Top 100s

There is a website/blog that compiles lists of things related to music:
http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com

My husband stumbled upon a list today and it really made me think, who are my top classical composers? what are the top 100 classical symphonies? etc.

Here are the website's 100 Greatest Classical Composers (http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best-classic-comp.html):

1. Ludwig Van Beethoven - 1770-1827 2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - 1756-1791 3. Johann Sebastian Bach - 1685-1750 4. Richard Wagner - 1813-1883 5. Joseph Haydn - 1732-1809 6. Johannes Brahms - 1833-1897 7. Franz Schubert - 1797-1828 8. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - 1840-1893 9. George Frideric Handel - 1685-1759 10. Igor Stravinsky - 1882-1971 11. Robert Schumann - 1810-1856 12. Frederic Chopin - 1810-1849 13. Felix Mendelssohn - 1809-1847 14. Claude Debussy - 1862-1918 15. Franz Liszt - 1811-1886 16. Antonin Dvorak - 1841-1904 17. Giuseppe Verdi - 1813-1901 18. Gustav Mahler - 1860-1911 19. Hector Berlioz - 1803-1869 20. Antonio Vivaldi - 1678-1741 21. Richard Strauss - 1864-1949 22. Serge Prokofiev - 1891-1953 23. Dmitri Shostakovich - 1906-1975 24. Béla Bartók - 1881-1945 25. Anton Bruckner - 1824-1896 26. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - 1525-1594 27. Claudio Monteverdi - 1567-1643 28. Jean Sibelius - 1865-1957 29. Maurice Ravel - 1875-1937 30. Ralph Vaughan Williams - 1872-1958 31. Modest Mussorgsky - 1839-1881 32. Giacomo Puccini - 1858-1924 33. Henry Purcell - 1659-1695 34. Gioacchino Rossini - 1792-1868 35. Edward Elgar - 1857-1934 36. Sergei Rachmaninoff - 1873-1943 37. Camille Saint-Saëns - 1835-1921 38. Josquin Des Prez - c.1440-1521 39. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - 1844-1908 40. Carl Maria von Weber - 1786-1826 41. Jean-Philippe Rameau - 1683-1764 42. Jean-Baptiste Lully - 1632-1687 43. Gabriel Fauré - 1845-1924 44. Edvard Grieg - 1843-1907 45. Christoph Willibald Gluck - 1714-1787 46. Arnold Schoenberg - 1874-1951 47. Charles Ives - 1874-1954 48. Paul Hindemith - 1895-1963 49. Olivier Messiaen - 1908-1992 50. Aaron Copland - 1900-1990

51. Francois Couperin - 1668-1733 52. William Byrd - 1539-1623 53. Erik Satie - 1866-1925 54. Benjamin Britten - 1913-1976 55. Bedrick Smetana - 1824-1884 56. César Franck - 1822-1890 57. Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin - 1872-1915 58. Georges Bizet - 1838-1875 59. Domenico Scarlatti - 1685-1757 60. Georg Philipp Telemann - 1681-1767 61. Anton Webern - 1883-1945 62. Roland de Lassus - 1532-1594 63. George Gershwin - 1898-1937 64. Gaetano Donizetti - 1797-1848 65. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - 1714-1788 66. Archangelo Corelli - 1653-1713 67. Thomas Tallis - 1505-1585 68. Jules Massenet - 1842-1912 69. Johann Strauss II - 1825-1899 70. Leos Janácek - 1854-1928 71. Guillaume de Machaut - 1300-1377 72. Alban Berg - 1885-1935 73. Alexander Borodin - 1833-1887 74. Vincenzo Bellini - 1801-1835 75. Charles Gounod - 1818-1893 76. Francis Poulenc - 1899-1963 77. Giovanni Gabrieli - 1554-1612 78. Pérotin - 1160-1225 79. Heinrich Schütz - 1585-1672 80. John Cage - 1912-1992 81. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi - 1710-1736 82. John Dowland - 1563-1626 83. Gustav Holst - 1874-1934 84. Dietrich Buxtehude - 1637-1707 85. Ottorino Respighi - 1879-1936 86. Guillaume Dufay - 1400-1474 87. Hugo Wolf - 1860-1903 88. Carl Nielsen - 1865-1931 89. William Walton - 1902-1983 90. Darius Milhaud - 1892-1974 91. Orlando Gibbons - 1583-1625 92. Giacomo Meyerbeer - 1791-1864 93. Samuel Barber - 1910-1981 94. Tomás Luis de Victoria - 1549-1611 95. Léonin - 1135-1201 96. Manuel de Falla - 1876-1946 97. Hildegard von Bingen - 1098-1179 98. Mikhail Glinka - 1804-1857 99. Alexander Glazunov - 1865-1936 100. Don Carlo Gesualdo - 1566-1613

