classical music. It is one of my very favorite musical forms and I've found it's the perfect way to help pass the time. My introduction to classical music was via Van Cliburn's recording of Tchaikovsky on vinyl no less! I'll admit I played it so much and so often, I received a second copy of the album for Christmas one year.

It's a sad day for the world, the man was truly gifted!

Take a moment...

I know everyone has done a "flash mob"...but don't turn away. Give yourself a small gift today and listen to this refreshingly lovely rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.  Be sure and watch the delightful reaction of the children. I can't help but think Beethoven would be pleased... 



Considering the acoustics, it is magnificent!

A new way to sing...

in a movie musical. Rather than going into a studio to record the songs and then lip-synching when it comes time to sing on film, the movie version of Les Miserables is being sung live.

The actors are allowed to express their characters in a whole new way...and to interpret the wonderful, heartbreaking music that is "Les Miz". Don't know about you but I can't wait until it comes out!

Music in all forms

Bravo! I cannot imagine how many hours it took to work this out...



In case you don't know, it's Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter...

Just because...

it's the end of a busy week and it's raining but most of all, because it's a beautiful piece (as is all John Rutter's music)...



Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ,
of Christ the light of the world to you.
Deep peace of Christ to you. 

What were they thinking?

The Billboard Music Awards always pays tribute to artists who have passed since the last show. Not sure who came up with this year's list but I don't think I'd call them a music aficionado! It was especially sad for those who remember these artists from the beginning...

Noticeably absent were:


Levon Helms

Up on Cripple Creek:





Etta James

At Last:





Dick Clark

Although he never sang a note that I know of, he launched the careers of thousands of entertainers. Those of us who impatiently waited for American Bandstand each week will never forget him!





Davy Jones (if you were female and within 7 years + / - of my age, you had a crush on Davy!)

Daydream Believer








Shame on you Billboard! These people helped define generations and brought joy and music into our lives!

Taps

It is perhaps the most famous of military signals, and on Saturday it turned 150 years old. Taps, traditionally played at military funerals and also known as "Butterfield's Lullaby" or "Day is Done," were born during the Civil War along the James River.

Read more here...

We spent the weekend at a "Cub and Family Campout" with grandson so I missed posting this on time. Regardless, it is something worth knowing at any time.

Sounds to soothe...

I know I have posted several "flash mobs" over time but before you think..."Oh no, not another one!" Take a look! This time, they are playing "Peer Gynt"...no dancers, no singers, just the beauty of the music!



I hope you noticed the young man taking out his ear buds so he could hear better...and the way the passengers kept looking back as the exited, as if they would have loved to stay for more!

And, in case you didn't notice the note, all music was performed and recorded on the train.

Ballad of Barbara Allen

This song was first printed in 1750 but was mentioned in Samuel Pepy's diary as early as 1666. It was an old and familiar song even in Samuel's day. No one knows if the author was Scottish or Irish or English...but they do know that it was written somewhere on those islands.

My mother loved the Ballad of Barbara Allen...so much that we had it played at her funeral. The musicians did a beautiful job, but she loved this version by Jerry Reed the best...



         Ballad of Barbara Allen
In Scarlet Town where I was born
There was a fair maid dwelling
Made every youth cry 'Well-a-day'
and her name was Barbara Allen

'Twas in the merry month of May
When the green buds they were swelling
Sweet William on his death-bed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen

He sent his servant to the town
To the place where she was dwelling
Said, Master, bid you to his side
If your name be Barbara Allen

Slowly, slowly she got up
And slowly she went nigh him
And when she drew the curtain back
Said, Young man, I think you're dying

Oh yes I'm sick, I'm very very sick
And I will be no better
Until I have the love of one
The love of Barbara Allen

Father, Father, go dig my grave
Dig it deep, deep and narrow
Sweet William died for me today
I'll die for him tomorrow

They buried her in the old churchyard
Sweet William's grave was nigh her
And from his heart there grew a rose
And from her heart grew a briar

They grew and grew up the churchyard wall
Till they couldn't grow no higher
Then grew as one, to part no more,
The red, red rose and the briar.

Words and music by...

I don't know how I missed it but this past Monday, Robert Sherman, author of many of my favorite childhood songs passed away. It would take far too long to write how each song impacted a shy, young girl but suffice it to say that their words and music wrapped me in a blanket of love and allowed me to live in world I could only dream of...I do hope he knows how much joy he brought to so many...

His son, Jeff, wrote the following:

Hello to family and friends,
I have very sad news to convey.
My Dad, Robert B. Sherman, passed away tonight in London. He went peacefully after months of truly valiantly fending off death. He loved life and his dear heart finally slowed to a stop when he could fight no more.
I will write more about this incredible man I love and admire so much when I am better rested and composed. He deserves that.
In the meantime, please say a prayer for him. As he said, he wanted to bring happiness to the world and, unquestionably, he succeeded. His love and his prayers, his philosophy and his poetry will live on forever. Forever his songs and his genius will bring hope, joy and love to this small, small world.
I love you, Dad.
Safe travels.
 
In honor of his passing, a song which still touches my heart today...




If you have a moment, click on the link above, you'll be amazed how many songs you know...

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountain green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

Until recently I don't believe I had ever heard this English Hymn. The words caught in my imagination and I just had to know the history behind them. 

Come to find out, the first line "And did those feet in ancient time" is the title of a short poem written in 1804 by William Blake, the beloved English poet. It is found in the preface to his epic Milton a Poem. The poem Jerusalem became a hymn in 1916 when Sir Hubert Parry wrote the music.

Blake's poem was inspired by a legend that Jesus, as a young person (during the "lost" years), accompanied  his uncle (or family friend) Joseph of Arimathea, to the area that is now England and visited Glastonbury. The legend is linked to Revelation 3:12 and 21:2 which describes the Second Coming, wherein Jesus establishes a new Jerusalem.


Blake does not assert that his poem is an historical truth but lifts up his desire that such a country be created again. He had a complete distrust of materialism and the corruptive nature of power and asserts that Jesus' visit would have created "heaven" in England. Heaven would overcome the "dark Satanic Mills" of the Industrial Revolution as he believed the "mills' would destroy nature and human relationships. Many feel he saw the coming industrial ageas aa a mechanism for the enslavement of millions, surrounding the people with a physically and spiritually repressive ideology.

It has been performed by numerous artists over the years...from the traditional church hymn:


to solo performances:

to a rock version by Emerson, Lake and Palmer:


and prior to a rugby match:




As you can see, the English love this song! Can't say that I blame them...

Movie Themes

I'm sure this will (or may already) be popping up everywhere...but it was just too funny not to share. Especially for those of us who remember the original Star Wars and Darth Vadar's theme...



It's called...wait for it...The Bark Side!