Met my wife listening to this song 9 years ago. Just watched the boys play it last night. Still brings magic

A New Beginning

Alice Sara Ott (Steinway D piano) & Francesco Tristano (Yamaha CFX piano) live June 20, 2014 at Miyazaki Medikit Arts Center, Japan

Ravel Bolero (Francesco Tristano version for 2 pianos)

A small, blue edition of Hart Crane's masterpiece, The Bridge, has been living in my library for decades. The thought of doing something musically with it popped into mind now and then, but I never quite mustered the courage to do anything with it.  However, during the days of coronavirus driven isolation, when the importance of human connectedness, so aptly symbolized by the image of the bridge, had been hammered into our consciousness, the time had come. 

For those so inclined, read the poem. The Bridge, over the course of its 15 chapters, is an attempt to capture the essence of America in the 1920s, as Crane experienced it. I think he succeeded in capturing the complexities of America - from its violent beginnings as the culture of native Americans was crushed by expanding European cultures to the crass commercialism that erupted at the turn of the century (and still exists, in spades, today), tempered by the buoyant optimism and hope for mankind in spirits like Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and the American transcendentalists. But above all, the poem relies upon the Brooklyn Bridge as a symbol of connectedness, spanning the myriad of events across time and geography that culminate in what we are, wherever we are, today.

Crane’s poem attempted perhaps too much.  The span of the Brooklyn Bridge became a symbol of everything connected to everything else – the past to the present, urban America to rural America, a vast dream of America from its pre-European existence to the bustling America of big, industrial cities and great railroads spanning the continent.

In this music, the solo viola, in its middle range, spans between the musical soundscapes that represent the images evoked by the poem.  It reaches between the low and high instruments, between the dark, swirling eddies of water beneath the bridge to the searing sunlight, piercing the harp-like cables of the bridge, while seagulls soar overhead.  It also is the voice of the poem’s protagonist, seeking redemption in a violent and crassly commercial world.

Scattered, like leaves, in the music, are apparitions from the past – a fragment of a melody from a court composer to Ferdinand and Isabella, a made-up Irish gig, bits of jazz and flashes of tunes from the 1920s that Hart Crane would have heard during his days in New York.
 


Quaker Hill

M001-Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Adagio

Chopin "Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor"

Franz Clement (1780-1842)
World premiere recording

Franz Clement Violin Concerto in D major - II. Adagio

20. Oboe sonata in C minor - Giga-Presto

Grand Duo Concertant Op. 48 II. Andante con moto

Recorded August 8, 2012 by members of the Callithumpian Consort at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, VT.

String Quartet No. 3: IV. Presto

Everything Is Connected: Explore the music of CLOUD ATLAS - In Theaters October 26 
http://bit.ly/Tyd7BS

From:  Cloud Atlas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

http://smarturl.it/Clo

The Cloud Atlas Sextet For Orchestra

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Benedictus

Young Croatian cellists Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, known as 2CELLOS, achieved sensational success by taking the cello to a new level and breaking the boundaries between different genres of music. Their unique cello version of Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' took the world by storm. Within only a week, this YouTube video became a huge viral sensation leading to a record deal with Sony Masterworks and an invitation to join Elton John on his worldwide tour. 

Since then, the duo has appeared on major TV shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Ellen DeGeneres Show (multiple times), Lopez Tonight, TV Total with Stefan Raab and many others. 2CELLOS recently performed with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and are releasing their second album IN2ITION in January 2013. The album was produced by the legendary Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Deep Purple) and features an eclectic group of vocal and instrumental guests including Elton John, Steve Vai, Lang Lang, Naya Rivera and Zucherro. 

Benedictus

2CELLOS

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