Here’s some recent podcasts from around the web that I’ve been inspired by musically.
It might seem hyperbole to claim, as many Wagnerites do, that The Ring Cycle is “The Greatest Work of Art Ever.” But the grandeur and power of this monumental work have permeated our culture from Star Wars to Bugs Bunny to J.R.R. Tolkien.
What is music? How does it work? Why does it move us? Why are some people better at it than others? In this hour, we examine the line between language and music, how the brain processes sound, and we meet a composer who uses computers to capture the musical DNA of dead composers in order to create new work. We also re-imagine the disastrous 1913 debut of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring…through the lens of modern neurology.
Songs can have an effect like no other art form. Great lyricists put in the heart and soul, and master interpreters add the flesh and blood, forging the combination of words and music that makes up the magic of songcraft.
MPR Grammar Grater Episode 20: Unfinished Business
Legend has it that Constanza Mozart, in an attempt to rouse her husband from bed during the late morning hours, would sit at the piano and play a C major scale. She’d get all the way up to the B natural. And stop.
Wolfgang couldn’t stand it. His ear was begging for some kind of fulfillment, so he’d leap out of bed, rush to the piano and bang out the final note, much to his relief.