Hoy os traigo una cantata escénica del año 1937, compuesta por Carl Orff y basada en una colección de cantos goliardos de los siglos XII y XIII. Se llama Carmina Burana (Canciones de Beuern) y el fragmento más conocido es O fortuna, utilizado en innumerables ámbitos: desde el cine hasta en conciertos pasando por formar parte en diversos temas musicales actuales. O fortuna tiene una fuerza que impresiona y que no puede dejar indiferente a nadie.

Solía poner esta obra de fondo mientras jugaba al ajedrez con un amigo y de verdad os lo digo, el tablero nos acabó pareciendo un campo de batalla. ¿Estamos o no estamos locos? xD

[audio http://sq.txdnl.com/mwt/m/a/u/r/maurevelt/playlists/202892/1657165.mp3]

• Fortunino Francesco Verdi - Nabucco, Va Pensiero
  [audio="http://www.goear.com/files/sst4/f2fa09812342f75cc897d498805617f5.mp3"]
• Fortunino Francesco Verdi - Aida, Marcia Trionfale
  [audio="http://www.goear.com/files/sst4/aed38ba33cb34be8e33d3aeff75730df.mp3"]
• Samuel Osborne Barber - Adagio For Strings
  [audio="http://www.goear.com/files/sst4/9e94c56a86c64989b971ed15fdba9d4d.mp3"]
• Carl Orff - Carmina Burana, O Fortuna
  [audio="http://www.goear.com/files/sst4/52d632beeab02eee0b8193bed5c54b28.mp3"]
• Bedřich Smetana - Má Vlast, Vltava
  [audio="http://www.goear.com/files/sst4/f8c3e022a3b714efcffbefbddfbf9f87.mp3"]
• Clément Philibert Léo Delibes - Lakmé, Duo Des Fleurs
  [audio="http://www.goear.com/files/sst4/b6116460e93e0a76e811d91ca5bb95d7.mp3"]

P.S. Please vote for Romney.

Last night I volunteered for Mitt Romney’s campaign and made phone calls to Minnesota residents, telling them why I support Romney and asking if we could count on them for their support. It was somewhat discouraging though. So many people reacted in less than kind ways. It was either “It’s dinner time!” or “NO, we’re voting for McCain!” or simply a prompt hang up. Not many people affirmed their support for Romney, maybe only 10-15% of them. Although, a lot of the calls I made resulted in “undecided” statements, claiming they will decide after attending the caucus, which is a wise decision. We still have an excellent opportunity! Encourage everyone you know to vote and maybe get them to support Mitt Romney! If we get the word out that he is the best choice for Washington's conservative change, we can win this ticket!

P.P.S. McCain is not a real Republican. Do your research.

On another note, I just faxed in my final paperwork for my volunteer work in Russia! I am so excited! I had a phone interview the other night, and they seem to be very excited about my possibility of working in St. Petersburg! I will find out for sure by...Monday or Tuesday! If I am accepted (which I am quite confident of), I will leave for Russia at the beginning of September! I will finally be able to put my Passport to use!

I was planning to attend a performance of Carmina Burana this evening; however you would not believe the snow here! It is relentless and with our ‘nicer’ day yesterday, we still have at least 2 feet covering the ground. The roads are a huge adventure to brave! I am so glad that the road department is finally having the snow occasionally removed and plowed. So today is a study day. I will be reading all about Chinese history as well as Kepler’s Law and violence in society. I turned the Sirius radio throughout the house to channel 35, my favorite. It is the perfect background music for going about daily business. Currently playing is Dirty Vegas’ “Days Go By.” Channel 35 is the best; it provides a relaxed, yet upbeat and motivating ambiance. Not too distracting, but not too sleepy either. Check it out!

I la veritat és que avui, després de 9 hores i mitja d'examens (que se dice pronto), el millor que em podia passar era haver de cantar els Carmina Burana i a més que tres amics vinguessin a veure-ho. Moltíssimes gràcies als tres pel graaaaan viatge fins a Santa Coloma de Queralt, el sopar uruguayo/de poble, la companyia i el suport post-concert: gairebé se m'havia oblidat el que era!

