Black Holes and Snowy Mountains

It is ironic that Brahms- champion of the conservative old guard against the so-called New German School led by Wagner and Liszt- patterned his Violin Concerto in D Major much on the same heroic idea that Wagner and Liszt held dear. However, Brahms’ vision of the soloist as hero is subdued; conquest via finesse and form rather than pure brute-force virtuosity itself. From the first defiant entry of the violin we know that a struggle is beginning, one that takes upwards of 22 minutes (in a standard performance) to resolve.

Dedicated to his close friend and violinist Joseph Joachim, it was premiered with Joachim as the soloist and Brahms conducting in Leipzig on January 1, 1879. The first movement is an incredibly complex interaction between the solo violin trying to find its way against a sometimes indifferent, sometimes downright belligerent orchestra. The second movement adagio is calm and simple (everything the first movement is not) while the third is a light-hearted rondo that combines traditional rondo form with, among other things, a Viennese Waltz and a Turkish March.
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Yesterday my roommate came in and told me to take a look at Todd McShay’s latest Mock Draft on ESPN’s Insider service. He said there was something “interesting.” It didn’t take me long to notice something funny about the Green Bay Packers’ mock pick:

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It is ironic that Brahms- champion of the conservative old guard against the so-called New German School led by Wagner and Liszt- patterned his Violin Concerto in D Major much on the same heroic idea that Wagner and Liszt held dear. However, Brahms’ vision of the soloist as hero is subdued; conquest via finesse and form rather than pure brute-force virtuosity itself. From the first defiant entry of the violin we know that a struggle is beginning, one that takes upwards of 22 minutes (in a standard performance) to resolve.

Dedicated to his close friend and violinist Joseph Joachim, it was premiered with Joachim as the soloist and Brahms conducting in Leipzig on January 1, 1879. The first movement is an incredibly complex interaction between the solo violin trying to find its way against a sometimes indifferent, sometimes downright belligerent orchestra. The second movement adagio is calm and simple (everything the first movement is not) while the third is a light-hearted rondo that combines traditional rondo form with, among other things, a Viennese Waltz and a Turkish March.
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Completed at the turn of the century in 1800, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major followed hot on the heels of Haydn and Mozart.  Unlike his predecessors, Beethoven presents his audience with unprecedented musical tricks- an ambiguous introduction to both the first and fourth movements, a “Minuet” that is much to fast for a dance movement, and orchestration (in particular the extensive use of wind instruments) that remainsfairly standard to the present day.

Dedicated to Baron van Swieten, one of Beethoven’s many patrons (who was also a patron of Mozart and Haydn), it was premiered on April 2, 1800 in Vienna.  It remained Beethoven’s most popular symphony in his lifetime.
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I was registering for something yesterday and came upon this captcha to confirm that I was a real person.
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I always like looking at GraphJam when I need a diversion, and only just now got around to creating one.
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Completed at the turn of the century in 1800, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in C Major followed hot on the heels of Haydn and Mozart. Unlike his predecessors, Beethoven presents his audience with unprecedented musical tricks- an ambiguous introduction to both the first and fourth movements, a “Minuet” that is much to fast for a dance movement, and orchestration (in particular the extensive use of wind instruments) that remainsfairly standard to the present day.

Dedicated to Baron van Swieten, one of Beethoven’s many patrons (who was also a patron of Mozart and Haydn), it was premiered on April 2, 1800 in Vienna. It remained Beethoven’s most popular symphony in his lifetime.
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Darren Rowse has posted his latest entry in the “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” series about Joining a Forum and Start Participating. A commenter asked experienced forum users to share some etiquette. Since much of my traffic comes from forums like MacRumors, I thought I would share some insight.

1. Tread lightly- do not immediately dive into a discussion about site mechanics, forum rules you don’t agree with, or get into direct disagreements with long-standing members about such things. You just come off as looking foolish, and you will start off on the wrong foot with basically everyone.
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Antonin Dvorak masterfully overcomes the challenges associated with pitting the solo cello against the symphony orchestra in his Cello Concerto No. 2 in B Minor, op. 104. Written in New York in 1894,it displays the composer’s heritage with Eastern European melodies and rhythms that still fit perfectly into the classical framework. He goes much deeper than being simply a nationalist composer; the second movement in particular can leave nobody untouched by its singular expressions of melancholy and grief while the great struggle he sets up between a chaotic, uncertain world and the lone hopeful voice of the solo instrument is universally identifiable.

Dvorak’s Cello Concerto even impressed his benefactor and advocate, the great Johannes Brahms. He is said to have exclaimed, “Why did I not know it was possible to write a cello concerto such as this? If I had known, I would have written one long ago!”
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Samuel Barber composed Knoxville: Summer of 1915 based on a short prose piece authored by James Agee. The opening sentence of the prose, “We are talking now of summer evenings in Knoxville, Tennessee in the time that I lived there so successfully disguised to myself as a child.” is unsung, but appears printed at the top of the score. Both the location and year are important; while the piece describes the sun setting slowly on a peaceful summer evening, the larger metaphor is that of darkness on the horizon despite constant reassurance. War raged in Europe, and the United States was determined to remain neutral. The American South, including Knoxville, was almost fully recovered from the death and destruction of the Civil War. Throughout the piece one gets the impression that the characters have had a long, tiresome day. The harmonies and rhythms are generally not energetic and take on a “sleepy” character. It is the long recovery from war that has worn the music out.

Barber’s musical imagery is very vivid throughout the work, meshing perfectly with the soloist (usually a soprano) who often sings a description of the sounds shortly after they are heard. Musical portrayals of a rocking chair, machinery, and prayer (among others) all figure prominently before the music itself falls into a deep trance.
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