Monday with Mozart & Perlman

Today is the last day of August, making next Monday Labor Day already.  Where has the summer gone?   At any rate, on this day in 1945, Itzhak Perlman was born in Tel Aviv.  Perlman taught himself to play the violin on a toy violin when he was rejected form the music school at age 4 for being too small to hold one.  He has gone on to become one of the worlds premier Violinists, Conductor and Pedagogue.  Little known by most folks he has also recorded Puccini's "Tosca" that featured Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, and Renato Bruson, with James Levine conducting.  He had earlier sung the role in an excerpt from the opera on a 1980 Pension Fund Benefit Concert telecast as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series with Luciano Pavarotti as Cavaradossi and Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Philharmonic. 

Your Monday with Mozart features Perlman and fellow Israeli Pinchas Zukerman in their live performance with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta's baton at The Huberman Festival in 1983.  Their performance was of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E Flat Major, K364.  Continuing the celebration of Perlman's birthday over on my tumblr, I have Perlman's performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto Number 3 in G Major, K 216.  That performance is with the Vienna Philharmonic under James Levine. 

Now it is time for a little flesh fest as we all cruise and peruse this week's edition of Monday's Undies posted down below.  While over on my tumblr, your Hottie of the Day!, Toby Tucker would certainly give me a reason 2(X)IST if I didn't already have one!  Thanks for the visit, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

The Grand Pianists IV

Welcome to day 4 of our celebration of The Grand Pianists.  It has been a fun week so far as we have examined the lives and music of Arthur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Glenn Gould thus far.  Today promises to be no different as we take up the study of today's featured artist, Argentine born Daniel Barenboim.  For sure Daniel Barenboim is a Grand Pianist, but he is ever so much more than 'just a pianist' as today's film, Multiple Identities - Encounters with Daniel Barenboim, will detail.  Barenboim is everywhere it seems in Classical Music today, a concert as Soloist here, Conducting there, teaching everywhere.  If there is a Royalty in Classical Music, then Daniel Barenboim has the bluest of blood.  I have featured him many times in these pages and I expect that will continue for a long time to come. 

Barenboim is a man who wears man hats.  "Currently, he is general music director of La Scala in Milan,^[2] the Berlin State Opera, and the Staatskapelle Berlin.  He previously served as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de Paris. Barenboim is also known for his work with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a Seville-based orchestra of young Arab and Israeli musicians, and as a resolute critic of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.  He has received many awards and prizes, including an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire,^[3] France's Légion d'honneur both as a Commander and Grand Officier, the German Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz and Willy Brandt Award,^[4] and, together with the Palestinian-American scholar Edward Said, Spain's Prince of Asturias Concord Award.  He has won seven Grammy awards for his work and discography.  Barenboim holds citizenship of Argentina, Israel,^[11] Palestine,^[12] and Spain.  He lives in Berlin and is fluent in the Spanish, English, French, Italian, German, and Hebrew languages." (from Wikipedia)

Today's  documentary tracks the pianist-conductor Daniel Barenboim through Berlin, Chicago and Weimar up to his stage anniversary in Buenos Aires and ends up with his controversial performance of Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde' in Jerusalem.  Barenboim's insistence that it is possible to be Jewish and to enjoy the music of an alleged anti-Semite was not a view shared by everyone in a land where feelings run high.  For five decades of performing on stage, Daniel Barenboim has been one of the leading musicians worldwide and one of the most influential intellectuals taking an active role not only in musical matters. 

Multiple Identities - Encounters with Daniel Barenboim shows the multi talented nature of the musician Barenboim, conducting both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Staatskapelle Berlin as Music Director, performing as a soloist at the piano or just playing Tango in a Buenos Aires Night Club.  It shows him teaching young musicians and founding the Middle East Youth Orchestra consisting of Arab, Palestinian and Israeli-Jewish musicians.  Multiple Identities is a film about music, about music making and a celebration of a remarkable personality.  Featured Performers in the film are the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, Yo-Yo Ma, Pierre Boulez, Cecilia Bartoli, Waltraud Meier, Edward Said and so many more. 