I al final, entre d'altres, Today is gonna be the day... Un munt de temps que no l'escoltava: lo millor, la guitarreta del principi, em sembla que fàcilment reproduible (en breu ho comprovarem).

I per il·lustrar el dia proves d'accès, la conclusió que no conclueix:

I said maybe...

[odeo=http://odeo.com/audio/17042823/view]

Omnes in se trahit visus,

labea venerea

tumentia

sed castigant errorem

leniorem

dum dulcorem

instillant, favum mellis, osculando,

ut me mortalem negem aliquando

-

O tender laughter of those wanton lips

That draw all eyes upon them,

Love's own lips

Soft-swelling,

And instilling

Sweets of honey in their kissing,

Till I deny that ever I was mortal,

(Carmina Burana, tr. Helen Waddell)

Os dejo un pequeño fragmento que han subido.

Besicos

(Como no sé que le pasa a esto que no me deja subir el video, pongo el enlace)

Throw open the windows during a thunderstorm and let this music rage with the storm.  When I feel all angst-y that is one of my favorite things to do.  It seems as if I am the conductor, waving my baton, and directing the thunder and lightning to obey me, the storm and the music echoing my inner turmoil.

 O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing
and waning;
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty
and power,
it melts them like ice.

Fate, monstrous
and empty,
you turning wheel,
you are malevolent,
your favor is idle
and always fades,
shadowed,
veiled,
you plague me too.
I bare my back
for the sport
of your wickedness.

In prosperity
or in virtue
fate is against me,
Both in passion
and in weakness
fate always enslaves us.
So at this hour
pluck the vibrating strings;
because fate
brings down even the strong,
everyone weep with me.

I think "O Fortuna", part of Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, is one of the most intense pieces of music of all time.  It reaches down and helps me tap into my deepest, darkest feelings.  More than once this music has articulated my unspoken pain when I could not, screaming for me when I had no strength left to scream.  It is quite liberating.  All those powerful singers.  All those pounding drums.  I tingle with raw energy, as if I could shoot raging fire from my fingertips.  Huh, I sound a little bit strange.  I wonder if I should be telling you this? 

The haunting text is over 700 years old and part of a collection of poems called the Burana Codex.  The Codex was discovered in the 1800s, then set to music by Carl Orff in the early 1900s.  I once had the wonderful opportunity to experience a full performance of Carmina Burana in person, complete with orchestra, symphony choir, and even an accompanying ballet (with my brother... miss you).  Earlier in life I also performed it with my university choral group.  THAT rocked.     

The Carmina Burana CD was in my car and accidentally started the other day right after "The Wiggles".   At first my son liked it because of the drums.  Then it started to scare him.  Now he says, "I don't want to hear that!"

You're probably all "Oh yeah, I heard that song in 300 ... and that Gatorade commercial.  Don't need to click on it, I've heard it."   Well, you'd be wrong.  You probably have not REALLY heard it.  First of all, that Gatorade commercial chopped the song into pieces and butchered it.  Grrrr.  Secondly, yes, it makes for a great soundtrack, but the intensity of the song itself is lost when experienced with other stimuli.  It must be allowed to stand alone for the full emotional impact.  Give it a try. 

Everyone's had a taste of this piece, even for its occasional appearance in a commercial or battle scene. Audiences love it. It's exhilarating, dramatic in every way. Choristers enjoy it because they shine in this piece, music directors program it because it's a soft sell. The subject is provocative, the texts are brilliant and their settings are lush, there's wit, there's irony, there's parody... and it's all in the music too! 

How could a piece this successful be so... boring??

Umm, Not Minimalism

Ask anybody and you'll get, "What a gorgeous piece! And what a big piece too!" Some will even tell you what they mean: "It's kind of exhausting!" It's true. By the end, you're back where you began and wondering, "What's the point?" We've heard it so much that it's quotable, a cliché. Don't believe me? Listen to James Horner's 1989 score for the film Glory. We know the character of the music, its play on medieval tetrachords and fifths, simple strophic form, its parody of chant up against further parody of Verdi, bel canto, or any other genre used for vocal expression. We also know the brilliance of the texts and how they illustrate high culture in the mid-13th century from a completely pagan, wandering minstrel-student perspective. But maybe the texts deserved a better musical treatment.

