Day Dream Music

While the great classic music of centuries goes unheralded in this Millennium by the greater proportion of the world’s people it seems an unlikely source has given rise too a new age of classical music appreciation. Reality television shows across the world are starting to have a common thread, and that is the discovery of sopranos, with the original being the Scottish recluse Susan Boyle who wowed audiences worldwide with her amazing performances in fine Soprano voice bringing many classic songs back into the public spotlight.

Now the show America’s Got Talent has unveiled the nine year old sensation Jackie Evancho. Her performances on YouTube had bought her prominence to a limited and enthusiastic fan base but she stepped into the limelight of the world when she appeared in AGT. If you are not familiar with Jackie I suggest you get some free music by her and be amazed by her raw talents.

Her appearance like Boyle’s belies her abilities and with societies current fascination with image when a person doesn’t fit the ideal body shape or age many seemed shocked that someone without supermodel looks can actually do something besides adore PYT’s the community is agog.

Jackie Evancho is a sweet, cute and young American girl that seemingly has been giving the voice of an angel, however classical music is littered with infants blessed with amazing gifts and she is not the first and will not be the last. Her talent should be cherished though and it is pleasing to see recognition go to someone so deserving

Her performance of Ave Maria was marvelous and her range perfect. Naysayers are appearing from all over to claim that she is fake and state that her mature voice is not possible. No matter what is said she is the real deal and will perform at the prestigious Carnegie Hall later this year. We at Day Dream Music think that is wonderful that a Renaissance of classic music has come to pass, no matter if it was by a nine year old on reality talent show.

Below is video of Jackie Evancho performing the song Ave Maria on America’s Got Talent:

André Rieu was born in the Netherlands and raised into a musical family with a huge Christian influence. Like so many of his counterparts he was attracted by the sounds of the symphony at a tender age. His father was a conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra of the Limburg province for over three decades and his example inspired a young Andre Rieu to learn the violin aged just five years old.

His fascination for classical music grew when his appreciation for the complexities of the orchestra expanded rapidly throughout his youth. Luminaries such as Herman Krebbers and Jo Juda schooled him on the violin and in his early to mid twenties he attended the Brussels Music Academy and studied with André Gertler for four years.

Rieu became assured of his talents by praiseworthy performances at his University in particular the waltz. He formed the Johann Strauss Orchestra and along with twelve other musicians helped garner attention for the waltz in the 20^th century with their rock star swagger. I advise you get free music by André Rieu and hear the superior orchestration that he places into the performances.

Today he travels the world and plays to sell out stadiums and has fans of all ages, socio-economic backgrounds and nationalities adoring his optimistic approach to life and music.With his Stradivarius violin in tow he is now accompanied by as many as fifty full time musicians and is hailed as The Waltz King.

One wonders if Mozart was alive in modern times, would of he appeared, like André Rieu, in shopping malls and on daytime soaps expounding the wonders of classical music? In a world in need of peace to its soul, the answer would surely be in the affirmative.

Below is a video of André Rieu performing Shostakovich’s Second Waltz:

The Kronos Quartet was founded by current member and violinist David Harrington in 1973. Today they consist of Harrington, John Sherba (violin), Hank Dunk (viola) and Jeffrey Zeigler (cello). They have released a total of over forty studio albums and are embraced around the planet for the inclusiveness and the philosophical depth of the themes embraced in their music.

They have composed over 650 string quartets, performed almost 4,000 concerts, collected a Grammy, won the coveted Musicians of the Year award from Musical America, taken home seven first prize ASCAP awards and the Edison Awards in both classical and popular music.

It is the ability to extract the premium parts of many diverse genres and artists that have seen them sell almost two million albums, a truly outstanding feat for a classical group in the age when pop, rock, country, R&B and rap music saturates the modern music market. I suggest you go online and download music by them if you have lost faith in modern classical music artists.

Inspiration comes from artists such as Shostakovich, John Adams, Alfred Schnittke, Webern, Jimmy Hendrix, John Zorn and Charles Mingus to name a few. The basis of their highly unorthodox yet affective style can be traced back to 1973 when Harrington heard Black Angels the work of the compelling George Crumb for the first time.

In more recent times they have become popular to a new audience with scores included in films such as Lord of the Rings and Requiem for a Dream. They are more than an American Quartet they are an American institution.

Below is a video of The Kronos Quartet performing Foxy Lady:

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a great Russian composer of the Soviet period and is one of the most celebrated of the last century. He achieved fame in his native country under the support of Mikhail Tukhachevsky the chief of staff to Leon Trotsky. He was officially denounced twice during the Stalinist administration and was periodically banned but despite this he always remained popular.

He was initially influenced by Stravinsky and Prokofiev but then developed a hybrid style culminating in his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District in 1934. His work is characterized by elements of the sharp contrasts and a subliminal grotesque nature. If you are not familiar with his styles I suggest you get some free music by the master and listen to his many textures.

In his life he produced many works including fifteen symphonies and six concerti for the orchestra, a piano quintet, fifteen string quartets, two piano trios and two string octets for the chamber ensemble, many preludes, fugues and sonatas for the piano, two complete operas and full body of scores for film in which he was a pioneer.

