The prism is an aluminum cube, small enough to fit in your palm. It was designed by Jaar as a new medium for releasing music. This first release – CSA001 – features twelve (mostly) unreleased songs from Jaar and other Clown & Sunset collaborators.

The prism is a piece of art in and of itself; its contents beg to be shared. Twin headphone outlets encourage connections to the object and between the two listeners. The prism tries to restore physicality to the listening experience.

Via (Clown & Sunset)

Read More about the Prism HERE

CSA001 – The Prism from CSA on Vimeo.

Check out this article on Jaar at the Guardian LINK

Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd is also notable for his influential role in the early career of renowned keyboard player and composer Herbie Hancock.

Early life & career

Byrd attended Cass Technical High School. He performed with Lionel Hampton before finishing high school. After playing in a military band during a term in the United States Air Force, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in music from Wayne State University and a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. While still at the Manhattan School, he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as replacement for Clifford Brown. In 1955, he recorded with Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron. After leaving the Jazz Messengers in 1956, he performed with many leading jazz musicians of the day, including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, and later Herbie Hancock. Byrd’s first regular group was a quintet that he co-led from 1958-61 with baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, an ensemble whose hard-driving performances are captured “live” on At the Half Note Cafe.

Byrd’s 1961 LP Royal Flush marked the Blue Note debut for Herbie Hancock, who came to wider attention with Byrd’s successful 1962 album Free Form, and these albums also featured the first recordings of Hancock’s original compositions. Hancock has credited Byrd as a key influence in his early career, recounting that he took the young pianist “under his wings” when he was a struggling musician newly arrived in New York, even letting him sleep on a hide-a-bed in his Bronx apartment for several years:

“He was the first person to let me be a permanent member of an internationally known band. He has always nurtured and encouraged young musicians. He’s a born educator, it seems to be in his blood, and he really tried to encourage the development of creativity.”
Hancock also recalled that Byrd helped him in many other ways: he encouraged Hancock to make his debut album for Blue Note, connected him with Mongo Santamaria, who turned Hancock’s tune “Watermelon Man” into a chart-topping hit, and that Byrd also later urged him to accept Miles Davis’ offer to join his quintet.

Hancock also credits Byrd with giving him one of the most important pieces of advice of his career – not to give away his publishing. When Blue Note offered Hancock the chance to record his first solo LP, label executives tried to convince him to relinquish his publishing in exchange for being able to record the album, but he stuck to Byrd’s advice and refused, so the meeting came to an impasse. At this point, he stood up to leave, but when it became clear that he was about to walk out, the executives relented and allowed him to retain his publishing. Thanks to Santamaria’s subsequent hit cover version of “Watermelon Man”, Hancock was soon receiving substantial royalties, and he used his first royalty check of $3000 to buy his first car, a 1963 Shelby Cobra (also recommended by Byrd) which Hancock still owns, and which is now the oldest production Cobra still in its original owner’s hands.

In June 1964, Byrd played with Eric Dolphy in Paris just two weeks before Dolphy’s death from insulin shock.

Electric Byrd

By 1969′s Fancy Free, Byrd was moving away from the hard-bop jazz idiom and began to record jazz fusion and rhythm and blues. He teamed up with the Mizell Brothers (producer-writers Larry and Fonce) for Black Byrd (1973) which was, for many years, Blue Note’s best-selling album. The title track climbed to No. 19 on Billboard′s R&B chart and reached the Hot 100 pop chart, peaking at No. 88. The Mizell brothers’ follow-up albums for Byrd, Street Lady, Places and Spaces and Stepping into Tomorrow, were also big sellers, and have subsequently provided a rich source of samples for acid jazz artists such as Us3. Most of the material for the albums was written by Larry Mizell. In 1973, he helped to establish and co-produce The Blackbyrds, a fusion group consisting of then-student musicians from Howard University. They scored several major hits including “Happy Music” (No. 3 R&B, No. 19 pop), “Walking In Rhythm” (No. 4 R&B, No. 6 pop) and “Rock Creek Park”.

During his tenure at North Carolina Central University during the 1980s, he formed a group which included students from the college called the “125th St NYC Band”. They recorded the Love Byrd album, which featured Isaac Hayes on drums. “Love Has Come Around” became a disco hit in the UK and reached #41 on the charts.

He taught at Rutgers University, the Hampton Institute, New York University, Howard University, Queens College, Oberlin College, Cornell University, North Carolina Central University and Delaware State University. In addition to his master’s from Manhattan School of Music, Byrd had two master’s degrees from Columbia University. He received a law degree in 1976, and his doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College in 1982. Byrd returned to somewhat straight-ahead jazz later in his career, releasing four albums for Orrin Keepnews’ Landmark Records and his final album Touchstone, a quintet.

Byrd lived in Teaneck, New Jersey until his death on February 4, 2013 at the age of 80.