There are a lot of things about this list I like: 1. it exists, 2. the first 20 or so composers are some of the most influential in the Western Music repertoire, 3. Scriabin is not in the top 50.
However, there a few elements to this list that I must say I am not fond of. Here are the stipulations on which the list was created:

"Criteria: - Composers are ranked for their innovation and influence, as well as their aesthetic importance and historical significance."

Based on these criteria, I have to diagree with the oder of the top 10 composers. First of all, I don't think that the top 10 composers I'd pick would be able to be listed in order. I think the top 10, probably more, should be considered tied and not listed as one being better than the other. My "Top 10" would be:
Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, George Frideric Handel, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Giuseppi Verdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Claudio Monteverdi.
To be honest, any composer responsible for forming a standard form or new period of music deserves to be listed in a "Best Composer" list without numbers. However, I do admire those people that are able to measure one composer's achievements against another. I see creating standard sonata form and affirming the structure of a symphony as two incomparable feats and I don't know how productive it is measure achievements like that against one another.

Seattle Opera

I just heard about the Opera's season this year: 3 Verdi operas and 1 new opera that the Seattle Opera commissioned called Amelia. I love Verdi operas! They are so entertaining. I'm really interested in the commissioned opera though.
I had a meeting with the Direct Sales Manager, Dan Murphy, today and he was telling me that Amelia sort of reflects Amelia Earhart's life. And, unintentionally, the movie "Amelia" premiers around the same time that the opera does. Here's the overview from the Seattle Opera's website:

"A first time mother-to-be, whose psyche has been scarred by the loss of her pilot-father in Vietnam, must break free from anxiety to embrace healing and renewal for the sake of her husband and child in this original story unfolding over a 30-year period beginning in 1966. Amelia interweaves one woman’s emotional journey, the American experience in Vietnam, and elements of the Daedalus and Icarus myth to explore man’s fascination with flight and the dilemmas that arise when vehicles of flight are used for exploration, adventure, and war. With an intensely personal libretto by American poet Gardner McFall (The Pilot’s Daughter), whose father was a Navy pilot lost during Vietnam, this new American opera moves from loss to recuperation, paralysis to flight, as the protagonist, Amelia, ultimately embraces her life and the creative force of love and family."

I haven't been able to see a professional opera company perform yet. I hope that my husband and I can make the trip to the opera sometime this year.

Our Neighbors Smoke

We have an apartment above some people who smoke at least 5 times a day. Most of the those 5 times are right beneath our window or in the staircase that leads to our apartment. Our apartment gets really stuffy really easily so we like to keep our windows open. This has been problematic since the neighbors below us moved in and starting smoking outside our window. I don't know if I believe every statistic I've heard about secondhand smoke, but I do believe this:

"Between 70% and 90% of non-smokers in the American population, children and adults, are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. It is estimated that only 15% of cigarette smoke gets inhaled by the smoker. The remaining 85% lingers in the air for everyone to breathe. If a person spends more than two hours in a room where someone is smoking, the nonsmoker inhales the equivalent of four cigarettes." - from the University of Minnesota's website

I do not think that smokers are bad people - I know a few really good people that smoke. I do wish that smokers would be more considerate at public universities and around our apartment complex, though. However, I appreciate the freedom we have to smoke, and many other freedoms we are granted, so I will tolerate the secondhand smoke to a certain degree.

