Non-Directed Music Listening Program Series I Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series I Week 1 Composer: Manuel de Falla (1876 – 1946) Composition: “Ritual Fire Dance” from “El Amor Brujo” Performance: Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy Recording: “Greatest Hits of The Ballet, Vol. 1” CBS XMT 45658 Day 1: This week’s listening selection is titled “Ritual Fire Dance”. It was composed by Manuel de Falla. Manuel de Falla was a Spanish musician who used ideas from folk stories and folk music in his compositions. The “Ritual Fire Dance” is from a ballet called “Bewitched By Love” and describes in musical images how the heroine tries to chase away an evil spirit which has been bothering her. Day 2: This week’s feature selection is “Ritual Fire Dance” composed by the Spanish writer Manuel de Falla. In this piece of music, de Falla has used the effects of repetition, gradual crescendo, and ostinato rhythms to create this very exciting composition. Crescendo is a musical term which means the music gets gradually louder. Listen to the “Ritual Fire Dance” this time to see how the effect of the ‘crescendo’ helps give a feeling of excitement to the piece. Day 3: This week’s featured selection, “Ritual Fire Dance”, was written by the Spanish composer Manuel de Falla in 1915. Yesterday we mentioned how the composer made use of the effect of gradually getting louder to help create excitement. Do you remember the musical term for the effect of gradually increasing the volume? If you were thinking of the word ‘crescendo’ you are correct. Day 4: “Ritual Fire Dance”, this week’s featured composition, was composed by the Spanish writer Manuel de Falla. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series I In this piece the composer uses a number of effects to make the music sound exciting. One of the effects is the use of a gradual crescendo to cause more tension in the music. De Falla also uses a great deal of repetition to make the music have more tension. Listen today for repeated rhythms and melodies in the music. Day 5: This week’s feature selection is “Ritual Fire Dance”. It was written by a Spanish musician. Do you remember his name? If you were thinking of Manuel de Falla, you are right. Can you name two of the effects which the composer used to make the “Ritual Fire Dance” so exciting. If you were able to identify both “crescendo” and repetition as contributing factors, you have done very well. Let’s now enjoy the “Ritual Fire Dance” for the final time. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series I Week 2 Composer: Ardashir Farah Composition: “Gypsy Earrings” Performance: Jorge Strunz and Ardashir Farah Recording: “Strunz and Farah – Americas”, Mesa RZ 79041 Day 1: This week’s featured selection is “Gypsy Earrings” by the contemporary composer and performer, Ardashir Farah. “Gypsy Earrings” is a selection performed by the guitar duo, Strunz and Farah. Although there are other instruments in the performance, the music is strongly oriented to the style of the acoustic guitar and draws heavily on the Latin American and Spanish background of one of the performers – Jorge Strunz. Day2: This week’s selection, written by the contemporary guitarist, Ardashir Farah, is entitled “Gypsy Earrings”. Ardashir Farah is an Iranian guitarist whose style and technique are a perfect complement to the talents of his performance partner, the Costa Rican born Jorge Strunz. In this selection you hear the style of the flamenco guitar and the rhythms of Latin America combined with instruments associated with jazz and popular music. This unique combination of the diverse styles of classical guitar, folk rhythms and melodies, and jazz improvisation provides us with an exciting new medium of musical expression. Day 3: This week’s feature composition is entitled “Gypsy Earrings”. It was written by the Iranian born guitarist, Ardashir Farah. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series I This selection combines the style of Spanish flamenco guitar with the folk music of Latin America. Flamenco, the dance and music of the Spanish gypsies, is characterized by fanciful and colourful costumes, alluring movements, stamping of the feet, clapping of the hands, and skilful use of the castanets. Although this piece was originally written for two acoustic guitars, the open nature of its form provides a unique opportunity for freedom of musical expression in an improvisational form. The improvised, or invented, solos in the middle of the piece are supported by the small jazz combo (keyboards, bass and percussion) which accompanies the guitars. Day 4: The Iranian born composer, Ardashir Farah, wrote this week’s featured listening selection entitled, “Gypsy Earrings”. Do you remember for which group of instruments the piece was written? It was written for a guitar duo supported by jazz combo