At the beginning of January I wrote a the piece "Hrepenenje" (Longing) for choir SATB, which has been premiered in February by Pedagoška Fakulteta Choir and also successfully performed at a competition in March. A piece is an ode to longing for some peace in this ever hurrying world.
Was also nice to see my pieces Coprnica Zofka and Nekaj je v zraku be performed by various choirs at regional competition Sozvočenja, to see people enjoy performing it.
I am honoured that I was interviewed and was able to present a piece of my works at a Slovenian Radio ARS in the show "Izpod peresa slovenskih skladateljev". It was such a pleasure speaking with Katarina Radaljac about my work, although at first it was quite hard for me to talk about it, since I usually just let people listen to it, but over a time it was such fun to discuss it that I forgot I was actually interviewed. Still haven't mustered time to listen to it, but I am sure Katarina prepared it well. Here is the link to the podcast, if you are interested, but unfortunately it is only in Slovenian.
https://ars.rtvslo.si/podkast/izpod-peresa-slovenskih-skladateljev/173250848/174931814
How the donkey who defeated the monster is a therapeutic musical story to help children cope with fear. It was inspired by a real donkey named Bard. Bard is such a character and Špela Kaplja felt that for his birthday she will write a story inspired by Bard. It is a lovely story about how we make the fears ourselves and how the donkey deals with it, showing townspeople how to get through it. It was such a pleasure to write music for this lovely story, which came alive with illustrations by Jana Fak.
The book was published and presented in December 2022 by Terra Anima and can be purchased by Chiara publishing house. Since Špela is also a storyteller we started touring with this book around and I am looking forward performing pieces live with her throughout Slovenia, helping kids realise fear is but a big fluffy furry friendly "monster".
It is funny that though I write a lot of pieces, especially for kids, and I also teach kids from 5 years and above, I tend not to sing and perform my pieces with them, but last year I was encouraged by school to prepare something and we started with this little piece about the upcoming winter. The children loved singing it so much they begged me to repeat and repeat singing it so many times I had to stop them and continue with other topics. Since then I started teaching kids some of my songs and I am so happy when I see them enjoy singing it. Although it is mostly classroom performances to me it feels like we are on a big stage and just seeing them shine like little rays of happiness when they sing it, it makes it all worthwhile.
The performance of a piece "Zima bo" took place on big stage in Kamnik with 50 of my little students singing it. What a blast!
At the begging of 2022 we started with the performances of ballet for kids with an environmental note to it, to start preserving and taking care of our surroundings. Everything starts with a small gesture. In December we successfully finished our tour with 25 fully packed performances. I am so proud of all the dancers, seeing them develop from performance to performance, enjoy every second of it each time they were on stage, and really grateful to all the moms who took time to help out with organising such big children corpus of dancers. And in the end the biggest thanks goes to a wonderful choreographer and ballet dancer, Ana Trojnar who made this ballet come to life.
I enjoyed writing music myself and hearing all the positive feedback from the dancers, organisers to the kids and other listeners who came to see ballet just made me so blessed and thankful I was able to be part of this project. Thank you all for making this become live and thriving.
A piece that was written over the night, literally.
When things are tight in schedule, more new things need cram into, but when you have time, there's silence. And so it was also the case this time. I got a call from a conductor of De Profundins choir to write a new piece on a lyric from old Slovenian folktales about castle life of medieval Slovenia. Mine was about a lady and a beggar. A story is quite bitter so I will not explain it here, but the process of writing a piece for choir on these story was a one where music became to be quickly. I loved how the conductor had a clear vision of a concept, how she explained the story and background to me in detail and her enthusiasm came all over me so it was quite easy to write the piece "Grajska gospa in berač" (A court lady and a beggar).
Seeing and hearing a piece performed by beautiful voices of this choir in beautiful castle settings all over Slovenia, despite driving in narrow roads on a rainy night, was an experience one doesn't forget.
