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America’s Greatest Music: I’ve Got Beginners Luck October 30, 2013

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Pop Culture.
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When deciding on a particular tune to highlight for a blog entry, that decision becomes a particularly keen challenge when trying to decide among tunes that Fred Astaire broke to the public.  After all, the tunes that broke out thanks to Fred Astaire’s rendition of them on the silver screen make up a list of upper-echelon legends within the already-hallowed Great American Songbook itself.  One such ditty is the George and Ira Gershwin classic “I’ve Got Beginner’s Luck.”  Pretty much anything the Gershwin Brothers wrote together was solid gold — some a greater degree of karats than others to be sure — and while this might be, say, 16 karat gold compared to the full 24 karats of “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” or even “Shall We Dance,” it’s a classic among classics nonetheless.

Moreover, can one think of a better tune that encapsulates the lucky feeling that a fellow experiences when happening on that special lady for the first time?  Or vice-versa, for that matter?  The shame of things is such that, as great as the song as it is, it has been under-performed by recording luminaries over the years, particularly when compared to other Great American Songbook favorites.  Ella Fitzgerald did a version of it in 1959, and that is the only non-Astaire example of performance than comes to mind for this particular tune, and more the pity.

Nevertheless, the lyrics have that perfect eloquence that match with other Tin Pan Alley legends, as Fred Astaire himself demonstrated in the great 1937 musical “Shall We Dance.”  “…There never was such a smile or such eyes of blue!”  Enough said!

Classical Music guide addendum December 14, 2011

Posted by intellectualgridiron in Pop Culture.
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         The biggest reason why I wrote my previous blog entry was to help guide beginners to “Classical” music on what is “safe,” if not outright enjoyable, and what is not.  If it’s not safe, it’s not going to be enjoyable, though if it is safe, that does not automatically mean one will be apt to enjoy it, either.
 
         But in any event, there are other composers from the three different periods (quick recap:  Baroque, Classical, and Romance) that went unmentioned that are worth a little virtual ink.  Those include — for Baroque — Couperin, Gabrieli, and Georg Philipp Telemann (whose music might merit its own article in the future!).  Although Mozart and Haydn are the two most important Classical period composers by far, there are still others worth listening to as well, namely Luigi Boccherini, and J.S. Bach’s sons — Wilhelm Friedemann, Johann Christian, and Carl Phillipp Emanuel.  In fact, you might be familiar with Boccherini’s work and not even know it.  He did, after all, compose this famous minuet that one can hear in the background during the “Chez Quis” restaurant sequence in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
 
 
           Even though I am not the most inclined towards the music of the Romantic period, there are definitely some “safe,” if not downright interesting compositions to hear, namely the music of  Brahms, Schubert (to an extent, at least!) and Mendelssohn.  Brahms is notable in that he breathed new life into Classical forms during the mid-19th Century.  Mendelssohn is notable in that he revived interest in the works of J.S. Bach during the early half of the 19th Century, which generated the momentum for the permanent interest in the Father of Composers to this day.  Oh, and he also wrote the melody to “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
 
       It is not as if serious music died as the Gregorian Calendar flipped its odometer to the year 1900.  Indeed, Americans make a mark on serious music in the early 20th Century, such as the obvious (George Gershwin), or the not-so-obvious to the previously uninformed (Gottschalk, or Charles Ives).  Outside of the states, the music gets dicey.  Some composers’ music, such as that of Prokofiev (who wrote “Peter and the Wolf”) or Shostakovich, while others are decidedly unsafe.  When it comes to Penderecki or Schoenberg, avoidthem at all costs!  Their “music” was a textbook example of why it is never a good idea to “out-think the room” when it comes to this art form!  Illum dictum, more installments are to materialize — such as that is in cyberspace! — in the coming weeks and months.