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November Steps
is a musical composition by the Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu, for the traditional Japanese musical instruments, '' shakuhachi'' and '' biwa'', and western orchestra. The work was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, and premiered in November 1967 by the orchestra under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. Background In his early career, Takemitsu had been reluctant to make use of traditional Japanese music in his compositions, as he said this music "always recalled the bitter memories of war".Takemitsu, Tōru, "Contemporary Music in Japan", '' Perspectives of New Music'', vol. 27, no. 2, (Summer 1989), 3. He began experimenting with traditional Japanese instruments in the early 1960s, using them in the soundtrack to Masaki Kobayashi's 1962 film, ''Harakiri''. Other film soundtracks in which Takemitsu used traditional instruments include Shinoda's '' Assassination'' and Masaki Kobayashi's ''Kwaidan'' (both 1964). Takemitsu's first co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Definition The term is descended from Latin, ''compōnō''; literally "one who puts together". The earliest use of the term in a musical context given by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' is from Thomas Morley's 1597 ''A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music'', where he says "Some wil be good descanters ..and yet wil be but bad composers". 'Composer' is a loose term that generally refers to any person who writes music. More specifically, it is often used to denote people who are composers by occupation, or those who in the tradition of Western classical music. Writers of exclusively or primarily songs may be called composers, but since the 20th century the terms 'songwriter' or ' singer-songwriter' are more often used, particularl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katsuya Yokoyama
was a Japanese musician who played the ''shakuhachi'', a traditional vertical bamboo flute. Early life He was born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1934 and studied Kinko-ryu and Azuma styles of music with his father, Rampo Yokoyama, and grandfather, Koson Yokoyama. At the age of 25, Yokoyama began to study with Fukuda Rando, founder of the Azuma School and with Watazumi Doso, a legendary Fuke master who sought to synthesize shakuhachi music and spirituality within the context of Zen Buddhism. Guided by these two eminent masters, Yokoyama was able to combine the modernism of Rando with the deeply religious traditional spirit of Watazumido in his training. With this foundation, he came to develop a remarkably powerful and creative style that embodied both ends of the continuum. A descendant of the Kinko tradition transmitted down through the generations, he also pioneered a revolution in modern music that swept across post-War Japan. Career In 1960, Yokoyama completed his studies a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massey Hall
Massey Hall is a performing arts theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1894, it is known for its outstanding acoustics and was the long-time hall of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. An intimate theatre, it was originally designed to seat 3,500 patrons, but after extensive renovations in the 1940s, it now seats up to 2,765. It has an extensive history of concerts by artists of many musical genres which continues today. Massey Hall was a gift to the people of Toronto from industrialist Hart Massey. Massey Hall was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on June 15, 1981. The hall closed in July 2018 for a two-year-long renovation including a new seven-storey addition and two smaller concert rooms. It re-opened in 2021. It is operated by The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, a non-profit charitable organization. It is located at the intersection of Shuter and Victoria Streets, just east of Yonge Street, in downtown Toronto. History The idea of Masse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario, while the Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports and culture, and is recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest, for more than 10,000 years. After the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase, when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown, the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra (TSYO). The TSO's most recent music director was Peter Oundjian, from 2004 to 2018. Sir Andrew Davis, conductor laureate of the TSO, has most recently served as the orchestra's interim artistic director. Gustavo Gimeno is music director of the TSO, since the 2020–2021 season. History The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923 with 58 musicians. The first conductor was Luigi von Kunits, and that season there were twenty concerts, as well as a performance at a spring festival.Vyhnak, Carola. "Birth of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra". ''Toronto Star'', 14 June 2015, page A12. In the summer of 1924, the symphony performed at the Canadian Nati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets ''Appalachian Spring'', ''Billy the Kid'' and ''Rodeo'', his ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores. After some initial studies with composer Rubin Goldmark, Copland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''Anaklasis'' and ''Utrenja''. Penderecki's ''oeuvre'' includes four operas, eight symphonies and other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental concertos, choral settings of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works''.'' Born in Dębica, Penderecki studied music at Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Music in Kraków. After graduating from the Academy, he became a teacher there and began his career as a composer in 1959 during the Warsaw Autumn festival. His ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'' for string orchestra and the choral work ''St. Luke Passion'' have received popular acclaim. His first opera, ''The Devils of Loudun'', was not immediately successful. In the mid-1970s, Penderecki became a pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glissando
In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the continuous portamento. Some colloquial equivalents are slide, sweep (referring to the "discrete glissando" effects on guitar and harp, respectively), bend, smear, rip (for a loud, violent gliss to the beginning of a note), lip (in jazz terminology, when executed by changing one's embouchure on a wind instrument), plop, or falling hail (a glissando on a harp using the back of the fingernails). On wind instruments, a scoop is a glissando ascending to the onset of a note achieved entirely with the embouchure. Portamento Prescriptive attempts to distinguish the glissando from the portamento by limiting the former to the filling in of discrete intermediate pitches on instruments like the piano, harp, and fretted stringed instruments have run u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harpsichords, the plectra are attached to the jack mechanism. Plectra wielded by hand Guitars and similar instruments A plectrum for electric guitars, acoustic guitars, bass guitars and mandolins is typically a thin piece of plastic or other material most commonly shaped like a pointed teardrop or triangle, though the size, gauge, shape and width may vary considerably. Banjo and guitar players may wear a metal or plastic thumb pick mounted on a ring, and bluegrass banjo players often wear metal or plastic fingerpicks on their fingertips. Many guitarists use fingerpicks as well. Guitar picks are made of a variety of materials, including celluloid, metal, and rarely other exotic materials such as turtle shell, but today delrin (a synthetic t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeux
''Jeux'' (''Games'') is a ballet written by Claude Debussy. Described as a "poème dansé" (literally a "danced poem"), it was written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. Debussy initially objected to the scenario but reconsidered the commission when Diaghilev doubled the fee. Debussy wrote the score quickly, from mid-August to mid-September 1912. Robert Orledge has analysed the chronology of Debussy's composition and preserved manuscripts of the score. ''Jeux'' premiered on 15 May 1913 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, conducted by Pierre Monteux. The work was not well received and was soon eclipsed by Stravinsky's ''The Rite of Spring'', which was premiered two weeks later by Diaghilev's company. The first commercial recording was made by Victor de Sabata with the Orchestra Stabile Accademica di Santa Cecilia in 1947. A critical edition of the score, prepared by Pierre Boulez and Myriam Chimènes, was published in 1988. Ther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Faun
Prelude may refer to: Music *Prelude (music), a musical form *Prelude (band), an English-based folk band *Prelude Records (record label), a former New York-based dance independent record label *Chorale prelude, a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale as its basis Albums and songs * ''Prelude'' (EP), a 2017 EP by April * ''Prelude'' (Jack McDuff album), a 1963 album by jazz organist Brother Jack McDuff * ''Prelude'' (The Moody Blues album), 1987 album by The Moody Blues * ''Prelude'' (Deodato album), a 1973 album by Eumir Deodato *"Prelude", a song by Pete Townshend from ''All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes'' *"Prelude", a song by Flobots from '' Flobots Present... Platypus'' *"Prelude", a song by Killswitch Engage from ''Killswitch Engage'' (2000 album) *'' Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings'', an album by Warren Zevon *"Prelude", a song by the Sword from ''Used Future'' *"Prelude", a song by Hieroglyphics from '' Full Circle'' *''Prelude'', an EP by '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