It still remains a repetitive piece. Not in the way, say, a Steve Reich piece is repetitive. Reich's music develops and unfolds subtly. There are problems in the development of Orff's ideas, which go beyond his failure to acknowledge any static devices of form found in the musics of Eastern cultures, for example. Many earlier Western strophic pieces called on a coda for resolution or to carry forth ideas established in an A section. Orff usually gives us 2 periodic phrases, sometimes just barely related to one another, with no attempt to unify them further (as in Veris let facies). Often he relies too heavily on the basic formula (or gimmick!) of the piece he's just set up, and his only conjecture is to repeat the exact same music with new words and, at best, a dynamic change. He carelessly underdevelops his ideas, constantly leaving us wanting more (or less, if you've made it to the third verse).

All you need is: limerence

The text tells us that, among other things, it's about love. In her 1979-first-of-its-kind psychological study on the condition otherwise known as "lovesick," Dorothy Tennov coins the term limerence to help identify healthy romantic love by defining what it is not. In Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love Tennov reveals a unique condition in which a subject insists on their state of being in love, but experiences both pain and pleasure in turbulent amounts. She calls it a state of perpetual "hopefulness" and "uncertainty," in which the subject is constantly left waiting for a reciprocation of emotion by his/her object. In this state, she writes, equal magnitudes of pain and pleasure are typical, and the only force sustaining this condition is that uncertain, hopeful wait for reciprocity. How many pop songs have we just described?

To be sure, most of the texts in Carmina that claim to sing love's praises more aptly describe Tennov's "limerence." Take for instance the soprano solo:

In trutina mentis dubia 
fluctuant contraria
lascivus amor et pudicitia.

which describes the internal burning between "lascivious love" and something like "modesty." Or how about the Tempus est iocundum, which proudly boasts:

Mea me confortat
promissio
mea me deportat
negatio

"I am comforted by the promise; I am let down by the refusal." There are indirect expressions of limerence too when you track the appropriate allegories to love. Take the aforementioned Veris let facies, which waits ardently for the coming spring and all its promised pleasures. This particular piece, number 3 in the set, is likely where the attuned listener will start to recognize a pattern: 3 verses of the exact same music, recurring themes in the text that ruminate on the same subject (hopefulness, longing, love's loss), slow repetition of the most predictable type, and most of all, no development or resolution.

The piece that follows shares the exact same format, with keenly thirsting octave A's between verses, slow and colored with string harmonics and piccolo - the dominant of favored D minor key center - nothing could be more impatient. At its end, this one foreshadows the "misfortuna" to return later, and that of the swan: "Whoever loves this much will turn on the wheel." (Quisquis amat taliter, volvitur in rota.) Later, the swan will share his fate over 3 verses of the most ominous harmony in the piece, to be followed even later by the Circa mea pectora, the great depiction of anticipating the act of sex itself, amidst E minor arpeggios with an added C natural. (If Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms was a feature film, then Circa mea was the porno that came out 7 years later.) Tennov begins her study by suggesting that the limerent object LO represents, at the very least, a sexual opportunity for the limerent subject LS. But prolonged uncertainty and fantasy lead to a sort of obsessive longing for something much greater than sex, thus saith Tennov and personified in this unique 13th century document.

Whether Orff's piece really is pornographic is worth contemplating. The 13th-century minstrel authors would have certainly been made to think so. Certainly the church would have viewed it this way. Orff's musical mockery of the clergy by pairing some of the most pagan texts with unquestionably chant-like melody might support this, especially given his time and place in German culture.

True to its form, there are plenty of movements within the work that express overt excitement or musical ecstasy - alongside the appropriate imagery in the text, i.e. Si puer cum puellula or Veni, veni, venias which, again, imagine or anticipate sexual union with the beloved. Charmer and Chume, geselle min! explore a more flirtatious jaunt, and then there's Dies, nox et omnia, which demonstrates the aloofness of the deeply lovesick, and the temporary daydreams of the beloved in this song are painted beautifully with the most wonderfully orchestrated D major nine chords, the baritone stretching into the delicate upper register. Tennov would remind us that such equally-juxtaposed magnitudes of ecstasy and misery are typical class-A symptoms in limerence.

rx: filled

The church in its day would call this pornography. Modern day conservatism might agree, and most would at least agree on "infatuation." Tennov may be the first to define the internal logic of... well, whatever you want to call it. The point is that Orff expresses it fully in this work. We often analyze beauty in art the same way we do in people, and it's plainly obvious here that human nature seeks something fundamentally more rewarding in its quest for beauty. Something more than the giddy promise of short term excitement, something with much more care to form, or at least development in the purest sense, or at least in the smallest dosage. Orff is as impatient with his musical material as a limerent subject is for his/her object. He incriminates himself by doing exactly what the text tells him to do; "Razzle dazzle 'em, babe, and they'll never catch wise," as the song goes.