When they asked me to write music on a text by Nebojša Pop-Tasić I couldn't resist but say yes, although my concert and teaching schedule was crazily packed. This time I loved the story even more than the previous one, as well written as always, so the music just followed the pace of the work itself. Unfortunately due to some other events I wasn't able to come see the premiere, but was enjoying every second of it when I finally got to see it a couple of performances later. Actors played the part as brilliant as always and the show was thrilling from the beginning to the end. Thank you Hlodi for inviting me to be a part of this amazing theatre piece once again.
Amongst many other songs I have written in 2022 is a piece called "Ljubim" dedicated to a dear friend of mine and her husband. I wrote it in Brela, a beautiful town in Croatian coastline in a shed with a view to the sea. It somehow reminded me of a shed that Grieg has made for himself to compose and with this thought in my mind I felt inspired writing the piece whilst looking to the clear waters down below.
Ljubim is a first piece in a long time for which I have also written lyrics, not only the music and arranged it for three female voices with piano accompaniment. At the beginning it was a bit of a struggle, but more I have dedicated to it, more the lyric and music poured out. I wish a couple to live a long and prosperous life with abundance of love.
Not only my piece Ave Maria was recorded and produced by a publishing house last year but was also performed on a tour by Petra Vrh Vrezec and Gregor Klančič throughout Slovenia, starting with a concert in Ljubljana. On a day when it was performed I just flew back home and I took off from a very long flight, forced myself not to go directly home to sleep but to go to the concert and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Listening pieces from Caccini, Mozart, Verdi, Saint-Saëns etc. my soul was lifted up and the fact that on a same concert where all those big names were performed I heard my piece it just made my heart full of happiness. A beautiful sound coming from above filling the space of the Ursuline church was so special I felt better when the concert was finished, although I had to hurry back to the bus station not to miss my last bus home. Worth every second of it. Thank you Petra and Gregor for that!
Night of Slovenian music days 2022. Uroš Vegelj and Lovorka Nemeš Dular tackle my new piece for tuba and piano, a piece called "Nič na kvadrat", translated to Zero squared. What a nonsense of a statement! This piece is my reaction to what is currently happening in this world in different areas of life. I love that both instrumentalists really enjoyed performing the piece and I also enjoyed collaborating with them, seeing it develop and be performed. Am very grateful to collaborate with musicians like Uroš and Lovorka and I thank them for bringing my piece to life as they did.
In a season of 2022 Gaja Sorč, Sabina Gruden, Mojca Lavrenčič and Tina Sapundžić have prepared a project on which amongst all the great female composers throughout history have been presented and on this concert cycle they also performed a couple of my works, what an honour to be in a presence of such calibre! Throughout art song and painting they dedicated the night in the honour of all that a woman is. Was glad that my music could be a part of this beautiful project.
Photo by Tamara Bizjak
Happy to announce my second ballet was finally performed. Premiere was on 4th of February in Kulturni dom Kamnik and since then we already had 14 repeats. There will be more from April on, touring around Slovenia.
Story that I wrote 50 minutes of music on was written by young ballerina Karolina Graj who is also performing as a mermaid in the show and choreographed by Ana Trojnar whose ballet class is performing the whole ballet.
Besides writing the music I had a privilege to illustrate the story background and posters as well. Had such fun doing that. Sharing a snippet of it here.
In January an award was given and my piece Ocean breath was finally performed by male choir of AG Ljubljana, conducted by Sebastjan Vrhovnik and broadcasted by RTV Slovenia.
Glasba zaprtih ust award for male choir, (v)dih oceana.
Ljubljana festival, world premiere of Fenghuang for recorder solo.
Mentor for students at Temsig 2021, solfege competition.
ENOA Opera Creation Journey, got to top 9 to present our project.
In the Holy City, composition for choir and organ performed in Italy at a festival.
Presented my work and attended Europa Cantat festival 2021.
