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Chaconne - Tomaso Antonio Vitali

         The first time I heard this piece, it was played by Sarah Chang and had it on repeat while writing my college applications!! Anyway, this piece really hit me hard that four or five years later (I guess?), when I had to choose which pieces to play for my senior recital, this was my first choice! (Or maybe second? Dvorak's romance was another one that struck me upon first time hearing it.. But perhaps they're tied for first place haha)

         Vitali, an Italian composer and violinist from Bologna, whose father was also a very active composer and violinist in Bologna, was exposed to music at a very young age. There wasn’t much information about Vitali’s life background, and only two of his compositions are known to the world, Trio Sonatas and the Chaconne in G minor. However, strikingly, the Chaconne is doubted by many people for it might not be Vitali’s composition.

         A chaconne is a musical form used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression over a ground bass. The origin of this piece remains a mystery. The score was discovered and published by German violinist Ferdinand David, the violinist that debuted Mendelssohn’s violin concerto in E minor in 1867, but the original manuscript is in the hands of copyist Jacob Linder. One feature of Vitali’s Chaconne's style is the way it wildly changes key, reaching the territories of B-flat minor and E-flat minor. These modulations are uncharacteristic of the Baroque era, as changing of key signatures became typical only in Romanticism.

         This is not a super technical piece, but the emotion in Vitali’s Chaconne is very direct, not holding back, and I'd say it's the key that makes every version so different. Many listeners end up deeply trapped by the enthusiasm and the melancholic feeling of this piece. As the different variations keep pushing forward, the expressions flow out non-stop. This piece is telling a life-story, with all the beautiful and sad memories displayed directly in front.

         There's really not much explanation I could give more for this piece since it's just so straightforward to audiences. So while listening, while listening why not just close your eyes, maybe the melody could lead you somewhere~

(Others are still under construction moving here...)

Yiruma - River Flows In You

         Few weeks back, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend Yiruma's concert. Without a doubt, I learned about his music through the "infamous" piece River Flows In You. Even at the concert, he himself mentioned it as an extremely over-played piece. "All the music I composed are incomplete, and will only be complete when other performers and audiences adds their memory to it." This is a quote from him from the concert and should be an ultimate goal for all music-lovers, or at least for me. I personally view music performances as a very intimate thing, even though I don't compose the music I play, since it unveils all my inner feelings and thoughts to people. But guess what, it's actually up to the audience to interpret your thoughts, right? So, it's probably not that big of a deal as it's just you "imagining" that nakedness.

         So, of course Yiruma had his own concept, thoughts, and visualizations while composing this piece. But I also have my own, by listening. At the concert, every piece had a certain level of improvisation. And the best part of all, the orchestra version of River Flows In You (Although not with a complete orchestra...), which brought me new understandings of the piece.

         When it comes to multi-instrument scenario,

(Others are still under construction moving here...)