Shostakovich was a childhood prodigy and as immediately as after his first piano lesson at the age of eight it was known that he was destined to live a life of a composer and pianist of high regard. His political persuasion of his youth towards Bolshevism also led him towards acclaim within the Communist Party whom had just taken over the reigns of Russia. His connections to Trotsky were at first beneficial but became a hindrance when his foe became an Enemy of the State in future years.

Initially Dmitri did not win over critics with his style and was critiqued for his seemingly unemotional but technically gifted performances. In Warsaw however he impressed the people that mattered and famed conductor Bruno Walter was so impressed by his First Symphony that he performed it in Berlin. Also integral to Shostakovich in Warsaw was his meeting with Ivan Sollertinsky who introduced the young man to music that would influence his latter works, for instance the presence of Gustav Mahler can be found from his Fourth Symphony onwards.

Shostakovich found trouble with his music not falling into party guidelines during the late 1920′ s and 1930’s and he retreated to work within the confines of the film industry until the completion of his celebrated Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District saw him lauded as penning an opera that “could have been written only by a Soviet composer brought up in the best tradition of Soviet culture.”

As with many, his mortality consumed his thoughts in the latter part of his life and this filtered into the major portion of his works, most notably the Fourteenth Symphony. A steady diet of vodka and cigarettes would lead to his slow deterioration and eventually his death in 1975.

His influence in the world outside of his homeland is minimal, however in the land that knew him best, he is spoken of with the most reverent of tongues and  esteemed among the true masters of classical music.

Below is a video of Andre Rieu playing Shostakovich’s Second Waltz:

Sergei Rachmaninoff is widely considered to be one of the top 5 composers hailing from Russia. If possible,  find free music downloads of Rachmaninoff and listen to the Russian Master pour his whole being into his compositions.

His work began around age 17, though he did not begin his adventure into discovering music until age 9. At that time, his father had left him due to his troubles with alcohol. Sergei, in spite of this, would spell his name differently in efforts to establish himself uniquely and not that of his father’s offspring.

Due to his fathers troubles, Sergei quickly became a problematic youth. Despite efforts of strict punishment and consequence, it was only until Sergei discovered the piano he would find peace as a child. His talents grew immensely as he practiced nothing else and was submitted into the School Of Music in Williamsburg. Skyrocketing past his peers within the school, Rachmaninoff’s talent had his professors pushing his limits and had him experimenting, writing his own pieces. He would graduate the school early in the year 1892.

He met Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Moscow as a youth, and he became an important mentor and commissioned the teenage Rachmaninoff to arrange a piano transcription of the suite from his famous work The Sleeping Beauty.

Though Sergei was able to add other instruments into his arrangements, all of his 145 compositions were based off his expertise as a pianist. His performances were world renown as he left Russia to play in America. His stature allowed him to play without citizenship, but to return only once per season for an exclusive performance.

In the year of 1943, Rachmaninoff passed away only five days after having received American citizenship. His compositions are still renowned and hold a high place in the world of classical music.

I feel his greatest works are Morceaux de fanaisie,  Piano Concerto 2, Piano Concerto 3 and Vocalise.

Below is video of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa singing Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise:

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was a baroque composer born in Germany in the same year as other notables JS Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. He travelled to Italy to receive his musical training and then headed for London where he became a naturalized British subject. Not Boring, Honestly claim that he also “found long-term favor with the new Hanoverian monarchy.”

His mostly remembered for his works Messiah, which is still debated fervently online today at Titus One Nine , Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music. He was so well traveled that it is said on Suite 101 that he first performed his famous Messiah in Dublin, Ireland in 1742, a hard sea journey for those times. I got free music downloads of all these great compositions, which made me wonder how Handel would feel about the instantaneous accessibility that the world now enjoys of his music.

His father that hoped he would pursue a career in Civil Law was alarmed at the interest his son showed in music and forbade to play any musical instrument but was disobeyed. Upon Handel gaining notice for his musical proficiency, he was later permitted to take further musical instruction.

He was influenced in style by the great composers of Italian baroque and the Englishman Henry Purcell and in turn was influential with future composers Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn.

Among Handel’s compositions are 42 operas, more than 120 cantatas, duets and trios along with 16 organ concerti, large scores of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, chamber music and several arias.

His work as a politician as well as being a generous philanthropist as noted by Nile Guide, sits alongside his stature as masterful classical musician.

Below is video of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing Handel’s Messiah:

Born into a middle class family in Russia, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) is most famous for his works the ballets Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty, I advise that you download music from Tchaikovsky today to familiarize yourself with the classic master  . When people remember him the 1812 Overture is close to their memories alongside his first Piano Concerto and the last 300 of his numbered symphonies and the opera Eugene Onegin.