Discography

As leader

Blue Note Records
Off to the Races (1959)
Byrd in Hand (1959)
Fuego (1959)
Byrd in Flight (1960)
At the Half Note Cafe (1960)
Chant (1961)
The Cat Walk (1961)
Royal Flush (1961)
Free Form (1961)
A New Perspective (1963)
I’m Tryin’ to Get Home (1964)
Mustang (1966)
Blackjack (1967)
Slow Drag (1967)
The Creeper (1967)
Fancy Free (1969)
Electric Byrd (1969–70)
Kofi (1969)
Ethiopian Knights (1971)
Black Byrd (1973)
Street Lady (1973)
Stepping into Tomorrow (1974)
Places and Spaces (1975)
Caricatures (1976)
Landmark Records
Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes (1983)
Harlem Blues (1987)
Getting Down to Business (1989)
A City Called Heaven (1991)
Transition Records
Byrd Jazz (1955) – also released as First Flight (Delmark)
Byrd’s Eye View (1955)
Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill (1956)
The Transition Sessions (2002 compilation)
Verve Records
At Newport (1957) – with Gigi Gryce
Up with Donald Byrd (1964)
Columbia Records
Jazz Lab (1957) – with Gigi Gryce
Modern Jazz Perspective (1957) – with Gigi Gryce and Jackie Paris
Prestige Records
2 Trumpets (1956) – with Art Farmer
The Young Bloods (1956) – with Phil Woods
Other labels
Byrd’s Word (Savoy, 1955)
Jazz Eyes (Regent, 1957) – with John Jenkins
Live Au Chat Qui Peche (1958), Fresh Sound
Jazz in Paris: Parisian Thoroughfare (1958) Gitanes
Jazz in Paris: Byrd in Paris (1958) Gitanes
Motor City Scene – with Pepper Adams (1960) Bethlehem
Thank You… for F.U.M.L. (Funking Up My Life) (1978), Elektra
Love Byrd (1981), Elektra
Touchstone (2000) Pepper Adams, Herbie Hancock, Teddy Charles, Jimmy Cobb
[edit]As sideman
1955 Kenny Clarke – Bohemia After Dark
1955 Cannonball Adderley – Discoveries
1955 Oscar Pettiford – Another One
1955 Hank Jones – Quartet-Quintet
1955 Hank Jones – Bluebird – one track only
1955 Ernie Wilkins – Top Brass
1956 George Wallington – Jazz for the Carriage Trade
1956 Jackie McLean – Lights Out!
1956 Hank Mobley – The Jazz Message of Hank Mobley
1956 Kenny Clarke – Klook’s Clique
1956 Art Blakey – The Jazz Messengers
1956 Rita Reys – The Cool Voice of Rita Reys
1956 Elmo Hope – Informal Jazz
1956 Phil Woods – Pairing Off
1956 Jackie McLean – 4, 5 and 6
1956 Gene Ammons – Jammin’ with Gene
1956 Horace Silver – Silver’s Blue
1956 Hank Mobley – Mobley’s Message
1956 Hank Mobley – Jazz Message No. 2
1956 Art Farmer – 2 Trumpets
1956 Paul Chambers – Whims of Chambers
1956 Phil Woods/Donald Byrd – The Young Bloods
1956 Horace Silver – 6 Pieces of Silver
1956 Hank Mobley – Hank Mobley Sextet
1956 Doug Watkins – Watkins at Larg]
1956 Sonny Rollins – Sonny Rollins, Vol. 1
1956 Kenny Burrell – All Night Long
1957 Kenny Burrell – All Day Long
1957 Gigi Gryce/Donald Byrd – Jazz Lab
1957 Art Farmer/Donald Byrd/Idrees Sulieman – Three Trumpets
1957 Lou Donaldson – Wailing with Lou
1957 Jimmy Smith – A Date with Jimmy Smith Volume One
1957 Art Taylor – Taylor’s Wailers
1957 Gigi Gryce – Gigi Gryce and the Jazz Lab Quintet
1957 George Wallington – The New York Scene
1957 Various Artists – American Jazzmen Play Andre Hodeir’s Essais
1957 Kenny Burrell/Jimmy Raney – 2 Guitars
1957 Kenny Drew – This Is New (Riverside)
1957 Hank Mobley – Hank
1957 Paul Chambers – Paul Chambers Quintet
1957 The Gigi Gryce/Donald Byrd Jazz Lab – At Newport – One side of LP which also features Cecil Taylor
1957 Gigi Gryce/Donald Byrd – New Formulas from the Jazz Lab
1957 Gigi Gryce/Donald Byrd – Modern Jazz Perspective
1957 Sonny Clark – Sonny’s Crib
1957 John Jenkins – Star Eyes
1957 Oscar Pettiford – Winner’s Circle
1957 George Wallington – Jazz at Hotchkiss
1957 Red Garland – All Mornin’ Long
1957 Red Garland – Soul Junction
1957 Red Garland – High Pressure
1957 Lou Donaldson – Lou Takes Off
1958 John Coltrane – Lush Life – one track only
1958 John Coltrane – The Believer – two tracks
1958 John Coltrane – The Last Trane – two tracks
1958 Johnny Griffin – Johnny Griffin Sextet
1958 Pepper Adams – 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot (Riverside)
1958 John Coltrane – Black Pearls
1958 Michel Legrand – Legrand Jazz
1958 Dizzy Reece – Blues in Trinity
1958 Art Blakey – Holiday for Skins
1958 Jim Timmens – Gilbert and Sullivan Revisited
1959 Mundell Lowe – TV Action Jazz!
1959 Jackie McLean – Jackie’s Bag
1959 Thelonious Monk – The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall
1959 Chris Connor – Ballads of the Sad Cafe
1959 Sonny Clark – My Conception
1959 Manny Albam/Teo Macero – Something New, Something Blue
1959 Jackie McLean – Vertigo
1959 Jackie McLean – New Soil
1959 Walter Davis Jr. – Davis Cup
1961 Pepper Adams – Out of This World
1962 Duke Pearson – Hush!
1963 Hank Mobley – No Room for Squares
1963 Hank Mobley – Straight No Filter – released 1986
1963 Hank Mobley – The Turnaround
1963 Jimmy Heath – Swamp Seed
1963 Herbie Hancock – My Point of View
1964 Eric Dolphy – Naima
1964 Eric Dolphy – Last Recordings / Unrealized Tapes
1964 Dexter Gordon – One Flight Up
1964 Cal Tjader – Soul Sauce
1964 Solomon Ilori – African High Life
1964 Duke Pearson – Wahoo!
1965 Dexter Gordon – Ladybird
1965 Wes Montgomery – Goin’ Out of My Head
1967 Stanley Turrentine – A Bluish Bag
1967 Sam Rivers – Dimensions & Extensions
1967 Hank Mobley – Far Away Lands
1977 Gene Harris – Tone Tantrum
1978 Sonny Rollins – Don’t Stop the Carnival
1993 Guru – Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1
1994 Various – Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool
1995 Guru – Guru’s Jazzmatazz, Vol. 2: The New Reality
1995 Ahmad Jamal – Big Byrd: The Essence Part 2

Anna Pavlova (Russian: А́нна Па́влова; February 12 [O.S. January 31] 1881 – January 23, 1931) was a Russian Empire ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th century. She is widely regarded as one of the finest classical ballet dancers in history and was most noted as a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognised for the creation of the role The Dying Swan and, with her own company, became the first ballerina to tour ballet around the world.

Her mother was a laundress named Lyubov Feodorovna. The identity of her father is open to debate. Pavlova stated her father died when she was two years old. Some sources, including The Saint Petersburg Gazette, state that her biological father was the Jewish Russian banker Lazar Polyakov. Her mother’s second husband, Matvey Pavlov, is believed to have adopted her at the age of three, by which she acquired his last name.

Pavlova’s passion for the art of ballet was ignited when her mother took her to a performance of Marius Petipa’s original production of The Sleeping Beauty at the Imperial Maryinsky Theater. The lavish spectacle made an impression on Pavlova. At the age of nine, her mother took her to audition for the renowned Imperial Ballet School. Because of her youth, and what was considered her “sickly” appearance, she was not chosen. In 1891, she was finally accepted at the age of 10. She appeared for the first time on stage in Marius Petipa’s Un conte de fées (A Fairy Tale), which the ballet master staged for the students of the school.