I will be glad when it starts to rain here for many reasons. One of them being that our neighbors might smoke less in front our apartment and in our stairwell. I wouldn't mind if they smoked outside our windows just once in a while. It's only because we have to deal with it 4 to 5 times a day, and that's on a low-smoke day, that we are getting irked. Oh well, could be worse. They could be smoking something other than cigarettes.

Here is a Mahler caricature to enjoy:

It's over!

Testing is done, now it's just a matter of waiting for the results. I feel really good about the music history exam and the sight singing, but I'm not too sure about theory... We'll see.

A week from today, the Autumn quarter begins at UW. After living in Seattle for almost 2 months, my husband and I soon will be Huskies! Yay Huskies! For those of you that don't know, the mascot of UW, an Alaskan Malamute named Dubs, has his own blog. You should check it out, it's really cute: http://huskymascot.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow I am going to be practicing madly for ensemble auditions. As far as I know, the only audition I'm aware of covers only Wind Ensemble and Orchestra, but I also want to audition for Jazz Band. I wouldn't mind playing in a Jazz Band again. As long as everyone learns their parts it's really fun to be in the environment and who knows, I might actually learn to solo.

I'm too brain dead to do any serious posting (yay diagnostic tests), so here's another cartoon about Mahler and his symphonies:

Graduate Placement Exams

Tomorrow is the day. All 40 incoming graduate students for UW's School of Music will gather to be tested on Music Theory, Music History and Sight Singing. I don't have anything significant to post tonight. I just have a request for prayers in the morning as my husband and I take all of the tests we are given. Thank you all for your support. Good night!

Gustav Mahler cartoon:

Mahler's Symphony No. 3, Movement 1. Kräftig entschieden

The opening of Mahler's Third Symphony is best when it is performed as he scored it to be played, "Kräftig entschieden." Kräftig means vigorous or forceful and entschieden means firm or decisive. Used as a phrase to describe how to perform the music, I understand the translation from German into English as "Forcefully. Decisively." While I am not terribly familiar with all of Mahler's Third Symphony, I am married to a trombonist, so I know where all of the crucial solos for the low brass are.
The first movement of the symphony is a brutal battle of fanfares and horn calls. The opening horn call begins the ensemble dialogue and the trombones are quick to respond with a depressing sigh. Later on the trumpets come in with a short, nasally fanfare, then the trombones come back in followed by the horns, then the trumpets, then the trombones, and so on and so on. The rough and tumble attitude of the work doesn't relax for more than a few minutes, which in a 35 minutes movement isn't much time at all. There is nothing subtle about the first movement and there shouldn't be. Mahler didn't write it that way. Lorin Maazel's recording with the New York Philharmonic is especially vigorous and decisive. I can get behind the trumpets when they play their fanfares and I can follow the horns when they give their call to regroup. I have only begun my journey into Mahler's Third Symphony and I'm already excited. :)

Short excerpt of the movement on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpN-GYEdKKs

Trumpet

I want a new trumpet, and not another used trumpet that is just new to me. I want a brand new trumpet that doesn't have valve issues or sticky valve slides if I don't use steel wool on them once in a while. There are a few trumpets that I have considered, all of which I cannot afford. So, I'll let this blog just be my fantasy trumpet collection. :)

#1: Bach Model LR180S37 (Stradivarius Reverse Tuning Bb Trumpet)

"Stradivarius" - .459" Medium-large bore, lightweight body, standard weight yellow brass one-piece hand-hammered #37 bell, reverse construction #25LR mouthpipe, monel pistons, silver-plate finish."

#2: Generation III C Trumpet; .462" bore

The Generation III C Trumpet works exceptionally well in the orchestral setting. The sound and blend of these new instruments is unparalleled.

