It was a Mahler Mash

[mahlermash]

Been a while

[saturnsdaughter]

I can barely conceive of a type of beauty in which there is no Melancholy.

Charles Baudelaire, 1821-1867

(via saturnsdaughter)

[mikrokosmos]

Bortkiewicz - Piano Concerto no. 2, for left hand, op.28

For those who have been following me for a while, I’m sure by now you’ve noticed my guilty pleasure: overblown Romantic piano concertos. Some of my favorites in the repertoire are the ones that tend to be ignored in favor of works by more popular composers. One of these “guilty pleasure” favorites of mine is notable for the fact that it’s a “lefty” piano concerto. One of the more well known incidences in 20th century music history is the case of Paul Wittgenstein, an Austrian concert pianist who lost his right arm in WWI. Instead of giving up and finding a new career, Wittgenstein worked on developing his technique and modifying works that he could play with just his left hand. He also commissioned different composers to write concert works for him. From this, we get the most famous contribution: Ravel’s Lefty Piano Concerto in Db. Prokofiev submits his fourth piano concerto, and Britten submits his Diversions for piano and orchestra. There were a few other works written for Wittgenstein that are neglected more often than these three. Ironically, this one was one of Wittgenstein’s favorites, and he performed it until his death in 1961. This concerto is much more in the Romantic style, but does push the limits of harmony with it’s free use of chromatics. It also makes use of double function form: the work is a four-movements-in-one half an hour sonata movement, like Liszt’s Sonata in b minor. And the writing is incredible: I’m sure that, unless you didn’t already read this paragraph, you would never guess that this was played with one hand tied behind the pianist’s back!

[galina-motif-blog]

[galina-motif-blog]

Ravel, Introduction and Allegro

[expressions-of-nature]

Holuhraun Volcano Eruption, Iceland by Lurie Belegurschi

[melodyandviolence]

Jordan by  doyoutravel

[mahlermash]

ugh och nu låter jag som en gnällspik. 

[mahlermash]

Behöver bara få något ut

Hmmm jag glömde hur nyttig det här webplats kan vara. Det verkar att det funkar bra som ett terapist. När jag var aupair var det bra att lugna ner mig från INGRID . Men nu har jag en annat problem.

Så Linnéa har gjorde slut med mig. Typ. Vi gick på ett kapelet fest och då sammanfattningsvis henne sa att, “Mycket har hant i mitt liv och vi skulle ta det lugnt” som jag tyckte var ganska tråkigt men ändå bestämde jag att det menade inte att hon inte är intresserade längre. Som jag trodde.

Då jag försökte hälsa på henne i Stockholm efter mitt intervju. Och hon verkade vara jätte positiv men på denne samma dag sa henne att hon hinner inte att träffas. Så nu tror jag att vi är slut och jag känner helt sorlig över det. 

Jag trodde att under sista fyra månader att vi var typ ihop. Att vi tar bara ett paus från varandra och jag kommer tillbaks. Och det verkade vara så från henne också.

Jag fattar inte vad hon trodde vi gjorde under sista månader. Och jag fattar inte hur jag kunde har varit så oerhört naivé att jag kunde tror att någon skulle kanske vara i ett förhållande med mig. Och när jag pratade med henne för ett lång tid skulle hon skicka mig att meddelande som sa att vi har inte pratat för ett tag och hur jag är. Till mig det menar någonting. Men tydligen inte.

Jag vill inte utrycka mig som förbannad. Jag är inte arg. Jag är bara frustrerad att jag har slösat tid för ingen anledning.

[mikrokosmos]

Tchaikovsky - Piano Trio in a minor, op.50

[cinemagorgeous]

Engine Maintenance by concept artist Mac Rebisz.

[russianarthistory-blog]

Konstantin Somov

Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1925

[mikrokosmos]

D’Indy - Symphony no. 3 “Sinfonia Brevis de Bello Gallico”

[solitaryfossil]

Legendary Dutch conductor William Mengelberg’s score of the Fourth Symphony by Gustav Mahler, with both his and the composer’s notes. One of the annotations – in Mahler’s hand at the bottom of the page – indicates that the introduction of the famous, lilting first theme should be played like a Viennese waltz. This and other tempo markings, corrections and musical indications have proven to be critical to our understanding of this piece [not to mention to the modern performing edition].

Mengelberg was one of Mahler’s foremost advocates and invited him to Amsterdam numerous times to present his work at Concertgebouw. One of those visits, in 1904, was the occasion for a special double performance of the Fourth from which this score dates. Here are Mahler and Mengelberg two years later, with conductor and composer Alphonse Diepenbrock on the right:

[expressions-of-nature]

Antarctica by Robert Bingham

[underwire-radio-blog]

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, 1875

James Whistler

*this is my favourite painting. of all time. i saw it in person at the Detroit Institute of Arts last summer and it was in a room with van Gogh, and i felt utterly starstruck. i was moved to tears. holy shit, i thought, there it is. this version/saturation is most accurate to the original painting. god, it is beautiful.

[allthingseurope]

Uppsala, Sweden (by Henrik Sundholm)

[mikrokosmos]

Glinka-Balakirev - The Lark [arr. for piano]