Young Pavlova’s years of training were difficult. Classical ballet did not come easily to her. Her severely arched feet, thin ankles, and long limbs clashed with the small and compact body in favour for the ballerina at the time. Her fellow students taunted her with such nicknames as The broom and La petite sauvage (The little savage). Undeterred, Pavlova trained to improve her technique. She took extra lessons from the noted teachers of the day — Christian Johansson, Pavel Gerdt, Nikolai Legat — and from Enrico Cecchetti, considered the greatest ballet virtuoso of the time and founder of the Cecchetti method, a very influential ballet technique used to this day. In 1898, she entered the classe de perfection of Ekaterina Vazem, former Prima ballerina of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatres.

During her final year at the Imperial Ballet School, she performed many roles with the principal company. She graduated in 1899 at age 18, chosen to enter the Imperial Ballet a rank ahead of corps de ballet as a coryphée. She made her official début at the Mariinsky Theatre in Pavel Gerdt’s Les Dryades prétendues (The False Dryads). Her performance drew praise from the critics, particularly the great critic and historian Nikolai Bezobrazov.

Career

At the height of Petipa’s strict academicism , the public was taken aback by Pavlova’s style, a combination of a gift that paid little heed to academic rules: she frequently performed with bent knees, bad turnout, misplaced port de bras and incorrectly placed tours. Such a style in many ways harked back to the time of the romantic ballet and the great ballerinas of old.

Pavlova performed in various classical variations, pas de deux and pas de trois in such ballets as La Camargo, Le Roi Candaule, Marcobomba and The Sleeping Beauty. Her enthusiasm often led her astray: once during a performance as the River Thames in Petipa’s The Pharaoh’s Daughter her energetic double pique turns led her to lose her balance, and she ended up falling into the prompter’s box. Her weak ankles led to difficulty while performing as the fairy Candide in Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty, leading the ballerina to revise the fairy’s jumps en pointe, much to the surprise of the Ballet Master. She tried desperately to imitate the renowned Pierina Legnani, Prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Theaters. Once during class she attempted Legnani’s famous fouettés, causing her teacher Pavel Gerdt to fly into a rage. He told her to

… leave acrobatics to others. It is positively more than I can bear to see the pressure such steps put on your delicate muscles and the severe arch of your foot. I beg you to never again try to imitate those who are physically stronger than you. You must realize that your daintiness and fragility are your greatest assets. You should always do the kind of dancing which brings out your own rare qualities instead of trying to win praise by mere acrobatic tricks.

Pavlova rose through the ranks quickly, becoming a favorite of the old maestro Petipa. It was from Petipa himself that Pavlova learned the title role in Paquita, Princess Aspicia in The Pharaoh’s Daughter, Queen Nisia in Le Roi Candaule, and Giselle. She was named danseuse in 1902, première danseuse in 1905, and finally prima ballerina in 1906 after a resounding performance in Giselle. Petipa revised many grand pas for her, as well as many supplemental variations. She was much celebrated by the fanatical balletomanes of Tsarist Saint Petersburg, her legions of fans calling themselves the Pavlovatzi.

When the ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska was pregnant in 1901, she coached Pavlova in the role of Nikya in La Bayadère. Kschessinska, not wanting to be upstaged, was certain Pavlova would fail in the role, as she was considered technically inferior because of her small ankles and lithe legs. Instead audiences became enchanted with Pavlova and her frail, ethereal look, which fitted the role perfectly, particularly in the scene The Kingdom of the Shades.

Anna Pavlova in the Fokine/Saint-Saëns The Dying Swan, Saint Petersburg, 1905
Her feet were extremely rigid, so she strengthened her pointe shoe by adding a piece of hard wood on the soles for support and curving the box of the shoe. At the time, many considered this “cheating”, for a ballerina of the era was taught that she, not her shoes, must hold her weight en pointe. In Pavlova’s case this was extremely difficult, as the shape of her feet required her to balance her weight on her little toes. Her solution became, over time, the precursor of the modern pointe shoe, as pointe work became less painful and easier for curved feet. According to Margot Fonteyn’s biography, Pavlova did not like the way her invention looked in photographs, so she would remove it or have the photographs altered so that it appeared she was using a normal pointe shoe.

Pavlova is perhaps most renowned for creating the role of The Dying Swan, a solo choreographed for her by Michel Fokine. The ballet, created in 1905, is danced to Le cygne from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.

In the first years of the Ballets Russes, Pavlova worked briefly for Sergei Diaghilev. Originally she was to dance the lead in Mikhail Fokine’s The Firebird, but refused the part, as she could not come to terms with Igor Stravinsky’s avant-garde score, and the role was given to Tamara Karsavina. All her life Pavlova preferred the melodious “musique dansante” of the old maestros such as Cesare Pugni and Ludwig Minkus, and cared little for anything else which strayed from the salon-style ballet music of the 19th century.

By the early 20th century she had founded her own company and performed throughout the world, with a repertory consisting primarily of abridgements of Petipa’s works, and specially choreographed pieces for herself. Members of her company included Kathleen Crofton. The ballet writer Cyril Johnson said that “her bourrées were like a string of pearls”.

England

After leaving Russia, Pavlova moved to London, England, settling, in 1912, at the Ivy House on North End Road, Golders Green, north of Hampstead Heath, where she lived for the rest of her life. The house had an ornamental lake where she fed her pet swans, and where now stands a statue of her by the Scots sculptor George Henry Paulin. The house was featured in the film “Anna Pavlova”. It is now the London Jewish Cultural Centre, but a blue plaque marks it as a site of significant historical interest being Pavlova’s home. While in London, Pavlova was influential in the development of British ballet, most notably inspiring the career of Alicia Markova. The Gate pub, located on the border of Arkley and Totteridge (London Borough of Barnet), has a story, framed on its walls, describing a visit by Pavlova and her dance company.

Pavlova was introduced to audiences in the United States by Max Rabinoff during his time as managing director of the Boston Grand Opera Company from 1914 to 1917 and was featured there with her Russian Ballet Company during that period.

Personal life

Victor Dandré, her manager and companion, may have been her husband (she deliberately clouded this issue).

