Collection of music videos

Leo Brouwer (Havana, March 1, 1939) is a Cuban composer, guitarist and conductor. He is the grandson of Ernestina Lecuona de Brouwer , great-nephew of Ernesto Lecuona and cousin of Margarita Lecuona . He began playing guitar at the age of 13, attracted by the flamenco sound and motivated by his father Juan Brouwer , who was a doctor and amateur guitarist. He gave his first recital at the age of 17, although by this time his compositions had already begun to attract attention. He has more than three hundred international artistic and academic distinctions, among them: the “Manuel de Falla” Prize (1998); the Honoris Causa Doctorate at the University of the Arts (ISA) in Havana and at the University of Santiago de Chile ; two Latin Grammys , etc, etc

The Guitar is a plucked string instrument, unlike the piano, which has a struck string , or the violin, which has a bowed string . After centuries of evolution, the current guitar is made up of the sound box that has a large hole or mouth at the top, the neck that is covered by the six strings that go from the bridge to the headstock whose pegs are used to tune the strings. ; On the other hand, the neck is covered by a piece of wood that is the fingerboard divided into frets that divide the strings into halftones. The origin of the guitar dates back to 1000 years BC where the Assyrians already had plucked string instruments with a sound box. The six-string guitar was introduced in the 18th century by Jacob Otto with the current tuning.

Beethoven's musical legacy also includes 32 piano sonatas, numerous works for chamber ensembles, concertos for piano and violin, incidental music, sacred music and, above all, nine symphonies that occupy the zenith of the History of Music . To understand it better, we can divide this legacy into three stages of continuous renewal and improvement: A) Until 1802 . Classicism . His first ten piano sonatas, his first six string quartets, the septimino that we offer today, the first two symphonies and the first two piano concertos belong to him. B) 1803-1814 . Romanticism . In full artistic maturity and with absolute control of the formal structure and lyricism, he composed the symphonies from the 3rd to the 8th, his opera Fidelio , his 3rd, 4th and 5th piano concertos, the violin concerto, the triple concerto, the sonatas for piano “Claro de luna”, “Appasionata” , the Kreutzer Violin Sonata ,… C) 1815 until his death . Innovation of a more intense language with more daring harmonic and structural treatments: five last piano sonatas and five last string quartets, Symphony No. 9 with the incorporation of soloists and choir, Misa Solemnis …

Septet, Op. 20. Within what is popularly called classical music, the best-known septet is possibly the one known as Beethoven's Septimino written for violin, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, bassoon and horn, and within it, the III Minuet Movement , which is what we will see today in the performance of The Chicago Chamber Musicians , a group founded in 1996 with world-class artists.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German violinist, organist, conductor and composer, born in Eisenach into the most prominent musical family in history. In 1703 he obtained his first job in Arndstat and in 1707 he moved to Mülhausen as an organist, where he married his cousin Maria Barbara with whom he had seven children. After the death of his wife in 1720, he remarried Mary Magdalene with whom he would have another thirteen children. In 1723 he moved to Leipzig where he would reside until his death at the age of 65. Considered one of the three main geniuses in the History of Music along with Mozart and Beethoven, his influence has been notable on Haydn , Mozart , Beethoven , Mendelssohn , Schumann , Chopin ... and many other renowned composers.

The Suites for Orchestra , BWV 1066-1069 (called ouvertures by their author), are four pieces that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote between 1725 and 1739 in Leipzig . In a broad sense, the term suite was used in Baroque Germany to refer to a series of dance pieces preceded by an ouverture .

Orchestral Suite no. 2. Structure : I (0´08´´) OUVERTURE .-. II (6'37'') RONDEAU .-. III (8'15') SARABANDE .-. IV (11´03´´) BOURRÉE .-. V (12´50´´) POLONAISE .-. VI (16'02'') MINUET .-. VII (17'09'') BADINERIE. Today it is offered to us by the French-Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud accompanied by the Berlin Baroque Soloists ensemble.

Symphony . The word symphony derives from the Latin symphonĭa and this in turn from the Greek συμφωνία (symmphōnía), which means "consonance" as opposed to διαφωνία (diaphōnia), which means "dissonance." In the Middle Ages and later, the word symphony was used to describe various instruments, especially those capable of producing more than one sound simultaneously; in the sense of "sounding together", the word begins to appear in the titles of some works by composers of the 16th and 17th centuries and by the end of the 18th century the word had already acquired the common meaning that is currently assigned to it: a work that generally consists of four different sections or movements and composed most of the time for orchestra.

The symphony from Romanticism . Beethoven 's symphonies usually had a first movement “Allegro” in sonata form (exposition of two or more contrasting themes, development and reexposition with or without coda ), a slow second movement (sometimes in the form of theme and variations ), a third movement with ternary rhythm (usually a scherzo ; although before Beethoven the common thing was a minuet and trio ), to end with the fast fourth movement (usually in the form of a rondo ); although there are symphonies with a last movement also written in sonata form .