Got accepted to IMPULS Academy and got an honor of 3 of my works to be perfomed, Asha on a main stage.
Coprnica Zofka got it's honor to be performed by a lot of young singers and pianists.
Ave Maria CD release at Mohorjeva založba.
Many new composition were published by Astrum publications (check their official site).
"Ena zvezda", a theme piece I wrote for a storytelling evening for kids.
New composition, MENS, performed in Ukraine by Phoenix Ensemble: https://soundcloud.com/ursula-jasovec/mens-pt1
Recording of Ave Maria, new composition for voice and organ.
Last week at the 19th Piano days in Ljubljana four of my new compositions got performed and published in VirKla by EPTA organisation for piano pedagogs. Whilst being performed ballet dancers interpreted its meaning.
The next day I was invited to be a part of a round table where we spoke about creativity in composition process and in children. I had a chance to discuss about this subject with fellow composers Nina Šenk, Peter Šavli, Marjan Peternel and Bojan Glavina. The whole conversation was conducted by pianist and pedagog Nina Prešiček Laznik.
A new performance of my composition for children's choir:
Performed at the regional youth choirs competition:
https://www.jskd.si/glasba/zborovska/prireditve_zborovska/regijski_koncerti/otroci_19/regijski_otroski_koncerti_gorenjska_19.htm
Link to my composition published by JSKD for either SSAA or SATB:
http://www.jskd.si/knjigarna/nazi-zbori-letnik-2012-notni-zvezek-1.html
At the Regional competition of choirs we received 3rd place and golden award and a special award for best performed folk song. I feel very proud of where we have come with Drouz and feel very happy on going forward with them.
https://domzalec.si/zlato-priznanje-in-posebno-priznanje-zirije-za-kulturno-prosvetno-drustvo-drouz/
Ever since I can remember I loved folk songs and had a wish to reach out to people with them. This weekend I had a chance to transcend this to all the people who came and enjoyed, sang with us and gave us the best applause ever. Thank you KUD Franca Kotarja for making us a part of your St Martin’s Holiday concert.
I had an honor to be picked as a participant of Enoa to be part of an amazing experience at the Queen Elizabeth music chapel in Belgium. Very inspiring place and people make you full of new ideas and energy, so got home with new aspirations.
At Viteška dvorana in Križanke my new and recycled old pieces just got performed by two amazing artists, Zala Hodnik [soprano] and Ana Semič Bursać [piano].
Theatre show Blaznost igre for which I wrote music for based on text of Nebojša Pop-Tasič and one of the actors as well just got a Matiček award at Linhartovo srečanje in Postojna. Feeling very proud of what we did.
As a child I loved these magazines and now I had an honor to write new pieces for that same publication. For me these kind of things are the most rewarding!
I just got this batch right out of print from Astrum publication. Two new works I did for children’s choir and one for high voices. 🎶
We had a privilege to participate at the 1st gospel festival in Novo mesto arranged by MePZ Pomlad and Alenka Podpečan, where we performed at two different venues and I even had a chance to lead a bit at a workshop and conduct to united choir made out of three amazing choirs (Pomlad, Bee Geesus). It really was a joyous moment.
When you have the best audience and best musicians you could wish for to make one of the most rewarding evenings where you could perform your own works as well.
This year I was a part of a wonderful experience, where I had a chance to write a short opera and work with amazing musicians under Anthony Heidweiller.
Here is a short video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysv7cJhpYHQ
A link to the website: https://academie.festival-aix.com/en/workshop/voice/opera-de-ci-de-la-residency
and official festival site: https://festival-aix.com/en/event/opera-de-ci-de-la
And a link to an online journal: https://www.journalzibeline.fr/critique/de-ci-de-la/
A wonderful performance by UNT Women's Choir of my interpretation of Slovenian Folk song, one of my favourites.
