Watch the Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2015

August 27, 2015

The PBS Program Great Performances has a must see concert coming tomorrow night. It's an outdoor concert from the Vienna Philharmonic and the program looks great. Here's a peek:

Richard Strauss
Wiener Philharmoniker Fanfare op. 109

Edvard Grieg
Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 16 (Buchbinder soloist)

Alfred Grünfeldt
Soirée de Vienne (Buchbinder)

Christian Sinding
Rustle of Spring, op. 32, Nr. 3

Edvard Grieg
Peer-Gynt-Suite Nr. 1, op. 46

Jean Sibelius
Finlandia, Tondichtung op. 26/7

Hans Christian Lumbye
Copenhagener Eisenbahn Dampf Galopp

Johann Strauss II
Wiener Blut, “Viennese Spirit” Waltz

Finlandia and other gems are always great from this orchestra. More than anything else though, we want to hear the Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare. This is an awesome piece written for this orchestra and it's awesome every time they play it. To be clear, if any orchestra within 100 miles plays this, we would go see it. If you only have 5 minutes on Friday night, be sure to watch this piece open the concert.

To give a preview, here's a video someone grabbed of the Vienna Philharmonic brass section playing the fanfare at a ball in 2011. It's like the tuba is going to peel paint off the wall ans it is glorious.

What are you thinking forward to on this program? Tell us in the comments.

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The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on Amazon

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Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare on Sheet Music Plus

See the LA Philharmonic in 3D

August 26, 2015

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has an interesting project coming up that piqued our interest. Van Beethoven, which is not a band your dad was into in the 70s, is a virtual reality experience with the LA Philharmonic.

The experience will be offered in different locations in the LA area from September 29-October 13. The orchestra bills it like this on their website

“VAN Beethoven is a 4-minute virtual reality experience using new Oculus technology that allows you to experience a private concert with the LA Phil from our specially-designed touring truck, which is complete with authentic carpet and seating from Walt Disney Concert Hall. You’ll put on the headset and immediately be transported to Walt Disney Concert Hall to experience the opening minutes of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, with a few surprises.”

There's a number of things that intrigued us about this. First, the use of Oculus Rift stands out. Oculus Rift is virtual reality headset that Facebook bought some time ago. It's widely regarded as the best virtual reality out there, so far at least. To out knowledge, this is the most prominent use of the technology within this type of setting.

Over at PSFK, there's some pictures of the rig used to capture the recording. If it works as advertised, you'll be able to move your head around and change your viewing perspective of the orchestra.

The next thing that stood out to us is the use of binaural audio to record the orchestra. If you're not familiar with the concept, see the video below for a good explanation. If it works as advertised, when you move, the visual perspective as well as what you hear will change with your movements like in the actual concert hall. Binaural Audio has some drawbacks for recorded music, but the pairing with this setting it especially intriguing.

Will this work? It's hard to tell. It it does "work", it's only a 4 minute experience. There was undoubtedly conversations that broke out around the phonograph and what it meant for the live concert experience. We don't think anything ever replaces the live concert experience, but it could be fun to see them try. When we see Beethoven's 5th we always sit up in the seat during the 4th movement. Would it be the same sitting up with a virtual reality headset on?

We collaborated with the talented @GustavoDudamel and @LAPhil to bring Beethoven to #VR: http://t.co/DGbBerbs6f pic.twitter.com/fbArhfuQGe
— Secret Location (@secretlocation) August 6, 2015

Would you watch a concert through virtual reality? Tell us in the comments.

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The Los Angeles Philharmonic on Amazon

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Previewing the Chicago Symphony 2015-2016 Season

August 25, 2015

A photo posted by Chicago Symphony Orchestra (@chicagosymphony) on Aug 6, 2015 at 7:19am PDT

The Chicago Symphony's season starts soon. We take a look below at we're looking forward to this season. The National Brass Ensemble has a concert on the schedule in September. What better way to start the year?

Christopher Martin will perform the Haydn Trumpet Concerto in October. This is one not to be missed. Also, the CSO will perform Alan Silvestri's score from Back to the Future. Now, on the future.

Symphony #5-Beethoven

Symphony #1-Mahler

Pictures at an Exhibition-Mussorgsky (Ravel)

National Bras Ensemble Concert-Various

Espana-Chabrier

Bolero-Ravel

Concert Music for Brass and String Orchestra-Hindemith

Trumpet Concerto-Haydn

On the Waterfront-Bernstein

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story-Bernstein

Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks-Strauss

Rhapsody in Blue-Gershwin

Symphony #7-Dvorak

Score from Home Alone-Williams

Chicago Symphony Brass-Various

Ein Heldenleben-Strauss

Symphonies #1 and #15-Shostakovich

Score from Back to the Future-Silvestri

Symphony #2-Sibelius

Sheherezade-Rimsky-Korsakov

An Alpine Symphony-Strauss

Enigma Variations-Elgar

The Sorcerer's Apprentice-Dukas

The Firebird-Stravinsky

The Planets-Holst

Score from Raiders of the Lost Ark-Williams

What are you looking forward to in the CSO's year ahead? Tell us in the comments.

