Women in Art

"500 years of female portraits in western art in just under 3 minutes morphing from one to the next."

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Via Ursi

Behind Every Good Man...

I had heard about this somewhere before but didn't know if it was true:

Famous works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach were not penned by the great composer but by his second wife, researchers believe. A study by an academic who has spent more than 30 years looking at Bach's work claims that Anna Magdalena Bach, traditionally believed to be Bach's musical copyist, actually wrote some of his best-loved works, including his Six Cello Suites.

Prof Jarvis believes that Anna Magdalena also had a hand in composing the aria from the Goldberg Variations, and said it was highly likely that she composed the first prelude of the Well-tempered Klavier Book I.

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Pearls Before Breakfast

I feel smarter after having read this interesting (albeit long) Washington Post article about the psychology of classical music and the interaction of people too busy to appreciate it. There are some nifty embedded videos included but they are more about the foot traffic than they are about the music:

No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

The final video at the bottom of the article shows that he does finally draw an audience:

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This is a link to Joshua Bell's website with samples of his music including Schubert's, "Ave Maria." He is coming to the states in May and, of course, will be spending three days in Houston.

Via J

Duo of Vivaldi, "Summer"

I was just listening to Vivaldi's, "Four Seasons," this morning so this short YouTube movement with guitar and violin is definitely impressive and refreshing:

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You love me how deep?

Amazing Glass Harp Player_1 - The funniest videos clips are here

Paganini's Daemon

Nicola Paganini (1782 - 1840) was a true "Rock Star" for his time and was said to be possessed by the devil. I watched this excellent (9 part) documentary last night and now have a new respect for the Italian violinist, and composer. Some of the segments are nice and short, and the music is amazing:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

Hazardous Scores

I don't know if this is artwork or a joke but if it is meant to be music it looks pretty incredible:

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Amazing Beethoven

A short YouTube of classical pianist Claudio Arrau playing Beethoven Appassionata Sonata Movementt 3, live in concert, 1965.

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Rachmaninov had big Hands

I like this YouTube video because it combines two of my favorite things: classical music and comedy.

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Stringfever Bolero

This is a really cool video of four very talented guys playing one instrument:

Ravel's Bolero played by Stringfever, a quartet of electric strings players, on one cello.

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Duke Rightious' "C Minor Etude"

What a beautiful and simple song.

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The Goldberg Variations

This is Glenn Gould playing Bach's Goldberg Variations. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I admit that I have grown to enjoy and appreciate this group of works. I was thrilled to find this video on Google.

If you cannot see the video try and click here.

Peo Kindgren Plays Loving You

What a nice little song.

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Kotaro Oshio

This little guy is amazing.

How can a five year old be so talented?

Classical Orchestra

There is NOT one thing that I Don't love about this video! In fact, I think I will watch it again, and then one more time just for good luck!!!

Classical Guitar

In case you were wondering, this is what real guitar playing sounds like:



I only wish we had the whole song!