Bloggerhythms

Writing about classical music is not in my wheelhouse. I don't feel as if I'm qualified to expound on it in any great detail, and I'm including the works I like. One of them is a concert recording by Virgil Fox, a slightly eccentric church organist from New York City who made a name for himself by applying modern techniques to his live, solo performances. Older, staid, classical music purists and devoted Johann Sebastian Bach aficionados weren't always fond of Fox's interpretations of the classical composer's music. The New York Times wrote that William F. Buckley said, Fox " must have figured that it was more important to fill the house with listeners who would hear Bach for the first time than worry about those who would resolve, like me, to have heard Fox for the last time." Bach Live at the Fillmore East , Fox's live, concert album that appealed to many young progressive-rock fans was recorded on December 1, 1970 and relea...

CMH Label Group , the independent record company that has issued dozens of string quartet tribute albums under the moniker Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) has covered artists as diverse as Slayer, Enya, Bon Jovi, Oasis, Warren Zevon, Bjork, Radiohead, Rush, Fleetwood Mac, and more. Even more recently they've released albums covering Lana Del Rey, Sigur Ros, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, and Kanye West. Tom Tally, a producer of over 50 VSQ albums  described VSQ's mission on Wikipedia. " Vitamin String Quartet is about applying rock n' roll attitude to classical technique."   Back in 2005 VSQ was responsible for a nice reworking of The Beach Boys' 1966 classic,  Pet Sounds. I   can't envision either string quartet fans or Slayer fans listening to classical arrangements of that band's work, but Pet Sounds is music that easily lends itself to a classical treatment. Despite the limitations of using only three string players and a percussionist the quartet's spars...

If you accuse me of writing this article as an excuse to feature Robert Lamm's composition, "A Hit By Varèse," a song that opened Chicago   V in 1972, you would be right.  Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) was an avant-garde, classical composer whose atonal music had a major affect on rock musicians - particularly Frank Zappa. The composer's "Ionisation" for thirteen musicians is the first ever all percussion piece written for a concert hall and it's a work that motivated Zappa to pursue a musical career. The eccentric rocker readily acknowledged he became obsessed with the composer's music. Lamm was apparently a fan too and Varèse's music was also an inspiration for two early Pink Floyd albums: Ummagumma and Atom Heart Mother . Varèse was also a pioneer in the field of electronic music and the usage of tape loops. His trailblazing work in two areas that are quite mainstream today helped him to acquire the moniker "Father of...

Most people are unaware of Jacques Loussier. He was an excellent French, jazz pianist and classical composer who passed away on March 5, 2019. Many years ago, without any knowledge of who they were, I picked up an album by the Jacques Loussier Trio, Play Bach, Vol. 3 (1963), from a woman who held large record sales in her cellar twice a year. Her bargain basement prices demanded that purchasers take an occasional risk with their cash and sometimes they paid off handsomely. I could go on forever about some of the gems I discovered there and Loussier's record was one of them. Since this was the 80s, after greatly enjoying the pianist's unique work, I purchased more of the trio's later albums on what was, at the time, the new and exciting CD format. (My, how times change). Until now I never knew a thing about Loussier. I just played his albums and that was the end of it. I only discovered he had a long, successful career when I saw his recent obituary on another music w...