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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Amazon

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra on iTunes

Film Score Friday: The Magnificent Seven

August 21, 2015

The Magnificent Seven

Starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn

Buy on Amazon

The Magnificent Seven debuted in 1960 with what we now consider iconic actors and iconic music. When we watch the story, you see very familiar themes of an unlikely band of rough characters coming to train townspeople to fight oppressors. It's familiar because this movie did it first and movies have copied the winning formula for decades. The same kind of ground was broken with the score.

Most of the movie takes place in Mexico and this certainly comes out in parts of the score. Elmer Bernstein set a standard here not just for westerns, but for how programmatic music can add so much to the highs and lows of a movie. Fun fact: John Williams (yes, that John Williams) played in the orchestra when this was recorded.

How magnificent do think this score is?

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Today's Inspiration for practicing your Trombone

August 20, 2015

You should go practice. Your should go practice and be glad to do it. Listen to Hector Berlioz.

“In my opinion, the trombone is the true head of the family of wind instruments, which I have named the ‘epic’ one. It possesses nobility and grandeur to the highest degree; it has all the serious and powerful tones of sublime musical poetry, from religious, calm and imposing accents to savage, orgiastic outburst. Directed by the will of the master, the trombones can chant like a choir of priests, threaten, utter gloomy sighs, a mournful lament, or a bright hymn of glory; they can break forth into awe-inspiring cries and awaken the dead or doom the living with their fearful voices.”

— Hector Berlioz

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Previewing the Philadelphia Orchestra 2015-2016 Season

August 19, 2015

A photo posted by The Philadelphia Orchestra (@thephiladelphiaorchestra) on Aug 15, 2015 at 6:58pm PDT

We're looking forward to the Philadelphia Orchestra's season. There's lots to look forward to including a children's concert with Blair Bollinger. All children should learn about the Bass Trombone, right?

Don Juan-Strauss

Bolero-Ravel

Pixar in Concert-Various

Symphony #3-Beethoven

The Planets-Holst

Symphony #5-Beethoven

Symphony #3-Brahms

Music from Fantasia-Various

Rhapsody in Blue-Gershwin

Symphony #5-Shostakovich

Finlandia-Sibelius

Appalachian Spring-Copland

The Firebird-Stravinksy

Symphony #6-Tchaikovsky

Symphony #4-Bruckner

Overture to the School for Scandal-Barber

Symphony #7-Dvorak

Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra-Britten

Symphony #8-Mahler

An American in Paris-Gershwin

Sound all Around Brass-Children's concert with Blair Bollinger

Symphony #7-Prokofiev

Various Film Works-John Williams

What are you looking forward to the upcoming season? Tell us in the comments.

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Philadelphia Orchestra on iTunes

Philadelphia Orchestra on Amazon

iTunes is evil. A necessary evil, but still evil. You can say many great things about many of Apple's products, but that same affection does not extend to iTunes. It's hard to manage your music library on Apple devices without out those in the iPhon… — iTunes is evil. A necessary evil, but still evil. You can say many great things about many of Apple's products, but that same affection does not extend to iTunes. It's hard to manage your music library on Apple devices without out those in the iPhone etc. crowd have to cope with it. It's particularly challenging with classical and to a certain extent Jazz as well. iTunes has a hard time reconciling the same "song" across different artists.
The folks over at Macworld wrote a pretty good guide on how to manage your library in the iTunes world and minimize headaches. Note that we said minimize, not eliminate. The best thing you can do is have a system when tagging things in iTunes and stick to it. Hopefully, Apple will get it together someday and fix the problem for people like us who want to have 19 different recordings of Fanfare for the Common Man.
Tells us in the comments how you manage your library.
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*Apple Music: The Ultimate Guide* on iTunes
*Take Control of iTunes 12* on Amazon

Organizing your music in iTunes

August 18, 2015

Tuba in the park

August 17, 2015

We love the idea of a Brass Band playing a summer concert in the park. What could be better?

This is from a concert the Brass Band of Central Illinois did recently. It's a nice arrangement of Czardas for Tuba and everyone seems to be having a good time. Enjoy!

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Czardas for Tuba from Sheet Music Plus

Film Score Friday: Star Trek First Contact

August 14, 2015

Star Trek: First Contact (Complete Motion Picture Score)

GNP Crescendo Records

Buy on Amazon

This week on Film Score Friday we take a listen to the 1996's Star Trek: First Contact.

Star Trek movies had a stigma for many years of only being good if it was even numbered in terms of release order. Even some of the odd numbered lower quality films have had great scores. Star Trek: First Contact has the good fortune of being even-numbered as well as having a great score.