Death

While touring in The Hague, Pavlova was told that she had pneumonia and required an operation. She was also told that she would never be able to dance again if she went ahead with it. She refused to have the surgery, saying “If I can’t dance then I’d rather be dead.” She died of pleurisy, three weeks short of her 50th birthday. She was holding her costume from The Dying Swan when she spoke her last words, “Play the last measure very softly.” Her death came in the Hotel Des Indes in The Hague, which displays a wall plaque and has a cigar lounge named the Anna Pavlova Library in her memory.

In accordance with old ballet tradition, on the day she was to have next performed, the show went on as scheduled, with a single spotlight circling an empty stage where she would have been. Memorial services were held in the Russian Orthodox Church in London. Anna Pavlova was cremated, and her ashes placed in a columbarium at Golders Green Crematorium, where her urn was subsequently adorned with her ballet shoes (which since then have been stolen).

Pavlova’s ashes have been a source of much controversy, following attempts by Valentina Zhilenkova and Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, to have them flown to Moscow for interment in the Novodevichy Cemetery. These attempts were based on claims that it was Pavlova’s dying wish that her ashes be returned to Russia following the fall of Communism. These claims were later found to be false, as there is no evidence to suggest that this was her wish at all. The only documentary evidence that suggests that such a move would be possible is in the will of Pavlova’s husband, who stipulated that if Russian authorities agreed to such a move and treated her remains with proper reverence, then the crematorium caretakers should agree to it. Despite this clause, the will does not contain a formal request or plans for a posthumous journey to Russia.

The most recent attempt to move Pavlova’s remains to Russia came in 2001. Golders Green Crematorium had made arrangements for them to be flown to Russia for interment on 14 March 2001, in a ceremony to be attended by various Russian dignitaries. This plan was later abandoned after Russian authorities withdrew permission for the move. It was later revealed that neither Pavlova’s family nor the Russian Government had sanctioned the move and that they had agreed the remains should stay in London.

Legacy

Commemorative coin, Central Bank of Russia
Pavlova inspired the choreographer Frederick Ashton when as a boy of 13 he saw her dance in the Municipal Theater in Lima, Peru.

The Pavlova dessert is believed to have been created in honour of the dancer either during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. The nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two nations for many years.

The Jarabe Tapatío, known in English as the ‘Mexican Hat Dance’, gained popularity outside of Mexico when Pavlova created a staged version in pointe shoes, for which she was showered with hats by her adoring Mexican audiences. Afterward, in 1924, the Jarabe Tapatío was proclaimed Mexico’s national dance.

She once said that the country that would produce the best ballerina in history would be the United States because of all the different cultures that came together there.

Anna Pavlova was able to complete 37 turns while on top of a moving elephant while on a tour in China.

In 1980, Igor Carl Faberge licensed a collection of 8-inch Full Lead Crystal Wine Glasses to commemorate the centenary of Anna’s birth. The glasses were crafted in Japan under the supervision of The Franklin Mint. A frosted image of Anna Pavlova appears in the stem of each glass. Originally each set contained 12 glasses.

Pavlova’s life was depicted in the 1983 film Anna Pavlova.

There are at least five memorials to Pavlova in London, England: a contemporary sculpture by Tom Merrifield of Pavlova as the Dragonfly in the grounds of Ivy House, a sculpture by Scot George Henry Paulin in the middle of the Ivy House pond, a blue plaque on the front of Ivy House, a statuette sitting with the urn that holds her ashes in Golders Green Crematorium, and the gilded statue atop the Victoria Palace Theatre.

When the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, England, opened in 1911, a gilded statue of Pavlova had been installed above the cupola of the theatre. This was taken down for its safety during World War II and was lost. In 2006, a replica of the original statue was restored in its place.

A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 of the Dutch airlines “KLM – Royal Dutch Airlines”, built at 1995-8-31, with the registration “PH-KCH” carries her name.

Michel Jean Legrand (born 24 February 1932) is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist. His father Raymond Legrand was a conductor and composer renowned for hits such as Irma la douce and his mother, Marcelle Der Mikaëlian (sister of conductor Jacques Hélian), who married Legrand Senior in 1929, was descended from the Armenian bourgeoisie.

Legrand is a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores in addition to many memorable songs. He is best known for his often haunting film music and scores, such as The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) featuring the song “The Windmills of Your Mind” for which he won his first Academy Award.

Career

Legrand has composed more than two hundred film and television scores and several musicals and has made well over a hundred albums. He has won three Oscars (out of 13 nominations) and five Grammys and has been nominated for an Emmy. He was twenty-two when his first album, I Love Paris, became one of the best-selling instrumental albums ever released. He is a virtuoso jazz and classical pianist and an accomplished arranger and conductor who performs with orchestras all over the world.

He studied music at the Paris Conservatoire from 1943-50 (ages 11–18), working with, among others, Nadia Boulanger, who also taught many other composers, including Aaron Copland and Philip Glass, and Ástor Piazzolla. Legrand graduated with top honors as both a composer and a pianist.

Jazz recordings

Legrand has also contributed significant work in jazz. While on a visit to the U.S. in 1958, Legrand collaborated with such musicians as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Phil Woods, Ben Webster, Hank Jones, and Art Farmer in an album of inventive orchestrations of jazz standards titled Legrand Jazz. The following year, back in Paris with bassist Guy Pedersen and percussionist Gus Wallez, he recorded an album of Paris-themed songs arranged for jazz piano trio, titled Paris Jazz Piano. Nearly a decade later he recorded At Shelly’s Manne-Hole (1968), an exciting live trio session with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne, in which four of the compositions were improvised on the spot. Legrand also provided an odd scat vocal on “My Funny Valentine.” Legrand returned to his role as jazz arranger for the Stan Getz album Communications ’72 and resumed his collaboration with Phil Woods on Jazz Le Grand (1979) and After the Rain (1982); then, he collaborated with violinist Stephane Grappelli on an album in 1992. Not as well received as his earlier work in the field of jazz was a 1994 album for LaserLight titled Michel Plays Legrand. More recently, in 2002, he recorded a masterful solo jazz piano album reworking fourteen of his classic songs, Michel Legrand by Michel Legrand. His jazz piano style is virtuosic and eclectic, drawing upon such influences as Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Oscar Peterson, and Bill Evans.

A number of his songs, including “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?,” “Watch What Happens,” “The Summer Knows,” and “You Must Believe in Spring,” have become jazz standards covered frequently by other artists.