It's nice to have Tennov's basis in something that isn't directly linked to the existence of a diety, instead relying on the tenets of secular beauty and its perception in society, which is kind of what Orff was after anyway. Personally, I happen to like Carmina, insofar as it sneaks past otherwise unwilling audiences a few of the devices of 20th century music. But in the end, Carmina Burana has exhausted its musical possibilities and remains interesting only for its expression of German aesthetic values, as a cultural record of the way Germans, in looking back on such a medieval document, might view the ideas of anarchy and sexual promiscuity.

Actually, there seems to be scores of these, some of them pretty dirty, but this was the funniest of the bunch. Enjoy!

For my $10 student ticket I have to say it was worth it. I'd heard the popular O Fortuna before and a few other songs, but I had no idea that the opera was written in 1936. It has the feel of an 18th century Italian opera because of the music style and because it's written entirely in Latin. Instead of songs about true love, money, power, marriage, the usual, the opera is mainly about drunken debauchery among Christians, having sex and along with it a moral dilemma because of faith and modesty, things like that. I would have never known if they hadn't printed the words.

Here's a totally illegal cell phone video of the opening, I was sitting halfway up so you can hear how full and great the sound was. I'm just glad there were no fires.

• O Domine Jesu Christe a6 - T.L. de Victoria 
• Ave Maria a4 - F. Guerrero
• Ne Timeas Maria a4 - T.L. de Victoria
• Ave Virgo Sanctissima a5 - F. Guerrero
• Cum Beatus Ignatius a5 - T.L. de Victoria
• Alma Redemptoris Mater a8 - T.L. de Victoria

   Nota de Prensa: http://www.malagaes.com/noticia.asp?id=10111

CONCIERTOS VERANO CAC/MIMMA

• Dufay - Nuper Rosarum Flores a6
• Guerrero - Ave Virgo Sanctissima a5
• Guerrero - O Sacrum Convivium a6
• Guerrero - Pater Noster a8
• Josquin - Déploration Sur La Mort d'Ockeghem a5
• Lobo - Versa Est In Luctum a6
• Morales - Tu Es Petrus a5
• Taverner - Dum Transisset Sabbatum a5
• Victoria - Cum Beatus Ignatius a5
• Victoria - Alma Redemptoris Mater a8

Hombres solo:

• Quam Pulchra Es a3 (John Dunstable)
• Procurans Odium a3 (Carmina Burana)
• O Maria Virgo/O Maria Maris a4 (Codex)

Mujeres solo:

• Códice Las Huelgas (selección a determinar)

Appoggio la mano sulla pietra fredda…

Mi guardo un lungo trailer cronologico, ma il nastro è in riavvolgimento: la ruggine del fiume scorre a monte, si gela, si disgela; il cielo si riempie di anatre in retrovolo; sulle rive della Bormida, due bambini camminano all'indietro, e posano una pietra tiepida e porosa in un boschetto; il sudiciume scompare, l’acqua si schiarisce: fabbriche e abitazioni arretrano nel verde; il Re d’Italia torna dal Portogallo e cede il Monferrato al redivivo duca di Gonzaga; tutto il paese si anima di peste, che attira gli spagnoli come mosche; tornano i Paleologi, tornano gli Aleramici, lottano gli intestini di Blesi e Bellingeri; lo stemma dell’aquila si slancia a beccofitto contro la città nuova di Alessandria; San Guido fonda chiese e monasteri; vengono i franchi, i longobardi, i goti; vedo San Maggiorino farsi un bagno termale, e poi, alla fine, l’acquedotto monumentale.
Proprio nella visione acquedottistica, però, mi passa davanti agli occhi una sequenza strana: flash di dischi giganti in volo nella notte, e monoliti che scendono a terra in fasci di luce verde. I dettagli, però, sono molto sfocati. Prima che possa disambiguarli, sento un urlo alle mie spalle: “Chi è là? Cosa succede?”