New Lied I wrote for two amazing musicians, Zala Hodnik (soprano) and Ana Semič Bursać (piano) and was performed at SpevSLAM (aka SongSLAM) at Viteška dvorana, Križanke in Ljubljana. We got 2nd place from the audience and Glasbena matica award.
An arrangement I did for symphonic orchestra and piano solo of Franz Liszt's work.
A new score of Slovenian folk tune I made for SSA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8vdHuasCkg
Here are a few links I was able to find about my music. There should be a few more somewhere, amongst them "Izpod peresa slovenskih skladateljev":
https://ars.rtvslo.si/2015/11/na-koncertu-mladih-skladateljev/
https://ars.rtvslo.si/2015/02/posnetek-koncerta-ane-celin/
https://ars.rtvslo.si/2015/03/arsov-art-atelje-2/
https://4d.rtvslo.si/arhiv/glasbeni-vecer/109747438
https://www.iscm.org/catalogue/composers/jašovec-uršula-f-slovenia
Last year I had so many concerts and projecets I didn't have much time to post any news of concerts and performances here, so this year, I'll try better.
Here is a performance of my new composition Rasti rožmarin you can listen to:
https://soundcloud.com/ursula-jasovec/rasti-rasti-rozmarin-2014
It is so wonderful to see that every choir has its own and unique interpretation of my composition for female choir - Coprnica Zofka. And here they are:
1. DPZ AG Ljubljana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4flF_kU-zp4
2. DPZ Gimnazije Kranj: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S-xNrMwGJc
3. Rusalke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p2C6_iRRcY
4. Drouz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI2NpojfkkY
So, I finished "Pesem o vetru" and it has been performed. You can listen to it on this link: https://soundcloud.com/ursula-jasovec/pesem-o-vetru-song-of-wind
I could write a very long blog just about how insightfull this festival/seminar/competition for composers has been for me. It started at the beggining of September and it was one of the best festivals I've been to so far. It gave me strenght, courage, motivation and new ideas. So, thank you British Music Society for choosing me and granting me a Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2013 scholarship!!
Here are some articles about my choirs:
1. Drouz-new years concert
2. Drouz-660th Anniversary of Radomlje
3. Sončnice-2nd Annual Concert
Under my video section you can hear my new composition called "Coprnica Zofka" for female choir (SSAA) performed by Female choir of Music Academy in Ljubljana, conducted by Marko Vatovec. My compostion starts at 0:51:25 at this link: Coprnica Zofka.
In november 2012 medical students from Ljubljana gathered to help raising money for those in need. For that event they asked me to write an arrangement for two of Michael Jackson's brilliant songs-Heal the World and Eath Song for the whole ensable they had. You can view and listen to the final product at these two links: pt1 (Heal the Wold-starts at the beginning ) and pt2 (Earth Song-starts at 43:20).
Enjoy listening! You are of course more than welcome to listen to the whole concert. You can find some really talented performers in it!
Will tell more about this event later.
You can listen to my composition here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Dc0jD4BZpYc
It starts at 19:30.
Festival of Children Pop Songs 2012 was held in Kosovelov dom in Sežana. The event was televised by RTV Slovenia.
On this festival Matej Mali sung my composition "Pomladni dan" (Spring day).
You can listen to it here. It starts at 16:23/17:14. Enjo listening to it!
Magazine for choral news in Slovenia called "Naši zbori" published my composition for mixed choir called The Train. You can order it here and listen to it on youtube.
An article about a concert where we performed my cantata Procatio Medici Iuvenis: http://www.rtvslo.si/kultura/glasba/glasba-in-medicina-si-podata-roke/216855
Winning composition of European Award for Choral Composers 2012, organised by the European Choral Association - Europa Cantat: "The Train" for mixed choirs, composed by Ursula Jasovec (SI *1986)
Here is a site where you can get link to a sample page from my composition and link to an audio file on youtube.