Eclecticism

During various periods of creative work, Legrand became a conductor for orchestras in St. Petersburg, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and Denver. He recorded more than one hundred albums with international musical stars (spanning the genres of jazz, variety, and classical) and worked with such diverse musicians as Phil Woods, Ray Charles, Claude Nougaro, Perry Como, Neil Diamond, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Lena Horne, James Ingram, Jack Jones, Kiri te Kanawa, Tamara Gverdciteli, Frankie Laine, Tereza Kesovija, Johnny Mathis, Jessye Norman, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Bassey, Regine Velasquez, and Natalie Dessay.

Legrand has also recorded classical piano pieces by Erik Satie and American composers such as Amy Beach, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, John Cage, and Conlon Nancarrow. He is a prolific recorder of jazz, popular and classical music albums, have released over one hundred.

His sister, Christiane Legrand, was a member of the Swingle Singers, and his niece Victoria Legrand is a member of the indie rock duo Beach House.

Film scores

Legrand is known principally as a composer of innovative music for films, composing film scores (about two hundred to date) for directors Jean-Luc Godard, Richard Brooks, Claude Lelouch, Clint Eastwood, Robert Altman, Joseph Losey, and many others. Legrand himself appears and performs in Agnès Varda’s French New Wave classic, Cleo from 5 to 7 (1961). After his songs appeared in Jacques Demy’s films The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1966), Legrand became famous worldwide. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was a sung-through musical in which all the dialogue was set to music, a revolutionary concept at the time.

Hollywood soon became interested in Legrand after The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, bombarding him with requests to compose music for films. Having begun to collaborate with Hollywood, Legrand continued to work there for many years. Among his best-known scores are those for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), which features the hit song “The Windmills of Your Mind”, and Summer of ’42 (1971), which features another hit song, “The Summer Knows.” Legrand also wrote the score for Orson Welles’s last-completed film, F for Fake (1974).

Music charts

Legrand’s instrumental version of the theme from Brian’s Song charted for eight weeks in 1972, peaking at #56.

Currently, Legrand divides his time between America and France.

Selected discography

1954 I Love Paris
1955 Holiday in Rome
1956 Castles in Spain
1957 Bonjour Paris
1957 C’est magnifique
1958 Legrand in Rio
1958 The Columbia Album of Cole Porter
1959 Paris Jazz Piano
1959 The New I Love Paris
1959 Legrand Jazz
1967 Plays for Dancers
1968 At Shelly’s Manne-Hole
1974 “Twenty Songs of the Century”
1982 After the Rain
1995 Michel Legrand Big Band

Filmography

Beau fixe (short) (1953)
Lovers Net (Les amants du Tage) (1954)
Charmants garçons (1958)
Le Triporteur (1958)
L’Amérique insolite (1958)
L’Americain se détend (1958)
Lola (1960)
Terrain vague (co-composer) (1960)
A Woman Is a Woman (Une femme est une femme) (1960)
The French Game (Le cœur battant) (1960)
Les Portes claquent (1960)
Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7) (1961)
The Seven Deadly Sins (Les Sept péchés capitaux) (co-composer) (1961)
The Winner (Un cœur gros comme ça) (1961)
Retour a New York (1962)
Comme un poisson dans l’eau (1962)
Eva (1962)
Une grosse tete (1962)
My Life to Live (Vivre sa Vie: Film en Douze Tableaux) (1962)
Bay of Angels (La baie des anges) (1962)
L’Amerique lunaire (1962)
Histoire d’un petit garcon devenu grand (1962)
Le joli mai (1962)
Illuminations (1963)
Le grand escroc (1963)
L’Empire de la nuit (1963)
Love Is a Ball (1963)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) (1964)
A Ravishing Idiot (Une ravissante idiote) (1964)
Band of Outsiders (Bande à part) (1964)
Fascinante amazonie (1964)
Les amoureux du France (1964)
La Douceur du village (1964)
A Matter of Resistance (La vie de château) (1965)
Quand passent les faisans (1965)
Tender Scoundrel (Tendre voyou) (1965)
Monnaie de singe (1965)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (Les Demoiselles de Rochefort) (1966)
Who Are You, Polly Magoo? (Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?) (1966)
The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1966)
L’an 2000 (1966)
Gold and Lead (L’or et le plomb) (1966)
A Matter of Innocence (also known as Pretty Polly) (1967)
L’homme à la Buick (1967)
How to Save a Marriage — And Ruin Your Life (1967)
Sweet November (1968)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
The Swimming Pool (La piscine) (1968)
Play Dirty (1968)
The Appointment (rejected) (1968)
Ice Station Zebra (1968)
Michel’s Mixed Up Musical Bird (1968)
Castle Keep (1969)
The Happy Ending (1969)
Picasso Summer (1969)
Pieces of Dreams (1969)
The Go-Between (1970)
The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970)
Wuthering Heights (1970)
Donkey Skin (Peau d’Âne) (1970)
The Lady in the Car With Glasses And a Gun (La dame dans l’auto avec des lunettes et un fusil) (1970)
The Married Couple of the Year Two (Les mariés de l’an II) (1971)
Summer of ’42 (1971)
Le Mans (1971)
Touch and Go (La Poudre d’escampette) (1971)
A Few Hours of Sunlight (Un Peu De Sloeil Dans L’eau Froide) (1971)
La vieille Fille (1971)
A Time for Loving (Also: Paris Was Made for Lovers) (1971)
Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
Portnoy’s Complaint (1972)
Les feux de la Chandeleur (1972)
The Impossible Object (1972)
One Is a Lonely Number (1972)
A Doll’s House (1973)
The Nelson Affair (Also: A Bequest to the Nation) (1973)
The Outside Man (Un homme est mort) (1973)
The Hostages (Le gang des otages) (1973)
Forty Carats (1973)
Cops and Robbers (1973)
Breezy (1973)
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (rejected) (1973)
The Three Musketeers (1973)
Our Time (1974)
The Four Musketeers (1974)
The Most Important Event Since Man Walked on the Moon (L’Evenement le plus important depuis que l’homme marche sur la lune) (1974)
F for Fake (1974)
Section spéciale (Special Section) (1975)
The Savage (Le sauvage) (1975)
Gulliver’s Travels (1975)
Sheila Levine is Dead — and Living in New York (1975)
Gable and Lombard (1976)
Ode to Billy Joe (1976)
Le voyage de noces (1976)
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute (La flute a six schtroumpfs) (1976)
The Other Side of Midnight (1977)
Routes to the South (Les routes du sud) (1978)
Mon premier amour (1978)
Lady Oscar (1978)
The Phoenix (1978)
Je Vous Ferai Aimer La Vie (1979)
The Fabulous Adventures of The Legendare Baron Munchhausen (Les fabuleuses aventures du légendaire Baron de Munchausen) (1979)
Atlantic City (1980)
The Hunter (1980)
The Mountain Men (1980)
Les Uns et les Autres (also known as Bolero) (1980)
Hinotori (co-composer) (1980)
Falling in Love Again (1981)
What Makes David Run? (Qu’est-ce qui fait courir David?) (1981)
La cadeau (1981)
Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1982)
Slapstick of Another Kind (1982) (1982 cut)
La revanche des humanoides (1982)
Best Friends (1982)
The Gift (1982)
Yentl (1983)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
A Love in Germany (Un amour en Allemagne) (1983)
Secret Places (1984)
Micki and Maude (1984)
Love Songs (Paroles et musique) (1984)
Palace (1985)
Partir, revenir (1985)
Train to Hell (Train d’enfer) (1985)
Parking (1985)
Crossings (1986)
Sins (1986)
Casanova (1987)
Social Club (Club de recontres) (1987)
Spirale (1987)
Switching Channels (1988)
Three Seats for the 26th (Trois places pour le 26) (1988)
Five Days in June (Cinq jours en juin) (1989)
Escape from Paradise (Fuga dal Paradiso) (1990)
Predator 2 (1990)
Dingo with Miles Davis (1991)
Gaspard et Robinson (1991)
Pure Luck (1991)
The Burning Shore (1991)
The Pickle (1993)
Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) (1994)
Angels in the Outfield (1994)
Operation Dumbo Drop (1995)
Les Enfants de Lumière (1995)
Gone Fishin’ (1997)
Aaron’s Magic Village (1997)
Madeline (1998)
Doggy Bag (1999)
Season’s Beatings (La Bûche) (1999)
The Blue Bicycle (La Bicyclette Bleue) (2000)
Cavalcade (2005)
Oscar and the Lady In Pink (Oscar Et Le Dame En Rose) (2009)