He studied law as well as music classes in St Petersburg during his youth. At the age of 26 he obtained a position as teacher of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory and from here he began his extensive body of compositions which were met with mixed reaction by pianists of the day. His family had hoped that he would take a career as a civil servant but despite this he pursued a career in music. The Western influenced training he received from the St Petersburg Conservatory stood him apart the local nationalistic movement

In 1876 Tchaikovsky was employed by Madam Nadejda von Meck who granted him an annual allowance of six hundred pounds which was the main part of his income for the next fourteen years allowing him to focus on the production of his works.

He toured extensively throughout Europe and the U.S. to much enthusiasm and success in the large cities of each country he visited.

Tchaikovsky enjoyed much success in his professional life but he was dogged personally by his emotional insecurity, failed marriages and questions of repressed sexual appetites. Rumours concerning suicide were common at the time of his death aged 53 but it was attributed to cholera.

His music is still popular today and was dismissed by critics for being to vulgar and lacking in structured and mature thought. Now his name is synonymous with being a significant composer.

Below is a video of Kirov Ballet performing The Nutcracker:

Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) was born in Austria, raised in a musical family and throughout his childhood received many hours of formal musical tutelage. Nowadays he is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, however in his time he was basically unrecognized and was unable to gain full or adequate employment in his desired field. According to Einfopedia.com , he was kept by a close circle of admirers and family who realized his talent. Listen to some of his works at Kazaa, where it is free download music week.

The Austrian composer wrote over 600 Lieder, nine symphonies, operas, a large body of chamber music, many solo piano music pieces, liturgical music, and the now famous Unfinished Symphony. (Source: Daily Piano Sheets.) In the limited body of work he produced, due to his premature death, the debate still rages today over his standing among the great classic music composers. On Vintage Ludwig, the question of if he would be esteemed greater than Beethoven highlights the impact his music still has today.

Franz Schubert left many works unfinished and was hampered throughout his life by his illness. The application of mercury left him in much despair, he is quoted summing up his dire situation “Even evening when I retire to bed, I hope I may not wake again; and each morning brings back yesterday’s grief.”
Schubert, 1824. Read more at Quotes and Quotations.

His piano playing was sublime and was summed up by his friend Albert Stadler who said, “To see and hear him play his own pianoforte compositions was a real pleasure. A beautiful touch, a quiet hand, clear, neat playing with full of insight and feeling.”

Schubert suffered greatly from feelings of inadequacy due to the fact that he would endless compare himself to Beethoven. His music is not grandeur and not always suitable for the large hall but mostly intimate, similar to the man who held his friendships very close to his heart.

Not until many decades after his death, at the age of 31, did interest swell in his work. Among his best works are The Great Symphony in C Major, Trout, The Unfinished Symphony, and Erlkönig.

Below is video of The State Symphony Orchestra of Tatarstan performing the 1st movement of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony:

The German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic era. He was raised in the world of music. His father was a double bass player who encouraged his son to take early lessons in piano, theory and composition. Early on his talents were quite apparent as he penned arrangements for his fathers orchestra and became popular in the local dance halls of the locality, today his music can still be found anywhere it is you can get free download music.

Leaving his birthplace of Hamburg, Johannes Brahms spent much of his life working in Vienna where he was a leading figure of the musical community. He is grouped together with Bach and Beethoven as one of the Three B’s of classical music.

As a virtuoso pianist he would give the first performance of his own work and he went on to compose several works for piano, symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles and for chorus and voice. He collaborated with leading pianist Clara Schumann on many works while her husband the composer and critic Robert Schumann declared Brahms a “young eagle”.

Renowned violinist Joseph Joachim partnered with Brahms on several works which are included among the staple modern concert repertoire still popular today.

While Brahms may have been a traditionalist he was regarded as an innovator. His aims at honoring the purity of respected German structure and advancing them into the Romantic phrase were achieved with timeless development.

While not highly regarded among his contemporaries due to the academic nature of his works, Brahms’ highly constructed compositions were the inspiration of a generation of future composers.

I feel his greatest works are Hungarian Dance No. 5, Symphony No. 3 – Poco Allegretto, Piano Trio No.1, Violin Concerto in D major and  Symphony No.2 in D Major.

Below is video of the Linda Yorba Symphony Orchestra performing Hungarian Dance No. 5:

Remembered fondly as a great composer Bach (1685 – 1750) was also an organist, violist and violinist whose religious and secular works for orchestra, choir and solo instruments bought Baroque into its ultimate prime. His form was not inventive, but an enhancement of the existing German style with a vigorous contrapuntal technique. Johann Sebastian Bach had unparalleled control of harmonic and motivic organization and his ability to rework the rhythms, textures and forms from overseas was unparalleled at the time.

His work is unique in its intellectual content, beauty and technical precision. Bach was not widely known as a composer of greatness in his lifetime but was hailed for his gift as an accomplished organist. Free music downloads of all his greatest pieces are available at Kazaa.

During the first half of the 19^th century his works sparked a revival of interest and there were many performances of his works during this period. Now he is known as the supreme composer of Baroque and one of the greatest classical composers of all time.

My personal favorite pieces of Bach are Air from Suite No.3 and Cello Suite No.1.

Below is Julian Lloyd Webber playing Air from Suite No.3: