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This has always been one of my favorite arias from the St. John Passion of J.S. Bach (for biased reasons--the obligato lute accompaniment also works as a prelude à la BWV 999), and all I've done here is consolidate the grand staff of the lute part into guitar notation. The only change I've made to the part is the transposition of one bass note, which is noted in the score. A wonderful performance of the work can be seen here
Betrachte, meine Seel, mit ängstlichem Vergnügen, Mit bittrer Lust und halb beklemmtem Herzen Dein höchstes Gut in Jesu Schmerzen, Wie dir auf Dornen, so ihn stechen, Die Himmelsschlüsselblumen blühn! Du kannst viel süße Frucht von seiner Wermut brechen Drum sieh ohn Unterlass auf ihn! Contemplate, my soul, with anxious pleasure, with bitter joy and half-constricted heart, your highest Good in Jesus' suffering, how for you, out of the thorns that pierce Him, the tiny 'keys of Heaven' bloom! You can pluck much sweet fruit from his wormwood; therefore gaze without pause upon Him!
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February 12, 2016: New videos from a live performance including all of Michael Lee's Unmasked, and my arrangements of Mozart's Adagio for Glass Harmonica, and Wagner's Hymn to the Evening Star
“Don’t look for too many unmentionable motivations in the Album Sonata. I promised it to a young woman who was very kind to me, in return for a beautiful sofa cushion that she gave me as a present.”
So wrote Richard Wagner, nearly twenty-five years after he composed the work in question (2). The little mention which the composer made to this sonata is exclusively dedicated to downplaying its significance; Wagner knew he would be remembered as a composer of dramatic works, not of ‘absolute’ instrumental ones. Aside from Wagner’s relationship with the work’s dedicatee, does this sonata, all but ignored in Wagner studies, offer any insight into a composer for whom so much insight has already been offered up? Charles Ives’ Central Park in the Dark is a work from the fruitful period that followed his self-imposed exile from professional music-making. During the years 1898- 1906, Ives more and more removed himself from the German-Romantic harmonies which had dominated his earlier works, instead concentrating on the development of his own personal idiom derived from experimental technical procedures and an emphasis on quotation. The work, whose first title was “A contemplation of nothing serious,” serves as a companion piece to “‘A Contemplation of a Serious Matter’,” or The Unanswered Question.” In the work, we find Ives as a young man in a light-hearted contemplative mood, observing the goings-on of the Park while sitting on a bench by one of its ponds. This sort of immersed, nature-inspired reflection was just one of the ways in which Ives’ transcendentalism-- the set of ideas, attitudes, and questions espoused by thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau-- reared its head. By first examining significant elements within the score, and then by examining some those aspects of Transcendentalism which most immediately relate to music generally, this paper intends to broadly convey Ives’ musical translation of philosophical ideas. Foremost among these ideas are those concerning the importance of a communal, emotional language which can be accessed through quotation of popular materials; that the contemplation of Nature is essential to the well-rounded and dynamic life; and that harmony exists between elements which appear to be opposed to or at odds with one another. February, 2016: New videos of my arrangement of Richard Wagner's "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral" and Fernando Sor's Fantasie for his students, Natalie Houze. CLICK HERE
January, 2016: You can see performing Andrew York's "Quadrivial Quandary" me in Scott Tennant's Pumping Nylon DVD: or click here
January, 2016: LA Times feature on Neely Bruce's Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides (which I played classical and electric guitars for) Click HERE
September 18: I was featured (alongside saxophonist Erik Steighner) on Seattle's Classical 98.1 in a performance and interview with host Sean MacLean: CLICK HERE to listen
Honored to have been named the Outstanding Graduate of my class at the USC Thornton School of Music [click here]
On April 24, 1839, a 21-year-old Henry David Thoreau remarked in his journal: Why should we concern ourselves with what has happened to us, and the unaccountable fickleness of events, and not rather with how we have happened to the universe, and it has demeaned itself in consequence? Let us record in each case the judgment we have awarded the circumstances. The breadth of application for this sort of remark toward a more positive interpretation of existence is wide, but as a musician, I can't help but read it as a comment on performance anxiety. The more we can become casual observers of experience (rather than forcing experience upon casual observers), the less affected we become before, during, and after performance. I think this mindset stands in contrast to the one commonly experienced by performers, in which the most severe of critics occupies our headspace for the supermajority of our time, not letting a single mistake go by in practice. Attempting to replace this firmly-entrenched mindset when it comes to performance time can be a real challenge, and failed attempts have resulted in botched concerts and lowered self-esteem worldwide. Thoreau advocates instead for a probing existence at all times, free of self-judgment, one in which we value ourselves more than the circumstances we find ourselves in. Practicing, then, is the joyous solving of problems and gathering of positive experience, and performance the joyous, selfless experiencing of those solved problems. And although you've heard it before: Think as though you are, and you will become As a supplement, here is Muhammad Ali: |
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