Television

Brian’s Song (1970)
Oum le Dauphin Blanc (1971)
The Adventures of Don Quixote (1973)
It’s Good To Be Alive (1974)
Cage Without a Key (1975)
Michel’s Mixed-Up Musical Bird (1977; an ABC Afterschool Special)
Once Upon a Time… Space (1982)
A Woman Named Golda (1982)
The Jesse Owens Story (1984)
Promises to Keep (1985)
As Summers Die (1986)
Once Upon a Time… Life (1987)
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1990)
La Montagna dei Diamanti (1991)
Once Upon a Time… The Discoverers (1994)
The Ring (1995)
Once Upon a Time… The Explorers (1996)

Musical theatre

Legrand composed the score for the musical Amour, which premiered in 2002 on Broadway and was translated into English by Jeremy Sams and was directed by James Lapine. This musical was his Broadway debut, and while it ran for only 17 performances and 31 previews, it garnered a loyal fan base due to its much-praised cast album on Ghostlight Records, and subsequent multiple Tony Award nominations (2003), including Best Score for Michel Legrand and Best Actress for its leading actress Melissa Errico.

Legrand continued his collaboration with Errico to the present day, appearing at such jazz venues as Dizzy’s at Lincoln Center. Though he has rarely done this for any solo artist, Michel Legrand arranged, conducted and accompanied Errico with a 100-piece symphony on her CD “Legrand Affair” (released in October 2011 on Ghostlight Records) featuring his songs, hidden French gems, as well as one new song with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The CD was produced by Phil Ramone and is featured in Ramone’s biography “Making Records.”

The world premiere of the new musical Marguerite from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, the creators of Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, included music by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer. Marguerite is set during World War II in occupied Paris, and was inspired by the romantic novel La Dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. It premiered in May 2008 at the Haymarket Theatre, London and was directed by Jonathan Kent.

Awards

Legrand has won three Oscars (out of 13 nominations), five Grammys, and has been nominated for an Emmy.

(Via Wikipedia)

LONDON — Pianists can be bells-and-whistles showmen (Lang Lang, Liberace, Liszt) or soberly remote (Sviatoslav Richter, Rachmaninoff). But by tradition they are the mavericks of the music world, who spend long hours in small rooms poring over solo repertory that turns them into either thinkers or eccentrics. Maybe both. And an example of the thinking pianist (make up your own mind about the eccentricity) is Stephen Hough, whose thoughts take center stage Monday evening in a recital at Carnegie Hall.

Read the full article HERE

__

It would be hard to find two composers more unlike each other than Mozart, the prodigious prodigy, and Bruckner, whom success eluded until he was 60. Fragments of Mozart’s unfinished opera Zaïde were found after his death; thankfully these include the exquisite soprano aria, Ruhe sanft, meine holdes Leben. The premiere of Bruckner’s grand Seventh Symphony earned a 15-minute ovation. Its plaintive adagio is a tribute to his idol Richard Wagner, who at their final meeting declared Bruckner the equal of Beethoven. (San Francisco Symphony)

Michael Tilson Thomas
San Francisco Symphony

Mozart Introduction from Zaïde
Mozart “Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben” from Zaïde
Mozart “Tiger! Wetze nur die Klauen” from Zaïde
Bruckner Symphony No. 7

Oistrakh / Philadelphia / Ormandy

Hilary Hahn

__

You can see Ida Haendel perform the piece HERE (note the tears streaming down her face at around 5:20)

__

The Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47, was written by Jean Sibelius in 1904.

History

Sibelius originally dedicated the concerto to the noted violinist Willy Burmester, who promised to play the concerto in Berlin. For financial reasons, Sibelius decided to premiere it in Helsinki, and since Burmester was unavailable to travel to Finland, Sibelius engaged Victor Novacek, a violin teacher at the Helsinki Conservatory. The initial version of the concerto premiered on 8 February 1904, with Sibelius conducting. Novacek played poorly and the premiere performance was a disaster. However, Sibelius had barely finished the concerto in time due for the premiere, most likely because of his alcoholism.

Sibelius withheld this version from publication and made substantial revisions. He deleted much material he felt did not work. The new version premiered on 19 October 1905 with Richard Strauss conducting the Berlin Court Orchestra. Sibelius was not in attendance. Willy Burmester was again asked to be the soloist, but he was again unavailable, so the performance went ahead without him, the orchestra’s leader Karel Halíř stepping into the soloist’s shoes. Burmester was so offended that he refused ever to play the concerto, and Sibelius re-dedicated it to the Hungarian “wunderkind” Ferenc von Vecsey, who was aged only 12 at the time. Vecsey championed the Sibelius concerto, first performing it when he was only 13, although he could not adequately cope with the extraordinary technical demands of the work.

