Halloween and Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain"

Halloween is the perfect time for Modest Mussorgsky's (1839-1881) Night On Bald Mountain. (composed in 1867)  Most of us can recognize it from Walt Disney's FANTASIA in the video below.

Many people have grown accustomed to hearing Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain during Halloween - it's definitely a dark piece of music. Rightfully so, the story behind Night on Bald Mountain is not one of light nature. Inspired by a short story by the Russian writer, Nikolai Gogol, in which witches would gather on Bald Mountain and hold sabbath, Mussorgsky was able to create a dreadfully haunting piece of music.

Almost none of the compositions by which we best know Modest Mussorgsky is played today in its original form. From the masterly Pictures at an Exhibition, originally for solo piano, to the opera Khovanshchina and the Songs and Dances of Death, the music of this erratic Russian genius has been subjected to all manner of arrangements and orchestrations. Rimsky-Korsakov tells us that Mussorgsky's original versions of the work that he was to arrange as Night on Bald Mountain were impractical. This is only his opinion; one of these quite viable originals has in fact recently been revived and recorded. If he was not one of the great masters of instrumentation, Mussorgsky seems at least to have known the sound he wanted. But it is Rimsky's admittedly excellent orchestration of Bald Mountainthat continues to live on in the concert hall.

First composed in 1867, the work whose Russian title translates St. John's Eve on the Bare Mountain underwent two subsequent adaptations by the composer—first as part of the opera-ballet Mlada, and finally as a sort of ill-fitting "dream-sequence" in his Gogol-based opera Sorochintsy Fair. After Mussorgsky's death in 1881, Rimsky-Korsakov took portions of all three versions of the St. John's music to create his orchestral tour de force.

"At first I could make nothing of Night on Bald Mountain," Rimsky wrote in his autobiography. "Mussorgsky had planned the piece originally in the 1860s (it was then called Midsummer's Eve), under the influence of Liszt's Totentanz, and then left it lying for a long time." After describing the other versions, Rimsky-Korsakov concludes that "none of these as a whole was suitable for publication and performance. Consequently I resolved to make a purely orchestral piece from Mussorgsky's material and did my utmost to keep all the best and most connected parts without change, and to put in as little as possible of my own." Rimsky-Korsakov's reconstruction was published in 1886.

Inspired partly by a Gogol tale, Mussorgsky's Bald Mountain depicts a Witches' Sabbath on a Ukrainian mountain-top. Rimsky described his version thus: "Subterranean sounds of unearthly voices. Appearance of the Spirits of Darkness, followed by that of the Chernobog [‘Black God']. Glorification of Chernobog and celebration of the Black Mass. Witches' Sabbath. At the height of the orgy, the bell of the little village church is heard from afar. The Spirits of Darkness are dispersed. Daybreak."

Turntable Tuesday

- by Ted Ganung

This week I bring a truly beautiful tune "Les Violons Ivres" by Agoria. The song begins with a very smooth beat and builds into the perfect marriage of luscious synth lines and an evolving string part. The minute the strings kick in the listener feels a sense of bliss that will remain even after the song has finished. Originally released as a vinyl in June 2007 by Different Records, a French Record Label that specializes in Electronic Music, the song has been charted by some of the top DJ's in the industry, including German icon Paul Kalkbrenner.

Soho House

It's been a total "Sex & the City" fall between our wedding at the New York Public Library and last evening at the Soho House. The Soho House is a hip members only club that you might recognize from their pool, seen on "Sex & the city".

I played solo piano for a very chic engagement party on their beautiful in-house steinway grand. Everything about this celebration was casually sophisticated with large doses of warmth and grace on every level.

Bravo & Brava to the staff and to my lovely clients. I can't wait for the wedding.

http://www.sohohouseny.com/

 

Turntable Tuesday

This in from Ted.....