The Gen III C Trumpet offers an integral leadpipe system which allows a player to change leadpipes efficiently. This design creates improved stability throughout the harmonic series compared to non-modular trumpets. Generation III Bells are handcrafted (one-piece) in yellow brass available with either 4 7/8" or 5 1/4" bell flares. Valve sections are constructed with nickel silver pistons in either vented or non-vented valves. Vented valves create an effortless approach to using the first and third valve slides as they move freely whether the pistons are in the up or down position. They seal as well as standard valves and possess the same playing characteristics as a standard valve set. The Generation III tuning slide is oval in shape. This unique design allows the instrument to play very even in all registers. It also allows the extreme upper register to respond faster than on standard instruments.

#3: Stomvi Professional: Elite: Elite A/Bb Piccolo Trumpet; Model #5706

• Leadpipe: #8 & #9A
• Bell: #18
• Bore: M
• Bell (weight): Standard
• Bell (material): Yellow brass
• Bell (diameter): 110 mm
• Bell (system): Standard
• Moutpiece receiver: Standart
• Valve Section (material): Yellow brass
• Valve Section (weigh): Standart
• Valve (material): Monel
• Caps: Brass
• Finish: Silver Plated 1000 Thousandth
• Finger hook: 3rd slide.

  

#4: Getzen Bb Fluegelhorn

The 3895 Custom Series flugelhorn is a completely new design built around a small (.420") bore valve set featuring nickel silver valve balusters and our famous, nickel silver pistons. By far, the most important advancement of this design is the all new, revolutionary first branch (bell to valve set). This new branch has been nicknamed the "Tone Branch" because of the dramatic effect it has had on this flugel, making the 3895 perhaps the most in tune flugelhorn ever built.








#5: Newly-Designed Long Model Four-hole System Baroque Trumpet
Naumann Baroque Trumpets are hand-crafted by Andrew Naumann, President and CEO of Schilke Music in Chicago. Naumann trumpets are available in both 3- and 4-hole models with two bell models, J.L. Ehe, II (ca. 1720) and J.W. Haas (ca. 1720).
Crooks are offered in keys from low A thru Eb in half steps (a=440 Hz). Each Naumann Trumpet comes with a standard set of four crooks (Cb, C, Db, D). Crooks built in other tunings (ex. A=430) are available but considered a special order with an additional charge.
This Newly-designed Baroque Trumpet is a the best 4-hole instrument to come out of the Naumann workshop. The trumpet has an Ehe II bell and includes crooks, leadpipes, and yards in four keys (Cb,C,Db and D), a custom case and mouthpiece. The case is a hard shell case built specifically for this instrument.



As a trumpet player there are other instruments I will need (A D/E-flat trumpet and a F trumpet), but for now any or all of these would be nice. :)

Mel Brooks and his musicals

I am a big musical fan. Something about the spontaneity of the songs and the upbeat attitude of my favorite numbers really resonate with my positive outlook on life and makes me feel happier than I was before. That is to say, some musicals lift me up. Others, just make me laugh!

I fell in love with Mel Brooks' work when I saw Blazing Saddles as a teenager. I didn't understand more than a third of the references to the different cultural, or sexual, things that were mentioned, but I was thoroughly riveted by the silly plot of the movie existing within a movie (which we don't find out until the end of the movie, also funny). Everytime I watch it I catch more references and I learn more about Mel Brooks' inside jokes. For instance, he uses the melody from "Springtime for Hitler" from his musical, The Producers, to introduce a German performer in Blazing Saddles. He also casts the same actors in multiple films. In Blazing Saddles and History of the World, Part One, Dom Deluise, Madeline Kahn, and Harvey Korman are all featured. Another one of my favorite Mel Brooks movies is The Producers. Both the modern version and the original are good, but I really love Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock.

Quick bit of music info:
Anton Bruckner had a musical program in mind for his Fourth Symphony. Here is a quote from The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner:
"In the first movement of the "Romantic" Fourth Symphony the intention is to depict the horn that proclaims the day from the town hall! Then life goes on; in the Gesangsperiode [the second subject] the theme is the song of the great tit (a European bird), Zizipe. 2nd movement: song, prayer, serenade. 3rd: hunt and in the Trio how a barrel-organ plays during the midday meal in the forest."