Classical Music Is So Relaxing!
Or is it? One of the things frequently said about classical music is: “I love classical music because it’s so relaxing!” When I encounter this observation I can only think…
Composers
Whether to Laugh or Cry
Two recent items published on-line by the League of American Orchestras reminded me of the importance of allowing music to speak for itself – to deliver its own message. The…
Discovery Orchestra Chat 105 – Interpretation
The content of a piece of classical music has been fixed since it was finished by the composer who wrote it. But what about the words “Moderately Fast” or “Loud”…
Art for Life’s Sake
On the evening of Monday, April 8, 2013 cellist Yo-Yo Ma delivered the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He called…
Discovery Orchestra Chat 103 – Another Episode of Program Music
Maestro Maull gives us a piece of program music that he has loved since he was 18. Program music is written by composers when they have a specific picture to…
Discovery Orchestra Chat 102 – False Relations
What exactly are False Relations? In this Chat, Maestro Maull and guitarist phenom Celil Refik Kaya explore the “chromatic contradictions” in Alonso Mudarra’s Fantasy No. 10.
I was delighted to hear George Marriner Maull’s “Inside Music” when he discussed how to listen to and enjoy Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the 4th movement. To have the words of the choral Ode to Joy translated and explained (word for word) was enlightening and inspiring as well. And to learn all the intricacies of the music itself was fascinating.