More BLUEBEARD'S CASTLE

Posted on Apr 21, 2008 | 1 comment
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In the course of researching (read: obsessing over) Bartók’s one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle, I came across a Hungarian film adaptation of the piece on YouTube. It’s annoyingly divided into fourteen segments, but anyone familiar with the piece or interested should take a look. Here’s the segment containing my favorite part, known to...

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Berkeley BLUEBEARD

Posted on Apr 20, 2008 | 0 comments
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I’d like to alert Bay Area readers to the upcoming performances by Berkeley Opera of my two favorite one-acts, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. These two composers are not particularly known for their dramatic works, but each work reveals the composer’s complete mastery of music for the...

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So, Like, What's With the Seven Doors?

Posted on Dec 18, 2007 | 0 comments
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BLUEBEARD Well, we’re here. This is my castle. JUDIT This is your castle? Kinda creepy. BLUEBEARD Yeah. You sure you want to come in here? JUDIT Yeah. BLUEBEARD Well, okay then. JUDIT So, like, what’s with the seven doors? BLUEBEARD You don't want to know. JUDIT Open them up. BLUEBEARD Um, I don't think...

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Bartók Discussion on NPR

Posted on Sep 18, 2007 | 0 comments
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NPR has a great interview with conductor Marin Alsop and accompanying article about Bartók’s music, where she touches on folk influences and discusses The Miraculous Mandarin, Romanian Dances, Bluebeard’s Castle and more. Béla Bartók had a breakthrough moment in his early 20s, when he heard a peasant woman singing folk songs. From that point on,...

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Choral Music for Bedtime

Posted on Aug 30, 2007 | 1 comment
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About a year and a half ago, I posted a little something about my son’s taste in orchestral music. He was about to turn three then, and now he’s four and a half. Since that time, my ability to play music for him has been limited for various boring technical and life reasons. A few weeks ago, I got a new mobile phone that functions as a music...

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