Enjoy! :)
I've already written a blog about Aguilera's little copy-paste and we all know about some famous plagiarisms like the most famous Bizet's aria from Carmen and Celine's Dion All By Myself, so I won't be writing about these, but about the latest discovery I've come across with.
I've been studying Caccini's Ave Maria and thinking of what song does it remind me of. I've changed rhythm a bit and took few notes out and got a completely different genre of music out of it.
Here is a sheet music example. If you play yourself on a piano harmonies and take orchestral melody when it comes out and take last 2 notes from it (if you listen to the Sumi Jo's performance it comes out at 1:17) you get a melody from a song we probably all know: Fly Me To The Moon. Here is sheet music from Fly Me, so you can compare, but look at it from where main theme comes out. Maybe in this performance you could hear the developing harmonies from Ave Maria better.
I know these are completely different genres of music and I'm not saying B. Howard stole it from Caccini, but if he did he camouflaged it brilliantly!
So, if you think you can make a better song from a previous one, take the part of music you like the most, progressing hamonies, which you spice or transpose a bit, maybe change the rhythm and you've got a completely new song out of it! But basically it's the same music ...
But all in all, one can get similar melodies to the existing ones really quickly these days, so who blames it? Some even say they did it because they thought that way they would do music its justice. Well, at least they admit.
In this case I think that there are a bit too many similarities (excluding the main voice melody) to the orchestral part for me to say he didn't copy it, but who knows-I don't. I think he and Caccini are the only ones to know ... Both songs are huge "hits" even till now, so I think it doesn't matter if it was copied or not, because both are artistically and musically very good and listenable and both served their justice.
What do you think, was it copied or not? :)
Music Academy in Ljubljana prepared and performed Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo/Orfeo (info about the opera itself). Thus I think they did a very decent performance of it I'm posting here their performance from Ptuj.
If you like it, you can still see it in Ljubljana and in Venice. All the details about performances and performers etc. you can find on this site.
Enjoy!
List of my compositions, performed from november 2011 till may 2012 (that I know of):
November:
Črni muc (mixed choir; performed by MePZ Slamnik)
December:
Orhideja (voice&piano; first performance, performed by Klemen Torkar)
March:
Trobentice II (mixed choir; first performance by MePZ Slamnik)
May:
Črni muc (mixed choir; performed by vocal group Krila and my MePZ Slamnik)
Trobentice (voice&piano; first performance; performed by Eva Černe&Uršula Jašovec)
Deček in sonce (female choir&piano; performed by vocal group Sončnice)
Asha (2 flutes&piano; first performance by Medeja Unuk&Andreja Marčun&Mateja Lasič)
Trobentice II (mixed choir; performed by MePZ Slamnik)
Kelih (voice&piano; performed by Eva Černe&Uršula Jašovec)
Pomladni dan (voice; performed by Matej)
So many things happened during these four months, so I didn't have much time to write here, but will mention results of EUC composer's competition for choral piece, where I received a special mention for my song The Train acapella (SATB).
Here are a few links where you can see the results:
EUC page 1, EUC page2
on MIC
on Singen und Stimme
Last Thursday and Friday we (Music Academy in Ljubljana) performed Orff's Carmina Burana.
If you're interested in watching it, here's the link:
Carmina Burana conducted by Sebastjan Vrhovnik
I watched a great french movie today on television. I don't know if you've heard of it, but if you haven't seen it yet, then you have to. It's called Les choristes. I won't be talking about the movie itself but only of one song. It is called Vois Sur Ton Chemin. It has very beautifull melodic line, great orchestration, but something about it bugged me. What was so familiar in this tune? And then i remembered! The piano beggining ... What does it remind me of? Of a song - a Christina Aguilera song Oh, mother. I don't know if a person who wrote a song for Aguilera copied it or not (the melody for Vois Sur Ton Chemin was released in 2004 and Aguilera's Back To Basics CD was released in 2006), but the melody of the piano is the same, regardless of the main melody. In this regard i think both melodies are nicely composed.
