Straight No Chaser – Auld Lang Syne
An afternoon pause: To all my readers, supporters, and even those who disagree with me, may you all have a much better year in 2021 than you did in 2020.
With good will and hope for the future, Happy New Year!
Tag: music
Verdi – Libiamo ne’ lieti calici
An evening pause: I have never been a fan of opera, but this piece by Verdi is truly beautiful and fun to watch.
Hat tip Jim Mallamace, who also notes its opulence.
Joan Baez – Diamonds And Rust
Alan Jackson – Amazing Grace
An evening pause: This most famous of all gospel songs seems appropriate for Christmas day. Note the humbleness of the words. To be humble means you recognize your imperfection, and can address it with grace.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
Kathy Mattea – Mary did you know
An evening pause: This song honoring Jesus I think really speaks of every child born on Earth, and how every parent should see them. As Wordsworth said, they come “trailing clouds of glory.”
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kissed your little baby then you kissed the face of god.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Anna Weatherup – Be Thou My Vision
An evening pause: It all depends on how you define God. To me, God is the entire universe, of which I am part. To recognize such a reality is terribly humbling, and leads to wisdom.
Billy Preston – You Can’t Beat God Giving
An evening pause: Feel the joy and good will. We should all feel this way, all the time.
Hat tip Cotour.
Werner Klemperer & John Banner – Silent Night
An evening pause: Silent Night is followed by Robert Clary singing a French carol. All three were actors from the 1960s television comedy series, Hogan’s Heroes, with Klemperer playing the Nazi prison commander, Banner the foolish guard (“I know nothing!!!”), and Clary the French prisoner.
I don’t know exactly when this aired, but it was likely in the late 1960s. It signals the good will fundamental to western civilization. The Germans had only two decades earlier put the world through a horrible war. Still, Americans were glad to hear two Germans immigrants sing this gentle song in their native language, despite the evils that nation had subjected the world to so recently.
The war was over. We are all fallible humans. Time to forgive, and move on.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann.
The Piano Guys – Emmanuel
An evening pause: I think this makes for a nice start of this year’s set of Christmas season evening pauses.
Note that though this piece is available on youtube, I specifically chose to embed it from Vimeo. It is time to no longer rely solely on google, if at all possible.
Ambosspolka
An evening pause: Hat tip Jim Malamace, who correctly notes that “The ‘electric cords’ on the hammers are hilarious and fitting because the hammer impacts actually caused sparks.”
Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron
Voorhees Choir – Three Hanukkah Songs
An evening pause: This week is Hannukkah. Three songs to celebrate the lit candle that did not burn out.
Glenn Yarbrough – Baby The Rain Must Fall
Elise Trouw – The Girl from Ipanema
The Diamonds – Little Darlin’
BouzoukXp – Belenos
Nandi Bushell – Rock and Grohl
An evening pause: The musical talent and passion are both outstanding. The shallow philosophy, when compared to Aristotle or Plato or Moses (to list only a few), is kind of sad to watch. She really believes that life is that simple. As a child such shallow passion is fine. I fear however that in the arriving dark age no one will ever do anything to make her think more deeply.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
Wendy Law – Comparing cellos: Bach Cello Suite No. 1
An evening pause: She plays the same Bach piece on three different cellos, valued respectively at $5,000, $180,000, and a $1 million. Can you tell any difference, and if so, which do you like the best?
Hat tip Phill Oltman.
Mark Korven & Tony Duggan-Smith – The Apprehension Engine
Chiquita Banana – The original commercial
An evening pause: This will not mean anything to my younger readers, but this song and commercial seared itself into the brains of everyone who went to the movies or watched television in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. The first version, shown here, was produced by Disney for the United Fruit Company.
I can think of no reason not to sear this song into some new generations.
Hat tip David Nudelman.
Eiro Nareth – Interstellar
Eva Vergilova – Free Bird
An evening pause: Another guitar piece, but of a very different kind from yesterday’s.
Hat tip Mike Nelson. Note also that this pause was taken from Rumble, an alternative to Youtube. I encourage those who wish to suggest evening pauses to always see if they can find something there first. Reliance solely on Youtube is not healthy, and the competition will do everyone good.
Midlife Jazzband/Swiss Dixie Jazzer – Tiger Rag
An evening pause: I think the band is named Midlife Jazzband, and they are playing the named songs. The website is unclear however and I could have some of it backwards. No matter.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Amin Toufani – Gratitude
An evening pause: From a time in the distant past when people could socialize and entertain each other as normal human beings. And according to the youtube website, the fire was real.
Hat tip lazarus long.
An evening pause: From a time in the distant past when people could socialize and entertain each other as normal human beings. And according to the youtube website, the fire was real.
Hat tip lazarus long.
Debussy plays Debussy – Clair de Lune
An evening pause: As the youtube webpage notes, “This is not an acoustic recording. This is a recording obtained by piano roll.”
Rolls for the reproducing piano were generally made from the recorded performances of famous musicians. Typically, a pianist would sit at a specially designed recording piano, and the pitch and duration of any notes played would be either marked or perforated on a blank roll, together with the duration of the sustaining and soft pedal. Reproducing pianos can also re-create the dynamics of a pianist’s performance by means of specially encoded control perforations placed towards the edges of a music roll, but this coding was never recorded automatically. Different companies had different ways of notating dynamics, some technically advanced (though not necessarily more effective), some secret, and some dependent entirely on a recording producer’s handwritten notes, but in all cases these dynamic hieroglyphics had to be skillfully converted into the specialized perforated codes needed by the different types of instrument.
Thus, we are listening now to a player piano, replaying the music as Debussy played it.
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Justin Johnson – I’ve been everywhere
An evening pause: I normally don’t post two suggestions in a row from the same reader, but this particular collapsible (!) guitar contrasts too nicely with Friday’s theorbo. From the youtube webpage:
If the ability to break down and re-assemble wasn’t crazy enough, it actually STAYS IN TUNE when you put it back together, thanks to the air-tight construction techniques and locking tuners!
The song is by Johnny Cash.
Hat tip Jeff Poplin.
Brandon Acker – Canario
An evening pause: The music was written in the early 1600s by G.G. Kapsberger. The instrument is called a theorbo. I posted a different performance featuring this medieval instrument in 2019, in which the instrument’s origins is described. In both cases the quality of sound is hauntingly wonderful..
Hat tip Jeff Poplin.
Samara Ginsberg – Inspector Gadget for 8 cellos
John McDermott – The Green Fields of France
An evening pause: For Armistice Day. The song should remind us that the shadows cast by the first World War have been long and enduring, and even a hundred years after continue to influence us, for good and ill.
Hat tip Phill Oltmann