Mi giro verso la fonte dell’urlo, e anche il fotografo Menecacci orienta il suo obiettivo, ruotando il suo scudo di ombrelli: vicino ai pannelli, si sono materializzate due figure, simili a baccelloni verdi di ultracorpi, che avanzano verso di noi con calma minacciosa, tra le gocce di pioggia. Da vicino, le loro sagome si fanno più nitide: sono due umanoidi un po’ ingrigiti, indossano blue-jeans e piumini verdi. Il più alto dei due, iperpalestrato, ha un berretto verde, mentre il più basso, un po’ grassoccio, ha una sciarpa verde: sono evidentemente dei leghisti.
“È un piacere incontrarvi” dico io, giocandomi la carta della captatio benevolentiae. “Non succede niente di particolare: io e il mio collaboratore stiamo facendo un servizio sugli archi romani.” L’obiettivo del fotografo Menecacci va su e giù, in segno di assenso.
“Un servizio sugli archi romani?” dice quello con la sciarpa, aggrottando le ciglia. “Be’, non ci sarebbe niente di male, se non aveste usato la psicometria. Guardate che nei luoghi pubblici è proibita!”
“Scusate” dico io, liscioso “non lo sapevamo. In ogni modo, non ho visto molto.”
“Bugiardo!” urla quello con il berretto.
“Zitto, Tatone” dice quello con la sciarpa. “Il signore qui mi sembra una persona ragionevole. Avanti, cos’ha visto esattamente?”
“Be’, la solita storia. Ma alla fine mi è sembrato di vedere qualcosa come delle astronavi verdi che calavano gli archi in riva al fiume.”
“Non facciamola lunga” mi interrompe “le astronavi erano nostre. Deve sapere che noi leghisti proveniamo da un pianeta molto lontano, di nome Padania, che esplose molto tempo fa dopo essersi gonfiato a dismisura per l’immigrazione incontrollata degli extraplanetari irregolari. Da allora, noi leghisti andiamo di galassia in galassia con le nostre astronavi piene di gente che lavora.”
“Siete alieni? Ma certo!” dico io. “Ora tutto si spiega: le fontane trionfali, le rotonde titaniche, le feste con i Carmina Burana¹ e i fuochi d’artificio verde lega, insomma tutto il vostro pacchianesimo non poteva essere umano.”
“Esatto” dice il tipo con la sciarpa, e continua la sua storia: “Duemila anni fa, i romani ci incaricarono di costruirgli degli acquedotti per tutto l’Impero. Avevamo questo stock di trappole per arcobaleni invendute e pensammo: usiamo queste, andranno benissimo. Ma, una volta istallati gli acquedotti, i romani rifiutarono di pagarci.”
“Roma ladrona!”
“Zitto, Tatone. Dopo duemila anni di battaglie legali, il giudice intergalattico ci diede ragione e i romani furono costretti a cederci il Nord Italia.”
“Quindi il Nord Italia vi spetta di diritto” dico io. “E io che credevo che le vostre pretese fossero ingiuste. Scusate tanto.”
“Non si preoccupi, ci siamo abituati” dice il tipo con la sciarpa, conciliante. “Ora però dobbiamo impedirvi di dire in giro quello che avete scoperto. Tatone! Distruggi le prove.”
“Sissignore” risponde Tatone, e, con fare gangsteristico, abbatte la sua massa muscolare verso il coraggioso fotografo Menecacci, accartocciandogli gli ombrelli e strappandogli di mano la macchina fotografica; poi, la butta a terra e la calpesta, fino a ridurla a frammenti neri scintillanti.
Dopodiché, i due ci salutano e salgono verso l’alto a balzelloni, come mostri felici, tornano ai loro paradisi neofeudali.
Mentre il coraggioso fotografo Menecacci guarda malcagato i resti della macchina fotografica, io guardo i leghisti che si allontanano, dico: “Gentili, come sempre.” Poi, alzo gli occhi al cielo pallido. Le gocce d’acqua si infittiscono. Piove verde.