Here are the songs to compare:
Les choristes: Vois Sur Ton Chemin
VS
Christina Aguilera: Oh mother
What do you think-does Aguilera knows of this? Was the piano line copied or is only a coincidence?
Since Beyonce also performed this song (in her own way-i think this time in a bit unfortunate way) at Oscars back in 2005 I can only assume if not before (in 2004 i mean) someone's ear must have heard this and then you can think yourself what could have happened next ...
Beyonce: Vois Sur Ton Chemin
Which performance do you like the most?
To conclude, I'm not accusing anybody of stealing the line of melody. Untill they forbade it with law or invented copyright it was normal between composers to "steal" and make material their own. Just look Brahms-Schumann, Bizet-Yradier, Rachmaninoff-Eric Carmen and so many more. So, if you find a melody compeling, take a bite of it and make it your own, make it better, if you think it can be done so, otherwise-write what your feel and make your own music! :)
APZ Tone Tomsic yearly concert footage, where they perform my song Trobentice:
LINK
(start watching at 67:50)
Enjoy!
Back in 2009 i went to Netherlands, where i attended a workshop-musicals or so called Bernstein on stage. In five days we learned a few songs with choreographies.
You can see some of the footages here:
BoS
rehersal practices:
reh1
reh2
Swing
the boys singing
When i was a child i felt like i could be one of the conductors. Here is an example of how children feel music inside of them and don't hesitate to express it.
CONDUCTING
Eva Cerne&me wrote a song which you can listen to on this links:
MOJA POT (My way)
melody by E. Cerne&U. Jasovec
lyrics by K. Habe
arr. by U. Jasovec
Start listening at 17:17 (recorded live on NLP).
Here are two other performances:
On TV show Spet doma with Mario (start listening at 56:55)
On TV show Heroji nasega casa (start listening at 55:47)
Enjoy!
Some articles i just found, mentoning my name and didn't know about them:)
Druzina
This invitation article is really old :D
Programme list
Naboj lyrics (p7)
Vipavski tamburasi
Vipavski tamburasi-Osijek
Vipavski tamburasi-Osijek2
Well, that's pretty much it:)
This week i went to see Rusalka-opera written by Dvorak. For those who don't know it this is opera, written by czech composer in his own language. As far as i have experienced Czech Republic and its people they are really proud of works of their composers. And they should be. When i went to see this opera i didn't know much of it. I only knew this:
that it was written by A. Dvorak
that since it was written by him i should expect sth beautiful, but different from the other operas
that Rusalka was some kind of mythological creature
that Mirjam Kalin is going to sing :) (not important fact for you, probably)
Well, for those who don't go much to opera i recommend to get to know at least the basic of synopsis before you go to see it. For those who love music and like to analyse it i recommend to listen to the whole peace beforehand at home, because then you know what to expect and you can compare what was better and what not etc. Plus you can see what works good in orchestra and helps singer etc etc-hope you know what i mean. Even for those who are learning to become singers is good to know at least the best known arias from opera you're going to see before you actually go to hear it in opera house and then you can compare and see what a singer did good and why, how, and what did wrong (if!!) that didn't sound as good as it could etc. But if you're just simply planing to enjoy opera then i recommend you go there without any preparation beforehand and just go there and enjoy, be amazed and surprised by its lyrics, melodies ... :) At the beginning this opera reminded me of Little mermaid story, but then it turned out quite different. To summorise this is what happens in opera: Rusalka is a water nymph (sprite)-from Slavic mythology-who dwells in waters of lake and wishes to become human being in order to feel what love is and be with a prince, who she saw passing by while he went hunting. In order to become human she has to go to Jezibaba (a witch), drink special potion and in return give a witch all the pearls she has+sacrifise her voice in order to walk like a human. Her father=Vodnik, of course, tries to stop her from doing that and reminds her of his words and mourns