Russian music

When one hears something one cannot decide whether it's Western or Eastern, that must be Russian music.
The country that spans Asia and Europe makes its own music by blending two distinct music traditions into a seamless concoction. Being the best of both worlds, Russian music features melodies as original and "exotic" as Eastern tunes and that freedom for structural creativity inherited from the ever changing, ever evolving Western music.
Borodin- Polovsian Dance
Tchaikovsky- Violin concerto op 35
Rachmaninov- Piano concerto op 18

Glinka

I imagine Glinka as a nice sweet gentle noble guy. He is not used to being or does not want to be grandiose in his speaking and his music. He just appeals to that gentle vulnerable and emotion-prone part of a human. Subtle happiness. Subtle sadness. Sweet but not too much. He’s not expressing everything out and leaving people breathless for the depth and grandeur of the emotion. In contrast, the emotion is just so subtle and so soft and delicate like some nice little spring rain that cannot soak your shirt wet but penetrates into your heart and lingers there and you suddenly realize there is a little water in your eyes.
No the subtlety of Glinka’s music does not mean he’s always half hearted. He loved two women, and easily abandoned these loves but music is always there in his heart. He didn’t give up ☺.

Double bass

One particular version of Le cygne by Saint Saens, which I personally think is the best, uses the double bass to play the main theme, and a guitar or ukelele or another instrument with a very transparent sound that evokes the sound of water for the background.

That’s JUST what I think it’s supposed to be. The swan on the lake (so there’s supposed to be water), slow (for a string instrument that holds a long breath) and sad (which is exactly what the bass notes are best at explaining) but so graceful (again, a string instrument).

And le cygne just exploits every single thing a double bass can do, unlike some other pieces written for double bass, which are like “we have replaced his double bass with a cello (or violin), let’s see if the listerners notice” and they don’t (you know who I’m talking about- Dragonetti and his double bass concertos, which sound magnificent but can only receive a 4-star review from me due to the “convertibility” I just mentioned)

Barcarolle

Grimaud owns barcarolle op 60 by Chopin

because normally Chopin’s music depicts aristocrat(s) sitting in a nobly decorated room- formal, refined, sophisticated, embellished. But this piece is the aristocrat(s) going sailing on a lake. Because they leave that noble room, the formality and refinedness decrease a little bit, and this song, though still refined, is somewhat rawer and cute. And who can be both refined and raw and cute at the same time? Grimaud! that's why she can bounce between the aristocratic, polished Chopin and the utterly manly and untamed Rachmaninov and sound as close to what the composer wants as possible.

Artists' photos

I love to catch artists in action, because i feel that's when they're so powerful yet so powerless. Powerful because they can express so many nuances of emotions and bring back the composer, like he's alive right there in front of us but powerless because they're just so small in front of the great flow of music and emotions.

This is Hilary Hahn. She's both virtuosic and beautiful.

Looking at photos of the artists I have known and loved always inspire me.

Love

I was amazed at Princess and the Frog. It’s just so wonderful. Here are some of my thoughts I didn’t write down right after I saw the movie as I was busy crying J. Everything’s just so right about that movie and logical and it’s just so connected to human world.

(I hate sci fi and weird movie of a far far away world with magic because they just have nothing to do with me)

Because Raymond is a Cajun, his and his family’s music is French jazz and they have the bandoneon!!! And it sounds French, too. And it’s also a mixture of jazz and country due to the violin sound. What a versatile instrument the violin is! It can sound sophisticated enough for a concert hall setting, and streetwisely sexy for street music and wholeheartedly lively enough for a party at the countryside!

And louis has the same name as louis Armstrong, and he also plays trumpet. That’s so funny.

Here are some memorable quotes:

“if I can mince, you can dance”- prince naveen

“love is everything. do you agree?”- ray

“I’m not gonna marry charlotte laboeuf, gotta find another way to get tiana her restaurant, maybe a job, or two, or three”

“what’s this?””tada” “You minced!”

“tiana I love the way you light up when you talk about your dreams. I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true”

“Evangeline, I have always been so sure about what I wanted but now I am not. What do I do”

“open your eyes now, before you get hurt”

“but promise me, you have to give tiana all the money she needs for her restaurant, because tiana, she’s my Evangeline.”

“my dream wouldn’t be complete without you in it”

“we’re staying frogs, ray.””and we’re staying together”

Eroica

Liszt's Polonaise in E Major in his set Deux Polonaises, S223, R44 does not have a name, but i just feel like naming it Eroica, because it sounds so and i can imagine Jean Dube and many other pianists looking like proud and triumphant and victorious heroes in front of the piano.

when i watched Gyorgy Cziffra playing it on youtube such feeling is reinforced, look at him at 0: 21! such confidence and delight!