Jerry Goldsmith wrote the score with assistance from his son Joel. Goldsmith brought back and expanded his signature theme from the original Star Trek film. He goes beyond that though and created some great new material for this score that blends with the movie extremely well. Our favorite part is the sweeping lyrical theme that gives the horns a chance to shine.

Tell us in the comments which parts you think came Jerry or Joel.

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Star Trek: First Contact on Amazon

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Sackbut from Festival de Saintes

August 13, 2015

We came across this concert from the Festival de Saintes in France. The embed video above is the requiem of Johann Joseph Fux with some excellent Sackbut. There's some great period instrument work throughout from Cornetto and Sackbuts. You can enjoy the entire concert here.

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A tribute to Clark Terry in Chicago

August 12, 2015

It's been nice to see all the tributes to Clark Terry this year. Marques Carroll devoted a set to the departed legend last night. Check it out.

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Clark Terry on iTunes

Previewing the Cleveland Orchestra 2015-2016 Season

August 11, 2015

The 2015-2016 season for the Cleveland Orchestra begins soon. Here's some things we're looking forward to hearing.

An Alpine Symphony-Strauss

Symphony #3-Mahler

Also Sprach Zarathustra-Strauss

Symphony Fantastique-Berlioz

Symphony #4-Shostakovich

Symphony #7-Dvorak

Symphony #4-Nielsen

Symphony #6-Bruckner

Excerpts from Gotterdammerung-Wagner

Symphony #3-Beethoven

Ein Heldenleben-Strauss

What are you looking forward to in Cleveland this year? Let us know in the comments.

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Cleveland Orchestra on Amazon

Cleveland Orchestra on iTunes

Columbia House has finally closed shop

August 10, 2015

If you're a music fan of a certain age, you either gave some money to Columbia House or got endless junk mail from them. Before Apple Music and Spotify, this was the best known music subscription service. The Verge has a pretty good piece on their rise and fall.

Arturo Sandoval turned away from Crimea

August 10, 2015

“Turns out art and music aren’t beyond politics anymore, especially when we’re talking about Crimea. A number of great contemporary jazz musicians were forced to cancel their performances at the Koktebel Jazz Festival in Russia’s Crimea, said Dmitry Kiselyov, one of the festival founders.”

”

— sputniknews.com

Arturo Sandoval, among others, was scheduled to perform and the Koktebel Jazz Festival in Crimea. Read more at sputniknews.com

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Wynton Marsalis Septet streaming live from the Marciac Jazz Festival

August 8, 2015

The Wynton Marsalis Setpet will play at the Marciac Jazz Festival tonight and they're streaming it. Check it out and enjoy the show starting at 5 Eastern Time.

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Wynton Marsalis Septet on Amazon

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Mister Rogers Visits The Empire Brass Quintet

August 7, 2015

The Fred Rogers Company has a great video from a long time ago with the Empire Brass. Mr. Rogers does a quick interview with the Empire Brass and they a piece called Central Park Morning. It's short, but it's a good time. Plus, David Ohanian's hair is awesome.

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Central Park Morning on Sheet Music Plus

Empire Brass on Amazon

Empire Brass on iTunes

Film Score Friday: The Rocketeer

August 7, 2015

This week on Film Score Friday we take a look at the Rocketeer. The film prmiered in 1991 with a score from James Horner

Here's an interview with Horner about composing for the film. He shares that for the 108 minute film he wrote 100 minutes worth of music. If that wasn't surprising enough, he then says that he wrote the whole score in just over 2 weeks.

“The music is like rocket fuel”

— James Horner

It's a seriously underrated movie, but the score is fantastic. The movie is set in the 1930s and Horner hits all the right notes with the tone. Tell us what you think of the Rocketeer in the comments.

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The Rocketeer on iTunes

The Rocketeer on Amazon

Check out etudes on Auditionsolos.com-They're Free

August 6, 2015

Brad Edwards has a new project called Auditionsolo.com. They have a number of etudes available in pdf form as free downloads. They're arranged by difficulty and instrument. Edwards is using a freemium model for this which is a great approach. You get the etude for free and then have the option to buys what he calls a "practice pack." The add ons include duet parts, practice tips, and practice exercises.

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Brad Edwards on Amazon

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John Williams Celebration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic

August 6, 2015

PBS posted a concert from last season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic that's worth your time. It features music and interviews from John Williams. It's a great concert with some of your favorites, but some good tidbits and Williams' upbringing and career. The concert is also available on Amazon and iTunes. Enjoy!

“Film cannot live without music”

— John Williams

What's your favorite piece on this program? Let us know in the comments

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A John Williams Celebration on Amazon

A John Williams Celebration on iTunes

Learn from Brian Shook

August 5, 2015

Brian Shook has been busy lately uploading lots of new videos to his YouTube Channel. He's put some good variety up including parts of the horn, maintenance, and some basic technique ideas.

Here's a good one about the components of a mouthpiece and what should go into choosing one.

Let us know what you think about his mouthpiece explanation in the comments.

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