over her faith (with words: misery ...) and tries to save her throughout the whole opera. In withches help there is also another twist: if prince doesn't give her love back, and betrayes her she will be damned for life, away from everything in deep depths of nothingness. As Rusalka accepts these conditions she is turned into human and left in the forest, where prince finds her and amazed by her beauty takes her to the castle. He loves her deeply, but more and more feels like she doesn't feel the same, like she's always so cold towards him. This state continues even more when they are said to be marrried and as a guest comes a duchess, with whom prince falls in love, because he feels like she's giving him love back, unlike cold Rusalka, who doesn't speak. Rusalka in a talk with her father tells him she doesn't understand why is it that way, why he had to leave her for another woman and feels sad about it, wanting to return and be water princess again. As she realises it's too late, she seeks for Jezibaba and tells her she wants to become water sprite again, Jezibaba tells her there is a way, but she'll have to kill prince. As she loves him too much she throws dagger into the lake and becomes a spirit with no purpouse on this world. Her water sisters and father mourn for her, even a prince realises he misses her and goes to seek for her. When he finds her he asks her for the last kiss-because he wouldn't live withouth her and he rather dies kissing her for the last time. Well ... that's at least how i remember it. Of course there are also other charecters in this story, but i left them out. For more information about this opera look at this site. As for performance, costumes and scene i have to say i was quite impressed. They used a scene which was basically the same, but with additional lightning and a few objects they used they turned it into a totally different way, so it suited the scene they were performing (when the scene was happening in a lake they used glitter+blue light ...). Costumes were simple but interesting enough, especially the first Rusalka costume. In order to make her look floating in the water they used ropes, and when she was singing there was a group of ballet dancers who smoothly took her on ther arms to look like she was swimming-that was the most brilliant thing they could come up with-you should see it. So, a big applause for those ballet dancers :) (pic1 link & pic2 link)
As it goes for the singers-i really loved the Rusalka's, Vodnik's and princes performance. They sang their hearts off and convinced me in what they were singing. Opera choir also did a magnificent job-their sound was really coherent and refreshing. As for orchestra-they played really well, sound was nice and the tempos, dynamics were right and the perfect ones for the Dvorak music. So, in general i loved the whole opera. Dvorak surprised me in a nice way, because melodics of this music is a bit different of those we're all used from german or italian operas. Of course you could hear some influences other composers had on him, but he used them in his own way. The end of the opera was sad, but what happened before was so rich with music and story that you didn't feel like it should be the other way around. And for the end, i think you should here these two arias: RUSALKA JEZIBABA Enjoy listening! :)
Here are some links with musicians interpreting classical music in different ways, making jokes about it etc.
IGUDESMAN and JOO:
1. big flu polka2. Mozart-Alla Turca3. Rachmaninov-big hands
4. Cyber Conductor (1)MozART group:1. How to impress ...2. Cell phones3. Titanic
CONDUCTOR sketches:1. Cyber Conductor (2)2. on BBC 13. Mr. Beanother MUSIC SKETCH(ES)-JURE GODLER&TILEN ARTAC1. opera sketchROWAN ATKINSON1. as a piano player2. as a conductor+look up
VANESSA MAE - violin in a different way1. a joke about it2. toccata and fugue3. the devil's trill
MAKSIM MRVICA - piano slightly different
1. revolutionary etude2. flight of the bumble beeCAMERON CARPENTER - organ differently
1. revolutionary etudeBeat boxing+flute playing=GREG PATTILLO 1. Peter and Wolf2. + with cello3. + with cello&bassELP - Mussorgsky in "rock"Baba Jaga
and PromenadeBobby McFERRIN -using your voice to make it differently1. ave maria2. air
... and there are sooo many more! Hope you'll find sth to make you laugh and make your day! Enjoy!
