Cheek to Cheek, Irving Berlin

This is the Atlantic Ocean, captured from the point of Bearskin Neck, Rockport, MA.

Music

Bear Skin Neck Information

Christmas Blogcert, 2013

The Franklinoc Flute Ensemble

The Coventry Carol ~ Traditional English
Silent Night ~ Franz Gruber
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing ~ Felix Mendelssohn
Angels We Have Heard on High ~ Traditional French
O Come, All Ye Faithful ~ John Francis Wade
Away in a Manger ~ James R Murray, Martin Luther
O Holy Night ~ Adolphe Adam
The Christmas Song ~ Mel Torme and Bob Wells

Sources:

Video

Quartets and Trios

Duets

A blast from my past

This is Cesar Franck's Violin Sonata in A Major, transcribed for flute.

"The Violin Sonata in A was written in 1886, when Franck was 63, as a wedding present for the 31-year-old violinist Eugène Ysaÿe.^[1] Twenty-eight years earlier, in 1858, Franck had promised a violin sonata for Cosima von Bülow. This never saw the light of day, but it has been speculated that whatever work Franck had done on that piece was put aside and eventually ended up in the sonata he wrote for Ysaÿe in 1886.^{[2]"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_(Franck)#Background}

CPE Bach

Goliath donned the largest of his burgundy coats and stepped out onto the farmhouse porch to look up at the sky.  He noted that it was a mottled slate and umber.  An unusual day. His pale hand, rising up from a giant pocket, smoothed back angular hair, but his expression remained crumpled.  Goliath hesitated, then trudged down the rickety steps toward the crop fields.

There, he saw that the wheat had turned turquoise, likely because it was Monday.  Sometimes on Wednesdays it became the pale pink of a cherry blossom. He saw that the wheelbarrow stood empty still, at its strange up and down angle. Just as they had left it there last year. "Zelda" whispered Goliath.

She came floating from the wheat, her skin blue, her gown buttoned to the collar, a conservative ankle length navy.  A pink belt, from which hung a curious key, that unlocked some unknown thing, wrapped around her waist.  And in her pallid blue hand rested a bright silver flute.  The mottled sky mirrored on its curvature.  Goliath smiled.  She did not always appear.

With Zelda poised magically atop the up and down wheelbarrow, Goliath pushed it through the wheat crops.  Note after crystal note spun from her flute, penetrating the earth and sky while turning the wheat to bright yellow gold.  Goliath smiled, enchanted, upon Zelda.  He would have yet one more year.

Painting by Alex Dobrowsky

“The Flute Player”
Tempra on board
12” x 14” @ $820 (framed)
http://www.artpostgallery.com/musical.php

Flute music by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Hamburger Sonate in G Major Wq.133
Allegretto

PAN! Pastorale. J. Donjon. Performed on solo flute with cat accompaniment

Renée Bovet is a Canadian artist né Montreal, Quebec.  She paints on silk.

The music is PAN! Pastorale by J. Donjon.  Published in 'Concert and Contest Collection for C Flute with piano accompaniment.  Compiled and edited by H. Voxman'.  Performed by Herbert and myself.

For more about Renée Bovet, and her sweet art, visit:

https://reneebovet.com/modules.php?name=History

Arranged for two flutes and one metronome

Note, the metronome sounds like dripping water.  Played from inside a cave? I am actually just pretending that the metronome is intentional.  It isn't.  This is the first time I've attempted this and haven't yet figured out how to put parts played separately, together electronically, without the use of a time keeper.

Cupid, draw back your bow...

Why not let Valentines Day come early this year? It might warm some hearts in this "feels like" - 20 ºC weather.

In the spirit of urban romance, I've posted a picture of the 'cadenas d'amour', or in English, 'love locks'.  Symbols of romantic love, padlocks like these ornament foot bridges in cities like Paris, Rome, London, Cologne, Moscow, Vrnjacka Banja.  But in Toronto, city officials cut down all but three locks from the Humber River Footbridge back in December 2011.  The remaining trio hang strong, alone, no reinforcements forthcoming.

The footage for the video was taken during a walk around the Yonge and Eglinton area.  The man with his dog is near Mount Pleasant Cemetery.  The bridge overlooks the TTC subway tracks that enter Eglinton station.  If you watch, you'll see both classic and modern models of train.  Young and old, grumbling past one another on a bright white afternoon.

I used Finale NotePad, a free downloadable music notation software (http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/default.aspx), to notate the song.  The software allows you to play back your music as you write it, which is both handy and fun. And, it's free.

Sources:

http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/padlocks-paris-love-incarcerated/
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1099596--city-snips-all-but-three-love-locks-from-humber-bridge
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/09/thousands-of-love-locks-on.html

Photo: http://www.daringcoco.com/2011/12/love-locks.html