<![CDATA[ Welcome Clear Creek Distillery! Please join me in... ]]></h1> <article> <h1> Welcome Clear Creek Distillery! Please join me in... </h1> <p>2008-08-26T10:40:00Z</p> <p><strong>Welcome Clear Creek Distillery!</strong></p> <p>Please join me in welcoming our new business sponsor, Clear Creek Distillery.</p> <p>A genuine artisan distillery that produces eau de vie, grappa, brandy and fruit liqueurs all made from the best of the natural and agricultural resources of the region. </p> <p>If you have never seen the pears grown in the bottle (in the Hood River Valley) and filled with eau de vie...it is something to behold! Perfection in pear flavor and aroma comes from the best Bartlett pears and each bottle contains 28 pounds of pure fermented fruit.</p> <p>Visitors are welcome at their distillery located in Northwest Portland; hours and information at 503-248-9470 or <a href="http://www.clearcreekdistillery.com ">www.clearcreekdistillery.com </a></p> <p><strong></strong></p> </article> <article> <h1> There's only one chance... I remember a TV commer... </h1> <p>2008-08-25T06:50:00Z</p> <p><strong>There's only one chance...</strong></p> <p>I remember a TV commercial, I think it was for... deodorant? Anyway, their slogan was "You only have one chance to make a first impression." Well, First Impressions is the name of our Monday evening new releases program, and I'm the host. As All Classical FM's music director, it's my pleasure to get to peel the shrink wrap off of dozens of CDs each month. And it's not an easy task deciding which CDs get to debut on the program.</p> <p>So what are the criteria, you ask? Well, first and foremost, the performance has to be top notch. Secondly, the repertoire: I like to present a mix of your all-time favorites, perhaps played by a artist who is new to the scene, as well as rediscovered repertoire from the past, or a brand-new 21st century composition. Another factor to consider is the recording quality: many performances may be quite good, but can be marred by muddy sound or distant microphones (for example).</p> <p>I think that tonight you'll find a wide variety that touches on the criteria listed above. I have a pianist who may be new to you, Ingrid Fliter, who's recorded Chopin; violinist Isabelle Faust playing Bohuslav Martinu's surprisingly lyrical Violin Concerto No.2; French harpsichord piees; and a couple of arias from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, from the highly-acclaimed series "Opera in English". Oh, and Julian Bream plays Dowland on guitar: an older recording, wonderfully played. </p> <p>Everything old is new again, on First Impressions.</p> </article> <article> <h1> Original Instruments The original, or period, i... </h1> <p>2008-08-23T01:12:00Z</p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Original Instruments</span><br/> <br/> The original, or period, instrument movement dates from the early 70s, and had its genesis in Europe. The Academy of Ancient Music was formed in London in 1973, and was an engine driving this musical train.<br/> Why do it? Before the modern (19th Century) era of music both performance pitch and instrumentation were different. The A=440 pitch was adopted in 1936. Prior to that, Baroque music was performed at A=415, classical at A=427/430. Composers used dotted rhythms, with notes given different values based on position. Right off, the music sounded different than it does now.<br/> Stringed instruments were strung with gut rather than steel, brass had no valves, woodwinds few or no keys. Ensembles were not as homogenous in sound, and the romantic idea of long phrases not usual practice. Bach never heard a piano, nor did Beethoven hear a modern one. <br/> So, the idea emerged that it might be nice to hear the music the way Mozart and Telemann heard it. By this time, period performances are an accepted musical choice. Not everyone accepts this as a good idea.<br/> We really do not know what the music sounded like. It is all informed speculation, i.e., a wild guess. Daniel Barenboim is quoted as saying, “the study of old instruments and historic performance practice has taught us a great deal, but the main point, the impact of harmony, has been ignored...I have no philosophical problem with someone playing Bach and making it sound like Boulez. My problem is more with someone who tries to imitate the sound of that time...”<br/> I just like the way those period instrument ensembles sound, and I love the pianoforte. The illustration is a replica of an early piano by the modern builder Paul McNulty.<br/> </article> <article> <h1> Give This Man a Hand Of all the video bits I've s... </h1> <p>2008-08-22T12:14:00Z</p> <p><strong>Give This Man a Hand</strong></p> <p>Of all the video bits I've seen on You Tube that have to do with classical music, this is my current favorite.</p> <param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yZxxVlGAy08&hl=en&fs=1" name="movie"/> <param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"/></object> <p>The question is, who <em>is</em> this guy?</p> <p> </p> </article> <article> <h1> I recently received a copy of the new book by musi... </h1> <p>2008-08-20T11:12:00Z</p> I recently received a copy of the new book by musician/researcher Daniel Levitan, author of "This Is Your Brain On Music." His new one, "The World In Six Songs", posits that humans have a hard-wired need for music which has in many ways driven the evolution of our species and its societies.<br/> <br/> I was thinking about this recently when I dog-sat my greyhound friends Roscoe and Moose. While they possess many fine qualities - attractive looks, impressive landspeed, the good taste to be completely devoted to me - an appreciation for music doesn't appear to be among them. I've used them as subjects in a benign sort of animal experimentation, in which I exposed them to different musical stimulae. And each time the result is the same: complete indifference. I'd love to say that Mozart appears to soothe them, or that Beethoven so inspires them that they've taken up oil painting, but they never respond with so much as a quizzical look. Whether I play Satie, or gospel choirs, 1920s dance bands or vintage disco, all I got from them is an expression that seems to say "Might you stop fiddling around with the CDs and dole out the Snausages anytime soon?" I'm inclined to feel sorry for any creature who'll never know the soaring feeling one gets from listening to great music, but it's actually hard to summon up much pity for them when they're snoozing contentedly among their stuffed animal and chewtoys, unaware of any of the world's injustices and sorrows.<br/> <br/> I acknowledge that my experiment isn't very scientific. So I open up the laboratory to you. Do your pets - dogs, cats, birds - respond to music? How? Do they show a preference for particular composers or styles of music? <br/> </article> </main></body></html>