The initial version was noticeably more demanding on the advanced skills of the soloist. It was unknown to the world at large until 1991, when Sibelius’s heirs permitted one live performance and one recording, on the BIS record label; both were played by Leonidas Kavakos and conducted by Osmo Vänskä. The revised version still requires a considerably high level of technical facility on the part of the soloist. The original is somewhat longer than the revised, including themes that did not survive the revision. Certain parts, like the very beginning, most of the third movement, and parts of the second, have not changed at all. The cadenza in the first movement is exactly the same for the violin part, but Sibelius employed a bass tremolo to add drama in the revision. Some of the most striking changes, particularly in the first movement, are in orchestration, with some rhythms played twice as slow.

Music

This is the only concerto that Sibelius wrote, though he composed several other smaller-scale pieces for solo instrument and orchestra, including the six Humoresques for violin and orchestra.

One noteworthy feature of the work is the way in which an extended cadenza for the soloist takes on the role of the development section in the sonata form first movement. Donald Tovey described the final movement as a “polonaise for polar bears”. However, he was not intending to be derogatory, as he went on: “In the easier and looser concerto forms invented by Mendelssohn and Schumann I have not met a more original, a more masterly, and a more exhilarating work than the Sibelius violin concerto”.

Much of the violin writing is purely virtuosic, but even the most showy passages alternate with the melodic. This concerto is generally symphonic in scope, departing completely from the often lighter, “rhythmic” accompaniments of many other concertos. The solo violin and all sections of the orchestra have equal voice in the piece.

Although the work has been described as having “broad and depressing” melodies, several brighter moments appear against what is essentially a dark melodic backdrop.

Scoring

The concerto is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and strings.

Structure

Like most concertos, the work is in three movements:

Allegro moderato in D minor and in 2/2 time
Adagio di molto in B-flat major and in 4/4 time
Allegro, ma non tanto in D major and in 3/4 time

First movement

The first movement, marked Allegro moderato, opens with a cushion of pianissimo strings pulsating gently. The soloist then enters with a characteristic IV-V-I phrase, in D minor G-A-D. The violin announces the theme and is echoed by clarinet briefly, then continues into developmental material. More low woodwind and timpani accompany the soloist in several runs. Almost cadenza-like arpeggios and double stops and more runs are accompanied by more woodwind restatements of the theme. The strings then enter brazenly for the first time, announcing a second theme. Developmental material leads to a cadenza which then opens into the recapitulation. The ‘Allegro Molto Vivace’ coda ends with restatements of past themes.

Although this movement is mainly melodic, it is still largely virtuosic. Particularly difficult passages include one where the performer must play and maintain a trill with the 1st and 2nd finger, while playing a second moving line on the next-lower string, with the 3rd and 1st fingers. Additionally, nearly the entire end is made up of octave double-stops, which poses a challenge to many players. Other challenges of this movement include very quick slides from first to seventh position (and sometimes across strings), broken chords played at very fast tempi, double-stopped sixths that must be perfectly in tune for the effect to work, and glissandi with double-stops.

Second movement

The second movement (‘Adagio di Molto’) is very lyrical. A short introduction by two clarinets leads into a singing solo part over pizzicato strings. Dissonant accompaniments by the brass dominate the first part of the song-like movement. The middle section has the solo violin playing ascending broken octaves, with the flute as the main voice of the accompaniment, playing descending notes simultaneously.

Third movement

The third movement of the Sibelius Violin Concerto (‘Allegro Ma non Tanto’, not overly fast) is widely known amongst violinists for its formidable technical difficulty and is widely considered one of the several greatest concerto movements ever written for the instrument. It has been described as “a polonaise for polar bears” but it also has a warlike quality that evokes a battlefield. It opens with rhythmic percussion and the lower strings for four bars (playing ‘eighth note-sixteenth note-sixteenth note’ figures), before the violin boldly enters with the first theme on the G string. This first section offers a complete and brilliant display of violin gymnastics with up-bow staccato double-stops and a run with rapid string-crossing, then octaves, that leads into the first tutti. The second theme is taken up by the orchestra and is almost a waltz, and the violin takes up the same theme in variations, with arpeggios and double-stops. Another short section concluding with a run of octaves makes a bridge into a recapitulation of the first theme. Clarinet and low brass introduce the final section. A passage of harmonics in the violin precedes a sardonic passage of chords and slurred double stops. A passage of broken octaves leads to an incredibly heroic few lines of double stops and soaring octaves. A brief orchestral tutti comes before the violin leads things to the finish with a D major scale up, returning down in minor (then repeated). A flourish of ascending slur-separate sixteenth notes, punctuated by a resolute D from the violin and orchestra concludes the concerto.

Recordings

Jascha Heifetz made the first recording of the Sibelius concerto. Heifetz held it to be one of the great romantic concertos in the violin repertoire. What might be considered an authoritative interpretation of the concerto belongs to Ida Haendel. When Sibelius heard her perform it on the radio in Finland, he commented afterwards that she “played it masterfully in every respect. I congratulate myself that my concerto has found an interpreter of your rare standard.”

Notable recordings of the concerto include the following:

Jascha Heifetz with London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
Jascha Heifetz with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Hendl
Ida Haendel with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Berglund (Recorded 1975)
Ida Haendel with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle (Recorded 1993)
Dylana Jenson with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy (Recorded 1981)
Salvatore Accardo with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis (Recorded 1979)
David Oistrakh with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Isaac Stern with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Christian Ferras with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert von Karajan (Recorded Oct 29-30, 1964)
Gidon Kremer and Riccardo Muti with Philharmonia Orchestra
Miriam Fried and Okko Kamu with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Gil Shaham with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli
Cho-Liang Lin with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen
Itzhak Perlman with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn
Leonidas Kavakos with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä
Anne-Sophie Mutter and André Previn with Staatskapelle Dresden
Hilary Hahn with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen
Sergey Khachatryan with Sinfonia Varsovia conducted by Emmanuel Krivine
Kyung Wha Chung with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andre Previn
Nigel Kennedy with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle
Camilla Wicks with the Stockholm Symphony conducted by Sixten Ehrling
Adele Anthony with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arvo Volmer
Alina Pogostkina, The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam, at the Helsinki Music Centre, Dec 8, 2011
Sarah Chang, with The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by Jaap van Zweden performed in 2009

(via wikipedia)

It’s really awesome to be in the presence of genius, especially genius that has been realized and refined for longer than you’ve been alive. And even more so when the genius at hand is totally unpretentious and hilarious.
__

A player of legendary renown, Itzhak Perlman is a musician who exceeds mere superlatives. He is a superstar, a musician of technical wizardry, an interpreter of unmatched grace and power, a legend. He returns to San Francisco to take the stage at Davies Symphony Hall as part of the Great Performers Series, and lucky the listeners who hold tickets to his highly anticipated recital performance. (via San Francisco Symphony)

Itzhak Perlman – violin

Rohan de Silva – piano

Steven Ellison, known by the stage name of Flying Lotus, is an experimental multi-genre music producer, laptop musician, and rapper from Los Angeles, California. He is the great-nephew of the late jazz pianist Alice Coltrane, and her husband saxophonist John Coltrane. He is also the cousin of musician Ravi Coltrane. Additionally, he is the grandson of singer/songwriter Marilyn McLeod, who is notable for having written Diana Ross’s “Love Hangover” and Freda Payne’s “I Get High (On Your Memory)”.

