Tag Archives: venezuela

Mr. Danger and Musical Bestiary

Posted on July 28, 2011 by pauldesenne

Ever since Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, musical creation has delighted in the zoo as extra-musical program content. Despite its Olympic gold medal in abstraction, music has the ability to evoke, to caricature, to imitate the animal world with the … Continue reading →

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¡Azuuuucarrr! *

Posted on May 31, 2011 by pauldesenne

For those who think with some justification that progress is a narrative subterfuge designed to induce enthusiasm as it drags us from alpha to omega, our culture offers sufficient examples of decay. Nobody sings like Gardel anymore, good movies are … Continue reading →

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Tell Them I Died

Posted on March 7, 2011 by pauldesenne

Not only because of the infinity of time that follows their deaths but for reasons pertaining to their work, composers are much better off dead than alive. Or rather, even alive they should appear dead and not bother anyone too … Continue reading →

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The Last Fantastique?

Posted on February 4, 2011 by pauldesenne

In the field of symphonic music, Japan and Venezuela share many things. In a huge collective effort, Japan built a self-sufficient symphonic universe, filling the privileged space of great concert music in the modern cities that were rebuilt after the … Continue reading →

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The Elder

Posted on November 28, 2010 by pauldesenne

The cuatro is enjoying indisputable prosperity. The recent North American and European tour of C4 (a core of three cuatristas – Glem, Molina and Ramirez – with prestigious guests) has rocked the halls, reaping the well-deserved fruits of an initiative launched … Continue reading →

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Havana Wynton

Posted on November 28, 2010 by pauldesenne

The second request from the New York Philharmonic to go to Havana ran into administrative obstacles. The United States denied a first trip last year, arguing that the orchestra’s millionaire benefactors wanted to travel with the musicians just to drink daiquiri … Continue reading →

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Uncertainty

Posted on November 22, 2010 by pauldesenne

For years I explained to my cello students the art of overcoming uncertainty on an instrument whose bowing and fingering parameters don’t seem to have precise boundaries. The bowed instrument beginner should anticipate the geometry of hand-position shifts within a … Continue reading →

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Plato vs. MP3

Posted on May 4, 2010 by pauldesenne

Today, recorded music has the attributes of divinity: perfection (digital editions erased all flaws), ubiquity (the archives are everywhere and nowhere at the same time), intangibility (they no longer have a physical body), immortality (copiable ad infinitum), omniscience (music collections … Continue reading →

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Cultural Selection

Posted on April 1, 2010 by pauldesenne

The Spanish Empire took pains to build a colonial system with no room for intellectual or industrial development. Everything was forbidden: gatherings, travel between provinces, free trade, printing, and above all, reading books. (There was no printing press in Venezuela … Continue reading →

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Justus von Schoffel

Posted on March 23, 2010 by pauldesenne

My favorite composer? Schoffel, incontestably. Nobody in the car had heard of him; no doubt they thought I was being too precious. Since the beginning, Schoffel has always been full of surprises; it’s his transitions, the art of compressing history, … Continue reading →

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