Music Potpourri

MTT’s Miscue
Michael Tilson Thomas is the famous conductor of San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, one of the top 15 symphony orchestras in the world. MTT got several Grammy awards for his recording of Mahler’s symphonies. MTT is a good communicator & interpreter of the classical music, well respected in the music circle. To be a good conductor, you need to be charismatic & persuasive. You need to build a lot of contacts to raise fund for the orchestra. Meanwhile, you have to be dynamic & energetic on the podium, not an easy job. MTT is great. But once in a while he encountered something unusual. It may not be his fault. But if you are a CEO, you have to take the brunt anytime something go astray in the company. Here is one good example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgzsPoTp2iA

This is the famous 7th symphony of Mahler. Listen to the music:
0-0:05---everything goes nicely
0:05-0.09---hello, trumpet, come in please
0:09-0.11---come on, trumpet, where are you? MTT is not sure anymore, he has to glance the score. Amazingly the strings keep playing (softly) & waiting. This is really a team work to cover the ass.
0.11-0.14---gush, here you are. I told you several times, don't drink too much XO! MTT has to chuckle to compose himself.
0.18:0.19---this player (perhaps clarinet) tries very hard to act like nothing happened.
0:23-0.28---MTT has to read the score between lines to regain his confidence.

My opinion: In this case, it is the fault of trumpeter. Conductor interprets the music. Even if he is off a little bit on timing, you have to follow him, no other excuse.
Lesson: Don't drink too much before the performance.

Misplace of Romance
Andre Rieu is the king of romance. He makes the classical music accessible to millions of people. But occasionally he was in a limbo that he is not aware of it due to some cultural idiosyncrasy. Here is one example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzDlLtgt1BI&feature=related

Due to copyright issue, the above link is not available on YouTube now.  So the the following timeline information is no longer meaningful.

Edelweiss (雪絨花) is one of the best-known European mountain flowers, belonging to the sunflower family. The name comes from German edel (noble) and weiss (white). It is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. The song is sung by Captain von Trapp as he rediscovers music and a love for his children. Later on in the show it is sung as a defiant statement of Austrian patriotism by the von Trapp family in the face of the pressure put upon Captain von Trapp to join the navy of Nazi Germany. Eventually they fled Austria & entered Switzerland & so the setting is the Swiss Alpine Mountain. Now listen to the music:
0:0:11---the cloudy mountain setting with train passing by, typical Swiss scene.
0:11-0:35---the mountain looks brown, not very typical in Switzerland. Compare to Julie Andrew's green Alpine meadow, this just looks pathetic. The costume of the players is too stylish and lack of country flair.
0:35-0:59---the whole setting gives you some cold feeling. This must be a very high altitude location, perhaps only cable car can get you there.
0:59-1:38---I don't see majestic Matterhorn, so it must not be near Zermatt, a famous ski retreat.
1:38-1:50---this wooden house is spartan, no paint or color painting & geranium flowers & the old man is very rustic.
1:50-2:03---the whole thing looks like a superimposition of van Gogh's painting with a snow mountain background.
2:03-2:37---boy, these glaciers and snow mountains really give you a freezing cold feeling. So far we haven't seen a single edelwiss, ie nowhere to be seen.
2:37-2.51---now we see the lady's costume is really out of place. Julie Andrew did a much better job in her Song of the Music.
2:51-3:17---now this is the bomber. You see Andre Rieu is playing violin so romantically to a lot of cows. You know what? They just turned & walked away, some of them actually run away. Chinese idiom "對牛彈琴" means you waste your time if you play piano to all bunch of cows. I didn't know "對牛拉琴" 也有異曲同工之妙 until now. If you think positively, you may interpret that 牛哥們聆聽,大為感動,掉頭忙著找牛小妹去.

Now try a real one, really romantic one from Andre Rieu.
Plaisir d’Amore (the pleasure of love)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y0_z_LntVo&feature=related

Due to copyright issue, the above link is not available on YouTube now.  So the timeline information below is no longer meaningful.

This is a classical French love song written in 1780 by Giovanni Martini (1741-1816). Hector Berlioz arranged it for orchestra. This may be one of the most popular love song in the world. The setting of this play probably is somewhere in Tuscany of Italy. Listen to the music:
0-0:06---the white flower signifies the purity of the love, looks elegant and noble.
0:06-0:25---the first theme serves as an introduction played by flute and clarinet with strings, very warm and lovely.
0:25-0:49---here comes the second main theme played by Andre Rieu, truly romantic style.
0:49-1:07---the introduction repeat to usher in the third theme.
1:07-1:30---the third theme signifies the enhanced & deep feeling of love when time goes by.
1:30-1:47---the love mood is augmented by the whole orchestra.
1:47-2:12---return to the second main theme, this time played by Andre and the whole orchestra.
2:12-2:31---the first main theme comes back to conclude the music with rich tone of clarinet, flute, bassoon and oboe.
2:31-2:36---the white flower shows up again to remind us the meaning of the true love.

Since the above link is no longer valid, please try the next one if you are still interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h1u8ICcxBk

ps: Berlioz 乃幻想交響曲之作者, 此君浪漫史不少. 有一次觀莎翁名劇 Hamlet, 驚艷女主角 Harriet Smithson, 窮追不捨. 居然頃全力創作 Symphonie Fantastique. 史女士到場聆聽,大為感動,終於成婚. 可是Berlioz 創業有餘,守成不足,最後離婚收場. Berlioz also arranged Weber’s Invitation to the Dance (邀舞) (piano composition) to play with orchestra, a true masterpiece.