keyboards, bass, and percussion. The composer used the style of the classical flamenco guitar and intertwined it with the wonderful rhythms of Latin American music to give it a strong Latin American feel. As you listen today, try to concentrate on the rhythms and sounds of the instruments which accompany the melody. Day 5: This week’s feature composer is the Iranian performer, Ardashir Farah. This week’s listening selection is his composition, “Gypsy Earrings”, performed by the guitar duo of Jorge Strunz and Ardashir Farah. “Gypsy Earrings” is heavily oriented to the styles and techniques of the acoustic guitar. Yesterday you listened carefully to the instruments and rhythms which support the guitar duo. Today, try to listen to all aspects of the piece and see if you can hear the influence of the Spanish flamenco guitar, the folk-like rhythms of Latin America and passages which are improvised, or invented, as the piece is performed. Week 3 Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series I Composer: Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741) Composition: “Autumn” from the “Four Seasons,” “Allegro” Concerto in F Major, R. 293 Performance:New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, &“The Best of the Canadian Brass”, CBS FMT 45744 Special Note Two recordings of this selection have been recorded on the tape. The first (the orchestral version) is to be used to coincide with the dialogue for days 1, 2, and 4. The second (brass quintet version – Canadian Brass) is to be used with the dialogue for days 3 and 5. Day 1: This week’s listening selection is the “Allegro” from “Autumn” composed by Antonio Vivaldi. The composer wrote this selection as part of a longer piece of music titled “The Four Seasons”. Before we hear the musical excerpt it will be helpful to know that in this piece he is describing hunters setting out at dawn in chase of a fox. You will hear the hunting horns and the horses giving chase and you will hear the music Vivaldi wrote to describe the terrified fox trying to avoid the hunters. Day 2: This week’s feature selection is “Autumn” from “The Four Seasons” written by Antonio Vivaldi. “Autumn” was written for a string orchestra and if you listen carefully you will notice there are only violins, violas, cellos and string basses playing. You may also notice that the violin, the stringed instrument with the highest voice, often plays by itself. It was over two hundred years ago that Vivaldi chose the violin to lead the orchestra in describing one of the activities of “Autumn”. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series I Day 3: This week’s feature selection, “Autumn” from “The Four Seasons” was written by Antonio Vivaldi in 1725. For the past two days we have heard “Autumn” performed by a string orchestra as it was originally written. Today we will hear the same piece of music played by a famous Canadian group called the “Canadian Brass”. In order to perform this piece they had to re-arrange the music of Vivaldi so that the parts played by the stringed instruments could be played by brass instruments. You will hear how the arrangement for brass instruments sounds quite different although all of the melodies are the same. Day 4: Today we again listen to “Autumn” from “The Four Seasons” composed by Antonio Vivaldi. The version we will hear today is the original composition written for string orchestra. As you listen, take note of the effects created by the strings imitating the hunting horns, the galloping horses, and the fox trying to escape from the hunters. Listen to the violin as it leads the orchestra so that when you listen to the arrangement for brass ensemble tomorrow, you will be able to determine which instrument has the dominant role. Day 5: This week’s featured selection, “Autumn” from “The Four Seasons”, was written by Antonio Vivaldi in 1725. Today we will listen to “Autumn” performed as an arrangement written for the internationally acclaimed “Canadian Brass”. This group consists of two trumpets, one French horn, one trombone and one tuba. As you listen, try to decide which instrument has the leading role which was played by the violin in the arrangement for string orchestra we heard yesterday. Non-Directed Music Listening Program Script Series I Week 4 Composer: Serge Prokofiev (1891 – 1953) Composition: “Peter and the Wolf” Performance: Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy Recording: “Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf”, Columbia Odyssey YT 34616 Special Note In order that students may hear the entire story of “Peter and the Wolf”, the work has been divided and recorded in five sections. The recording for each successive day continues from the point where the piece ended on the previous day. Do not rewind the tape each day as the next section of the work is announced and recorded in sequential order.