Flying Lotus has released four studio albums—1983 (2006), Los Angeles (2008), Cosmogramma (2010), and Until the Quiet Comes (2012)—all to increasing critical acclaim. He has produced much of the bumper music on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming block. He also contributed remixes for fellow Plug Research artists including Mia Doi Todd. He is often referred to as FlyLo by fans and critics.

In 2012, Ellison began rapping under the persona Captain Murphy. Ellison kept the fact that he was Captain Murphy a secret for several months, finally revealing it several weeks after the release of his first rap mixtape, Duality.

In 2007, Flying Lotus announced that he signed with Warp Records. Following his Warp debut, the six-track Reset EP, he quickly became one of the label’s cornerstone artists and released his second album, titled Los Angeles, on June 10, 2008. The same year, Flying Lotus also remixed “Reckoner” from Radiohead’s album In Rainbows. His third album, Cosmogramma, was released on May 3, 2010, in the UK and May 4, 2010, in the US. In January 2011, Cosmogramma won in the Dance/Electronica Album category in the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards.

In 2010, Flying Lotus collaborated with the Ann Arbor Film Festival in the performance of a live scoring of the 1962 avant-garde film Heaven and Earth Magic. In a post-viewing interview with the audience, Flying Lotus said that he was unsure whether or not a recording of the performance (or a recreation of it) would be publicly released, but he would be enthusiastic toward similar projects in the future. He was chosen by Battles to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that it co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead, England, UK.

In January 2011, Flying Lotus won the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards for his video “MmmHmm” in the Short-Form Video category. Flying Lotus will be collaborating with R&B singer Erykah Badu on new material for her next album. In August 2011, Flying Lotus announced a multimedia project with filmmaker Miwa Matreyek, which is to be titled The Mapping of Countries Yet to Come. It is currently rumored that Flying Lotus plans to remix one of Radiohead’s songs from The King of Limbs.

via wikipedia

Whats your favorite interpretation?

David Oistrakh and Vladimir Yampolsky:

Jascha Heifetz and Artur Rubinstein:

Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Ashkenazy:

The Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano by César Franck is one of his best known compositions, and considered one of the finest sonatas for violin and piano ever written. It is an amalgam of his rich native harmonic language with the Classical traditions he valued highly, held together in a cyclic framework.

The Violin Sonata in A was written in 1886, when Franck was 63, as a wedding present for the 31-year-old violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. Twenty-eight years earlier, in 1858, Franck had promised a violin sonata for Cosima von Bülow. This never saw the light of day, but it has been speculated that whatever work Franck had done on that piece was put aside and eventually ended up in the sonata he wrote for Ysaÿe in 1886.

Franck presented the work to Ysaÿe on the morning of his wedding on 26 September 1886. After a hurried rehearsal, Ysaÿe and the pianist Léontine Bordes-Pène, a wedding guest, played the Sonata to the other wedding guests.

The Sonata was given its first public concert performance on 16 December of that year, at the Musée Moderne de Peinture (Museum of Modern Painting) at Brussels. Eugène Ysaÿe and Léontine Bordes-Pène were again the performers. The Sonata was the final item in a long program that started at 3 pm. When it came time for the Sonata, it was now dusk and the gallery was bathed in gloom, but the gallery authorities permitted no artificial light whatsoever. Initially, it seemed the Sonata would have to be abandoned, but Ysaÿe and Bordes-Pène decided to press on regardless. In the event, they had to play the last three movements in virtual darkness, from memory. Vincent d’Indy, who was present, recorded these details of the event.

Ysaÿe kept the Violin Sonata in his repertoire for the next 40 years of his life. His championing of the Sonata contributed to the public recognition of Franck as a major composer. This recognition was quite belated, as Franck would be dead within 4 years, and did not have his first unqualified public success until the last year of his life (19 April 1890, at the Salle Pleyel, where his String Quartet in D was premiered).

The Franck Sonata regularly appears on concert programs and on recordings and is in the core repertoire of all major violinists. Jascha Heifetz played the Sonata in A at his final recital in 1972.

Structure

The work is cyclic in nature, all the movements sharing common thematic threads. This was a technique Franck had adapted from Franz Liszt (his friend, and Cosima von Bülow’s father), in which themes from one movement reappear in subsequent movements, but usually transformed. Vincent d’Indy described the Sonata as “the first and purest model of the cyclical use of themes in sonata form”, and referred to it as “this true musical monument”.

The movements alternate between slow and fast.

I. Allegretto ben moderato, 9/8
This gentle and sweetly reflective rocking theme, introduced by the violin after a short introduction by the piano, is the thematic core of the entire work; Franck originally intended it as a slow movement, but Ysaÿe preferred a slightly quicker tempo, and convinced Franck to mark it Allegretto.
II. Allegro
This turbulent movement is sometimes considered the real opening movement, with the Allegretto ben moderato serving as a long introduction.
III. Ben moderato: Recitative-Fantasia
This is improvisatory in nature, and free in both structure and expression.
IV. Allegretto poco mosso
The main melody is heard in canonic imitation between the instruments, and recurs in a rondo-like manner to a triumphant and soaring conclusion. James Harding described the movement as “a magnificent example of canonic writing, simple, majestic and irresistible in its ample, beautifully wrought proportions”.

Transcriptions

The setting for cello and piano was the only alternative version sanctioned by Franck. This was created by the renowned cellist Jules Delsart. It has often been speculated that the work was first conceived as a sonata for cello and piano and only later reset for violin and piano when the commission from Eugène Ysaÿe arrived.

(via wikipedia)