Spring has a definite soundtrack for me. I recall vividly warm spring sunsets in Mobile, listening to Prokofiev's "Summer Night" (you could call a "spring" in Mobile "summer" it was just that hot at times). So every spring I listen to "Summer Night" and Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana."

I've added Sibelius to the list for obvious reasons, and after having experienced a New York winter, I can say that I know how he felt when writing his Symphony No. 1.

¿¿A que es brutal?? Quien haya creado eso es un dios. Mi dios, a partir de ahora.

P.D.: Si al abrir la ventana os sale no sincronizada la música con la letra, dadle a refrescar la ventana y os saldrá ya bien.

However, I have to admit that I have a soft spot in my heart for those hard little fortune cookies. Whenever possible I try and take the one that is "pointing" at me, and while adding "in bed" at the end is a humorous distraction, I find myself secretly looking for a hidden meaning that transcends mere amusement.

Last night we went out for Chinese food (and yes, I did read the recent NYT article that argues fortune cookies are actually of Japanese, rather than Chinese, origin). After our meal I eagerly grabbed my cookie, and this is what my fortune said:

"Sometimes traveling to a new place leads to great transformation."

And on the back, where they do that learn-a-Chinese-word thing, the word was "Daughter" (don't know how to type in the characters, but the pinyin looked somewhat like "nu" and "er"). I thought that particular fortune together with the word "daughter" was an auspicious combination, for obvious reasons.

I hope that this is a good omen for our upcoming trip to Korea!

Her får vi også se fra åpningen som musikklinjene i Møre og Romsdal var med på. Vi sang sammen med Ane Brun, og vi sang Carmina Burana. Utrolig gøy! Røyksopp, Jo Nesbø, Brazz Brothers og flere var også med på åpningen.

Om du går glipp av begivenheten, kan du se en video her ;]

Jeg må vel også si at denne videoen går under Youtubefavoritter, fordi jeg er med selv, og fordi det var så utrolig gøy!

Hola muchachada!!

Bueno aquí estamos de nuevo analizando otra demo de la PlayStation Store, en este caso se trata nada mas y nada menos que las inefables aventuras de nuestro amiguete Conan. Los mas veteranos recordaran a Chuache dando mandobles y los mas melomanos la recordaran por la sublime banda sonora, Carmina Burana, pero vamos, una peli que pasó a la historia del cine. 

Bueno, al lio:
    No esta mal el jueguito en cuestion, lastima que... lastima que este juego sea para la PlayStation3. Me explico, tiene buenos gráficos, la ambientación es buena, las voces son atrayentes (aunque en inglés... americano, por asi decirlo), vamos, es como meterte en la piel del amigo Chuache (Arnold Schwarzenegger para neófitos) en la peli, pero eso sí, sin la impagable presencia de Jorge Sanz cuando niño, lastima .
    A lo que me refiero pues, cuando digo que es una lástima que el juego sea para PlayStation3 es que seria un gran juego para la PlayStation2, pero a mi modo de ver le falta algo para ser un imprescindible, o no tanto como eso, sino ya para ser uno que comprarías en Platinum, no se, yo creo que ni para eso. Hombre si te lo regalan le echas horas y tal, porque a fin de cuentas es Conan, pero yo no me gastaria los €s en el. Recomendación personal.

    Cabe destacar tambien que a pesar de lo dicho anteriormente este juego supondria exprimir la PlayStation2 a limites muy altos, lo que quiere decir que el chip Cell de la PlayStation3 lo reproduce silbando.
    Como ya he dicho es un buen juego, con escenarios prerrenderizados, movimientos de camara suaves, y una buena jugabilidad; no obstante, teniendo juegos en la PS3 como el Uncharted (el cual destripare en proximos blogs), no me plantearia su compra... salvo que haya una crisis en el catalogo de PS3 y no salgan aventuras de calidad, en este caso si intentaria hacerme con el... mas que nada para jugar a algo.
Recomendaciones:

Compra:                   NO
Compra Platinum:   Si te gusta el género y no hay nada mas a mano, o tienes                                      todos los demas, adelante.   

Saludos!!!

 ElectronicZiNe