Edward Elgar

Date: 01/25/14

Orchestra: chamber

Repertoire Rehearsed: Prokofiev and Elgar (two very impressive names for they both are known as composers of very difficult music)

Note:

With everyone, including myself, getting sick, chamber is having a bit of a late start. But let's put our gears back on!

The Elgar is a bit of an eccentric piece, in a sense that the emotional content of it is soooo repressed. as if there is a sadness blocking the piece to completely bloom. I explained the fact that Elgar was a composer living during one of the worst and ugliest periods of human history. When the entire world is seeking destruction, and death of another, where can beauty be found, but in your own imagination? Everywhere you look, you see death, and torture, and a scheme to over power another. Imagine what "beauty" means in such an environment. It is only but a fantasy. It does not actually exist - not to them. So music like this is not only pretty, but desperately needed, and at the same time, the repressiveness of this piece tells us that, this beauty is born out of sadness and despair, which in itself is a beautiful notion when looking at it objectively. But when we perform it, we need to BE desperate - desperate for quietude and peace, and beauty.

Imagine, then listen. Listen, then imagine.  

I'm not getting much help from the other group in terms of the selection to our rock songs, but I really do want us to get started by next week. There is a lot of benefits to be gotten from learning different formats and styles, and I mean to do it properly. So next week, we will discuss "how non-classical music generally works", and hope to have you experience actually "being" a non-classical musician!