Tag Archives: Classical Music

Rachmaninoff

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“Music is enough for a lifetime
But a lifetime is not enough for music”
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff

I listen to music daily. My music repertoire is extremely diverse and includes a great deal of classical music. Mostly because when I write it’s my background music of choice. The past months while working on my current novel, Without Warning, I only listened to Rachmaninoff.

The first time I heard his music was in the movie, The Seven Year Itch; where Richard Sherman (played by Tom Ewell) is a married man whose wife is away for the summer. He famously uses Rachmaninoff music as a cynical tool of seduction, while hosting his attractive upstairs neighbor, Marilyn Monroe in his apartment.

I was writing and half listening to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 when it completely stopped me in my tracks. I recognized this same tune from Eric Carmen’s 1975 hit song, “All By Myself”. Carmen died in 2024 but some of you might know him as the lead vocalist of the Raspberries, with whom he recorded the hit “Go All the Way”.

Anyway, I looked up information about Carmen and his song “All By Myself” and lo and behold, the verse melody comes from the second movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Apparently, when Eric Carmen composed his song, he thought Rachmaninoff’s copyright had expired, but he was wrong and later had to share royalties with the composer’s estate.

If you’re not familiar with Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, he was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. He started playing the piano at the age of four. By the time he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, Sergei was already the author of the First Piano Concerto, the one-act opera Aleko and a number of piano pieces and romances. 

Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. “Composing music is as vital for me as breathing or eating: this is one of the essential functions of life,” I love this quote and must agree wholeheartedly with Rachmaninoff.

Shine On

Fond Unfaded Memories

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“Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories.
And the longer a song has existed in our lives,
the more memories we have of it.”
Stevie Wonder

Jackie Evancho

Singer Jackie Evancho’s album, “Songs from the Silver Screen”. She was just twelve years old when she produced this album in 2012.

Music has always been a part of my life. Particular songs will conjure up good and bad memories of a time, a place, a feeling and even memories of a scent.

My taste in music ranges anywhere from classic singers such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and music from classical, rock, country western as well as blue grass.

There is one genre that I haven’t been familiar with. Opera. The closest to opera music I experienced was when I saw a performance of Phantom of the Opera, twice I might add back in the 1990s. But you can’t really count that as true opera music.

However, that all changed on August 10, 2010 while watching, America’s Got Talent. That evening a 10 year old singer named Jackie Evancho sang the song, O mio babbino caro. I didn’t understand a word of the Italian lyrics but that didn’t matter. Her performance not only gave me goose bumps but also brought me to tears.

Her album, “Songs From the Silver Screen” is pure perfection. This young girl’s voice is magnificent, along with her choice of songs.

You can be sure that the music of Jackie Evancho will give fond memories to millions of people. Because, fond  memories of music is so powerful they never fade.

As for this Jackie Evancho fan, her music will always be fond unfaded memories.

Shine On

Happy Birthday Mozart

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“I pay no attention whatever to anybody’s praise or blame.
I simply follow my own feelings.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Young Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born January 27, 1756 and died on December 5, 1791

He was the most prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He began composing and performing before European royalty at the age of five. Composing over 600 works of music, he is among the most enduring and popular of the classical composers.

Happy Birthday Mozart.

Shine On