For this edition of Turntable Tuesday I bring you one of my own recently released productions, "Love it was Dub." Filled with a deep sub bass, filtered chords, and hypnotic vocals, the song is perfect for the dancefloor as well as your ipod. Some of the vocals were from a previous recording session I had done while working and studying in London, while the rest of the song was recorded here in New York. The song was signed to Pesto, a Record Label out of Germany that specializes in House & Deep House and was released as a Beatport Exclusive September 28th. Currently, the song is available in all the major music stores.

- Ted Ganung

Moonlight Sonata

We are finishing up mixing our first commercial release, scheduled to drop 12.01.11.  10 songs, 5 are cover's and 5 are originals.  Featuring myself on piano and vocal, Ariana Rosen & Kate Mollica on violins, Hannah Hens-Piazza on viola and Lauren Riley-Rigby on cello. 

Here is a sneak peek of Moonlight Sonata.  It's our version. 

Turntable Tuesday

Today marks the first blog contribution of our newest producer Ted Ganung. His finger is on the pulse of what is current as well as up and coming in the electronic music scene. Groovy, vibey music that will contribute hipness to any event..

Take it Ted.

This week I bring a super smooth and chilled out tune released from Parisian Record Label, Because Music. "I Walk Alone" by Greek Producer Billa Qause has so much soul and feel that it immediately grabs the listener. It makes you feel as though you are reliving a beautiful moment in the past with a touch of longing for something that is no longer there. The perfect blend of 50's swing and a MPC, this song is certain to catch listeners across the board and remains one of the Top Ten on Beatport's Chill Out chart. I also love the youtube video because it shows a photo of Chinaman's Hat, which reminds me of growing up in Hawaii and driving around the east side of Oahu.

~ Ted Ganung

Zac & Caroline

We were thrilled to be part of the wedding of Hair Icon/ Tony&Guy Creative Director Guy Mascolo and his longtime sweetheart/mother of his children Caroline DeSousa.

Tony&Guy posted this video of their wedding. You can see us at about 2:05 performing the ceremony at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.  They were so beautiful and uber-hip.  Thanks to Fête once again for bringing us on board.

We welcome Ted Ganung to Bianchi Musica!

We are so excited to introduce our new producer Ted Ganung.  Ted is our in-house sound designer as well as my liason for our clients and resources.  He brings another level of artistry and perspective to Bianchi Musica being entrenched as an artist in the electronic music scene in NYC and abroad.  You can check out a brief background of Ted below.  Ted will be contributing to our blog with all things current in EDM.  (Electronic Dance Music)  So look out for those new posts!

Ted is a DJ/Producer and lover of all things music. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii Ted grew up playing various instruments in island reggae bands. His father bought him a electric guitar in the first grade and taught him how to improvise over chord progressions, using pentatonic and diatonic scales. Throughout high school he began to study classical guitar in preparation for University.

At the University of Hawaii Ted would be the Hawaii state finalist for the John Lennon Songwriting Competition two years in a row. Graduating from the University of Hawaii with a B.S in Music and Management, he spent almost half his studies overseas earning credits for his degree. He then spent time studying electronic music and composition in London while under the guidance of avant-garde composer Alan Stones which would greatly influence his musical style and ultimately change the way he produced music. In the summer of 2009 Ted was accepted to the Hiroshima and Peace program and took a small brake from music to spend the summer in Japan studying the history of Hiroshima and Nuclear Weapons. As a capstone for his degree, Ted moved to New York City to spend a year as a Marketing intern for Atlantic Records.

Now with NYC as his home, Ted has released over three EP's of Original Music with Kraak Records based in Athens, Greece; a record label that specializes in all things Electronic. His debut EP "The Grass is Always Greener" was featured on Itunes as News and Noteworthy for over a month. Ted is beginning to be noticed by some of the legendary New York DJ's and has aided in production work for some of the most prolific artists. His latest track "Love it was Dub" came out September 28th featured as Beatport Exlcusive, on the german Deep House label, Pesto.

Welcome Ted!!!