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is one of the most important musical compositions in history. The last movement caused astonishment in its time by the incorporation of a vocal quartet of soloists and mixed choir, something unprecedented at that time; movement, on the other hand, that has become a symbol of freedom. ​In our days it has had countless arrangements and adaptations from the Hymn to Joy by Miguel Ríos until Herbert von Karajan 's arrangement to make it the Anthem of the European Community ; The text he uses is a reduction of the Ode to Joy by the German poet Friedrich Schiller . The Symphony consists of four movements and its premiere took place in Vienna on May 7, 1824 with resounding success with Beethoven present. On January 12, 2003, UNESCO declared the Symphony a World Heritage Site.

Structure . The symphony has four movements: I (0´06´´) Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso, in D minor. The Symphony begins powerfully, with a main theme that runs through frenetic scales and variations, with passages later for lyrical moments, again interrupted by the titanic intensity of the composition. II (14´50´´) Scherzo. Molto vivace, in D minor – Presto, in D major. The second movement is described by some chroniclers as "hell in flames", due to its forcefulness and speed, majestically softened in the recapitulation. III (26´41´´) Adagio molto e cantabile, in B flat major – Andante moderato – Tempo Primo – Andante moderato – Adagio – Lo stesso tempo. The third movement, although sedate, leads firmly into what will become the fourth movement, which contains an easily recognizable and world-famous original Beethoven melody. IV (39´13´´) Finale. Recitative (Presto – Allegro ma non troppo – Vivace – Adagio cantabile – Allegro assai – Presto: O Freunde) – Allegro assai: Freude, schöner Götterfunken – Alla marcia – Allegro assai vivace: Froh, wie seine Sonnen – Andante maestoso: Seid umschlungen, Millionen! – Adagio ma non troppo, ma divoto: Ihr, stürzt nieder – Allegro energico, semper ben Marcato: (Freude, schöner Götterfunken – Seid umschlungen, Millionen!) – Allegro ma non Tanto: Freude, Tochter aus Elysium! – Prestissimo, Maestoso, Prestissimo: Seid umschlungen, Millionen! presto allegro tempo. The movement begins with brief recapitulations of the previous movements. Finally, the bass bursts in with a call: "Friends, not in those tones...", after which the melody based on the ode sounds, first through the orchestra and then with the choir. When the choir intervenes, it generally does so in a homophonic manner. It constitutes a grandiose musical architecture with diverse textures that range from recitative to double fugue, including soloists, chorus, etc.

Today it is offered to us by soprano Erin Wall , mezzo-soprano Sonia Prina , tenor Simon O'Neill and bass Alexander Vinogradov with the CBSO Choir , the BBC National Choir of Wales and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales , all They are conducted by Chinese teacher Xian Zhang .

June Christy (1925-1990), was an American jazz singer. She became known as a singer with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, before starting a successful solo career in 1954 that led her to be recognized as the most representative voice of Cool Jazz of the 1950s. He moved to Chicago in the early 1940s, where he joined a group led by Boyd Raeburn as vocalist. In 1945 he joined Stan Kenton's orchestra. When Kenton 's orchestra dissolved in 1948, Christy worked on the nightclub circuit until reuniting with Kenton in 1950. From 1972 onwards he began participating in more jazz festivals. In 1977 he recorded his last album, Impromptu and in 1988, his last performance, sharing the stage with Chet Baker .

Salsa is a dance musical genre resulting from the synthesis of Cuban son and other genres of Caribbean and American music such as jazz and blues . Salsa was consolidated as a commercial success by musicians of Puerto Rican origin in New York in the 1960s, and by the work of its main composer, the Dominican Johnny Pacheco , although its roots go back to previous decades in countries of the Caribbean basin. Eventually, salsa spread throughout Latin America , giving rise to abundant regional variants. Despite everything, although Cuban son is the backbone of salsa, the fundamental element in the emergence of salsa is the role of Puerto Rican musicians and their culture, both on the island of Puerto Rico and in its New York diaspora.

In this video Kyle Johnson offers us an arrangement, a salsa version, of the first Movement of Beethoven 's Fifth .

The legend of the kiss is a zarzuela in two acts, divided into three paintings, with a libretto by Enrique Reoyo, José Silva Aramburu and Antonio Paso , and music by the maestro Reveriano Soutullo and Juan Vert . It premiered with great success at the Teatro Apolo in Madrid on Friday, January 18, 1924.

Today the Alhambra Ballet offers us a choreographed version of its famous Intermedio that was performed, among other artists, by the group Mocedades in the song Amor de hombre .

From Cambo (Iparralde/North Euskadi) this disciplined Choeur des Colibris from the Saint Michel Garicoïts School directed by the teacher and author of this arrangement, Nelly Guilhemsans , offers us this original body percussion accompaniment to the First Movement of Beethoven's Fifth . With this video we close our humble tribute this year to the Master of master composers in the History of Music, Ludwig van Beethoven .