Other than the fact that my symphony friends kept me out for a birthday celebration till 1:30 AM, and I hadn’t packed yet for my New Orleans trip and had a cab coming at 6:30 that morning….other than that, it was another great night at the symphony. Since we never have time to show the complete videos at Classic Encounter, I’m posting the video links so you can watch them whenever. Even if you missed the program, there is some great music to check out here.

Since we were talking about Russian classical music, I included Russian born Regina Spektor.

And we discussed how Beatle records were banned in the Soviet Union. When Paul McCartney played Red Square, it was quite an emotional evening.

We spent quite a bit of time on the Brahms Violin Concerto. Also discussed Brahm’s choral music. Here’s a bit from his German Requiem. This is beautiful. Spend some time with this.

Here’s a clip of the great Leonard Bernstein rehearsing Brahms Symphony no. 1

We also talked about my college adventure when I got to hear the Detroit Symphony rehearse Brahms Symphony no. 2. Here is that beautiful 4th movement.

Here are the three movements of the Violin Concerto. 1st movement.

2nd movement

And the 3rd movement. Listen for the influence of Hungarian folk music and dances.

Just for fun…….

Here’s a very cool clip of hot jazz…with violin. The instrument is not just for classical music.

Violins are featured in many rock songs, including this excellent chamber pop hit from the 60′s…the Left Banke with Walk Away Renee.

Here’s an example of a contemporary use of violin, Steve Reich’s Different Trains. This is from the 2nd movement, dealing with the holocaust. The whole piece is worth listening to. If want more information, buy me a beer and I’ll tell you all about it.

We don’t hear nearly enough hip hop at Classic Encounter. This should take care of that.

And we wrapped up this program with a memorial tribute to Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols and recording artist in his own right. Here is his addaptation of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.