I have always thought that John Mc Laughlin (the guitarist and composer and not the somewhat “right” political commentator) was of legendary status. I am especially keen on Mc Laughlin’s acoustic guitar work. His early 1980’s albums like Belo Horizonte and Music Spoken Here are great records. But his 2003 record Thieves and Poets contains the three movement title track […]
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The concert for the release of the new CD Quintessence will be at 7:00 P.M. on Saturday, March 21 for the Jazz at St. Barney’s concert series. The new CD will be available for only $10.00 at this event only. Admission is $10.00 adults and $5.00 students. St Barnabas Lutheran Church, 15600 Old Rockford Road, Plymouth, MN Come out and
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The stories of unsung heroes in the music world seem endless. I recently ran across one more. Italian pianist Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998) was a great classical pianist. His career started strong in the early 1950’s until a plane crash in 1954 disabled him for some time. By the late 1950’s he began to re-establish himself and made several recordings for
If I were stranded on a desert island today the music that would top my list currently for permanent listening would be Arthur Rubinstein’s album which includes Chopin’s four Ballades and four Scherzos and Abbey Simon’s “Ravel, Complete Music for Solo Piano.” I could spend months (if not years) content with just this music.
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Continuing on the theme of the last post… Heinrich Neuhaus typifies the sort of musician I admire most. He faced adversity and disappointments with great resilience and tenacity. In my opinion, the most important mission is to be productive despite setbacks because, in the end, effort and intention count for everything. I very much like the modest self appraisal Heinrich
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After many years of listening to mostly Jazz and guitarists I have gradually changed my listening habits. For over two years I have been mostly listening to and reading about classical pianists. Arthur Rubinstein is still a favorite but William Kapell, Dinu Lipatti, Alexis Weissenberg and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli are on my repeat listen list. The fact that their world
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