The film won the Special Prize of the Jury (Vienna TV Awards 2002) and was directed by Paul Smaczny and Isabel Iturriagagoitia; Produced by EuroArts Music International, NHK, SFB/ARTE, Amythos Films.  The companion piece over on my tumblr today is the Piano Concerto Number 1 in D Minor by Johannes Brahms recorded live with Daniel as the Soloist and Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cruising a collection of macho men who look absolutely edible in denim is one of the pure pleasures of a Thursday here at Nichevo.  You will find a men-u overflowing with delicious choices in this edition of Men In Jeans down below.  Your exceptionally fine desert will be found in the yummy Trevor Adams who is your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for the visit, check back tomorrow as we examine the next and the up and coming generations of Grand Pianists!  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Cowboys, Poetry, Music and Men

I don't really have much to say about the Cowboys vs Cardinals game yesterday. Injured QB Tony Romo did not play and the offense looked lost without him. If you take away the pick 6 on the Cardinals first drive, the score would more accurately convey the beating they took at the hands of the Cardinals. The offense did manage a TD in the 4th quarter but by then it was too little too late as they lost 28-17. 'Nuff said.

Saturday night after I got the Evening Concert up and made dinner, I looked to de-stress and unwind with my buddies D & J. J had provided some herbal stress relief and we sat on the porch reading passages from and discussing the works of Arthur Rimbaud. Rimbaud was a French poet born in Charleville, Ardennes.[2] He influenced modern literature and arts, inspired various musicians, and prefigured surrealism. He started writing poems at a very young age, while still in primary school, and stopped completely before he turned 21. He was mostly creative in his teens (17–20). His "genius, its flowering, explosion and sudden extinction, still astonishes".[3] During our discussion, it was brought up Rimbaud's belief that 'anyone' can write a 6 line poem. Each of us then composed our own 6 line poems and what was really uncanny was the thematic similarity of the poems derived independently by each of us. The poems are posted below for your enjoyment:

Today's the day, I have never felt before.
Sitting around and watching the sun grow.
I have see a child laugh and a man cry.
All the while knowing,
That the sun will fade
and burn into a soul that will live forever.

Long is the day,
Short is the night.
Under what tree lay
that man of insight?
Helping show the way
to trod the path of right.

The cool tide is striding against the shore,
Gold gleams glisten along the edges of the waves as they flow.
The cries of the tide remind me of the time
Your tears poured

O sweet, sour sorrow.

Your Monday with Mozart features the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E Flat Major, K 264. The video is a live recording of a 1983 Huberman Festival performance by the Israel Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta featuring Itzhak Perlman on Violin and Pinchas Zukerman on Viola. You may also hear Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds, K297B with a performance by Bart Schneemann, oboe. Harmen de Boer, clarinet. Jacob Slagter, horn. Ronald Karten, bassoon and the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam under the baton of Lev Markiz over on my tumblr.

Now it is of course time for hot hunks is sexy skivvies in this week's edition of Monday's Undies. You will find them in all their glory displayed below the video. You may also salivate over Marcelo who is your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for kicking your week off here at Nichevo, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Life, Music and Art

I had a good day off yesterday.  I got all my errands run, got in some nap time, had a sumptuous supper and some chill time with my buddies J & D.  I am working the lunch shift the next couple of days so I will have my evenings free to do with as I please before returning to my normal schedule on Thursday.  Who knows, I just may get some catch up time to clear some of the backlog in my feed reader.  That may take me a little while to get through, but eventually I will get it done.  Either that or I will just mark it all read and get it over  and done.  

Your Tuesday Musical Moment focuses not on the composer(s) (of which there are 3 today), rather it focuses on the artist performing those works.  Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra celebrate the 60th Birthday  of Isaac Stern in a 1980 Concert with special guests Stern's protegees Pinchas Zuckerman and Itzhak Perlman.  Selections include Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for 2 Violins (Stern, Perlman); Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto for Three Violins (Stern, Zuckerman Perlman) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola (Stern, Zuckerman).  You may also hear Stern's performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 61 accompanied by the Orchestre National de France under the baton of Claudio Abbado over on my tumblr. 

One of the great things about posting in these pages is the number of photographers and publishers who contact me and provide me with some superb photography with which to share with you all.  One of the most prolific and generous of these photographers is San Francisco based Biron.  Biron's photographic art pieces, all of which you may view at his website, capture the innate sensuality lurking within each of his portrait models.  He sent me some photos again recently for which I thank him whole heartedly.  Today's man art selections are a retrospective of photographs which Biron has sent me over the years I have been publishing here.  They are all sensuous,  evocative, beautiful executed and on display below the play list.  Not to mention his models are all drop dead gorgeous in the first place.  Biron has asked me not to publish his photos on tumblr, however there is still beauty to behold in the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr for your appreciation.  Thanks for the visit, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!