Ok, this time I'm just posting a few songs from Gershwin and Bernstein. I think the theme here is generally the same-men and women talking about them, now it's your turn to listen to the songs (lyrics, melody ...) and decide which ones do you prefer.
Bernstein: I can cook too
VS
Gershwin: Boy wanted
and
Bernstein: One hundred easy ways
VS
Gershwin: Nice work if you can get it
This one isn't written by any of the mentioned composers above, but i think it fills in this context alright:
Porter: I hate men
Hope you've found sth new and interesting! Enjoy listening!
Browsing on YouTube i came around Mozart's duet(o) from Magic Flute (one of my favourites) and found some interesting performances. Each one of them is unique in its own way - From scenography, costumography to interpretation. Hope you'll find a version you like the most. I can't decide which one i prefer ...
version no 1
version no 2
version no 3
and a fun version of it:
version no 4
Decide for yourself which performance you prefer.
Der Hoelle Rache from Mozart's Magic Flute sang by Diana Damrau in both cases:
1. start watching 2:03 if you don't like the "prologue": Diana as a Queen of the Night no 1
2. and the 2nd one ... (2:49): Diana as Queen of the Night no 2
I love her performance because she's really into the role singing or not, she can portray a histerical queen of the night ;) Enjoy listening!
I had a chance to work with maestro R. Muti for a week and did concerts in Ravenna and Trieste this week with him. I didn't expect to be so amazed by everything that happend and by his presence and charizma he has ... Simply said: when performing with him i knew exactly what he wanted to do just by the power of move of his hand and i was feeling secure, alive ...
A few glimpses from Trieste concerts: pictures-Trieste
From this day on i will compare two different performance of the same song. This time i compare two performances of I love rock'n'roll song. Which one do you prefer?
(by J. JETT)
or
(by B. SPEARS)
Today when i was driving home from one of the last of numerous exams i had this year due to my enthusiastic goals i made at the begining of the uni year i was listening to the radio. There were some really good songs playing and then there was Eurosong winning song ... (Here it is if you don't know it: winning song) A song mainly based on THREE notes won the competition. Interesting. Then i put new Madonna CD i got in a CD-player and i listen to a few of the songs and it makes me wonder how do other songs sound like and i do a round of beginnings of every song and i discover that they sound almoust the same and that they are all made in a small ambitus and it reapeats a lot (check out this one).
These are just two examples of simplified popular songs with small range (i'm not speaking in a negative way) that turned out quite successful and it made me think-why bother why not write music like that. Take for example Beethoven's 9th symphony-simple but it stayed through the time, almoust everybody knows it and the main melody-theme is based upon five tones. Why do our professors don't like that for a fact. Look back at folk music-in Slovenia we have loads of songs with a very small range (from 3-6 tones) ... It looks like some don't want to complicate things and make it simple-and though it may seem absurde that a song like that won or is popular ... it works-ppl listen to it. What a wonder. And the baseline of this story-why do we have to complicate things if we can do it simple (and i'm not talking about music but about the life in general). It's good to be precise and all-but in the end you discover that the small things are what it counts and stays in you.
Isn't it interestings how a song or two could lead me to that conclusion ... :)
Well, whoever decided to read this: CARPE DIEM (Horace-even ppl from back then know what is good for them)!
If i look back to how many concerts i've been to and at which i participated i find out that i can't count them on my fingers ... I feel satisfied at what i did and that makes me feel good. Which concerts i liked the best? Maybe Cecilia's Bartoli because of her passion for music and her lively interpretation which made me think of importances and preferences in music i have, King's Singers softness and roundness of their sound and that of Slovenian Philharmonic in Arboretum park, where they performed Pink Floyd music. And the most important one would probably be the one we did last november in Slovenian Philharmonics in Ljubljana, where we performed cantata i wrote myself for students of medicine called Precatio Medici Iuvenis. Yes ... I think that's enough for my first entry. Wish you all a sunny day! :)