The conductor and music director of the ASO, Maestro Leon Botstein, came to the stage. Building anticipation for the concert, he explained that tonight’s program featured musical works of American composers from the Roaring 20s. Botstein delivered a mini musicology introduction for each work. His words thus inspired listeners and brought the music to life, making it relevant, tangible, and understandable.
In the Trenches is fun and one feels just a bit sorry to see young adults leave behind their single, childless lives. But they muddle through and discover that raising a family is rewarding, time is fleeting and precious, and your single friends will have to deal with you and your yoga pants, PTA meetings, trips to the mall, a barking lab, and dinner moved up from 10 pm to 5 pm.
Some think 17th-century music is ancient, stuffy, or irrelevant, but polyphony and a capella music can touch the most cynical heart!
The Alexa Tarantino Quartet made the scene at the Birdland Jazz club. Alto saxophonist Tarantino brings the Bird back to Birdland with her smooth, mellow sound. She’s cool, relaxed, and versatile as she solos and trades with the best of them, allowing everyone to speak their own musical voices to songs in a great groove. She draws us into her world of energy, excitement, and romance. Her sound is soulful, rich, and as subtle and formidable as she commands.
The audience was packed with Douglas’ loyal followers. As she introduced songs and told anecdotes of her mingling with the likes of Dolly Parton, Lena Horne, or Roberta Flack, people nodded and smiled in affirmation. She projects a sentimental, nostalgic, and caring persona and each song she sings creates a warm, safe, embracing space. Balancing her view of life through song is her sense of humor, a sweet smile, and joie de vivre.
Be inspired by the timeless beauty of Madrigal music from the Renaissance period. Its intricate and polyphonic vocal harmonies have been admired for centuries, and the music of its most renowned composers is simply breathtaking!
Polyphonic in Music is the art of creating multiple independent melodic lines, each with its own rhythm, and is an inspirational and timeless technique. From the Renaissance to the 20th century and beyond, great composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Debussy have dazzled audiences with their intricate and beautiful polyphonic works.
Seth Rudesky hosted an event at Café Carlyle that, in the annals of theater, shall remain a night of incredible music, cherished remembrances, personal anecdotes, and Broadway history told by the artists who live it. It was indeed a biographical sojourn of epic artistic proportions.
Experiencing the ineffable, expressive unfolding of the music while seated among the musicians was, without exaggeration, an exalted, rapturous, and elegiac pluradimensional experience. The blinding radiance and pathos of these moments were to reoccur in the Symphony’s successive musical offerings slated for this evening.
As a denizen of midtown East, it’s been my pleasure to enjoy meals served locally at the Townhouse Diner in the Murray Hill neighborhood. With a friendly proprietor George and servers like Sarah, it’s a perfect place to visit for anyone who grew up in the northeast. Something is comforting, like grandma’s kitchen, about sitting in a booth in a warm, friendly place. All that’s missing these days are the mini jukeboxes once mounted on all diner tables.