Harmonics, or overtones, exist at the crossroads of music and physics. They are the components of sound that create color and timbre, and when isolated, they sound like an ethereal whistle. Like magnets, harmonics (to me!) seem almost magical and unexplainable, yet they are the most basic component of sound.
Q2 is proud to present Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra hosting Mexico at 200: A Journey Through Two Centuries of Mexican Symphonic Music. From Euro-centric waltzes to identity-seeking avant-gardists to the trend-setting composers of today, Mexico at 200 honors this year's Mexican Bicentennial by tracing the evolution ...
Choral music is my first love. Even though my voice broke in 1994, I still return to the emotional landscapes of Byrd, Tallis, Gibbons, Howells and Britten as a sort of home base for all of the music I write. In this four-part series on Q2, we explore a few centuries of (mainly) English choral music, ignoring, as the genre itself suggests, the better part of the 18th and 19th centuries. This is by no means comprehensive, but is, rather, my own strange itinerary through the pieces I adore.
Today, Henry Purcell and John Blow! Purcell is, I think, the last composer who was allowed to write such unstructured music; his long verse anthems and Te Deum are abstract, meandering and episodic pieces where each little bit of text is its own little étude. I think all of my problems as a composer — and all my delights — can be traced back to these capricious, difficult and charming pieces.
I live for cheesy mid-century choral music. Today: Herbert Howells and Charles Villiers Stanford.
Today, Benjamin Britten and other 20th Century luminaries. Is there anything better than his Te Deum in C? If you can make it through "...whom that hast redeemed with thy precious blood" without losing your mind, you are more dignified than I.
As of September 1, 2014, Hammered! is on hiatus.
Say hello to Hammered!, Q2 Music's hour-long, weekday program devoted the extraordinary breadth and ever-evolving repertoire of music for keyboard. From concert grand to disklavier, synthesizer to clavichord, prepared piano to toy piano, Hammered! shares musical colors from ebony to ivory and every shade in between.
Hammered! streams weekdays at 10 am on Q2 Music.
Harmonics, or overtones, exist at the crossroads of music and physics. They are the components of sound that create color and timbre, and when isolated, they sound like an ethereal whistle. Like magnets, harmonics (to me!) seem almost magical and unexplainable, yet they are the most basic component of sound.
Choral music is my first love. Even though my voice broke in 1994, I still return to the emotional landscapes of Byrd, Tallis, Gibbons, Howells and Britten as a sort of home base for all of the music I write. In this four-part series on Q2, we explore a few centuries of (mainly) English choral music, ignoring, as the genre itself suggests, the better part of the 18th and 19th centuries. This is by no means comprehensive, but is, rather, my own strange itinerary through the pieces I adore.
Today, Henry Purcell and John Blow! Purcell is, I think, the last composer who was allowed to write such unstructured music; his long verse anthems and Te Deum are abstract, meandering and episodic pieces where each little bit of text is its own little étude. I think all of my problems as a composer — and all my delights — can be traced back to these capricious, difficult and charming pieces.
I live for cheesy mid-century choral music. Today: Herbert Howells and Charles Villiers Stanford.
Today, Benjamin Britten and other 20th Century luminaries. Is there anything better than his Te Deum in C? If you can make it through "...whom that hast redeemed with thy precious blood" without losing your mind, you are more dignified than I.
As of September 1, 2014, Hammered! is on hiatus.
Say hello to Hammered!, Q2 Music's hour-long, weekday program devoted the extraordinary breadth and ever-evolving repertoire of music for keyboard. From concert grand to disklavier, synthesizer to clavichord, prepared piano to toy piano, Hammered! shares musical colors from ebony to ivory and every shade in between.
Hammered! streams weekdays at 10 am on Q2 Music.
