Jorg's Brain Log

Somehow I was always attracted to classical music. I even inspired my parents to listen more carefully to it when I was a kid and in the end made them love the music as much as I did. I guess the haunted house in attraction park ‘De Efteling‘ has made such an impact, that the music they played during the show has sparked my interests in it, when I was a little boy. Dance Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns is a composition with a lot of emotion that’s even easy for the beginner to follow. Full with energy, tension, some dark moments. Listen below to understand why this is such a great composition.

One other composition I just love is the Bolero by Ravel. Around the age of 10 I saw an orchestra playing this version on TV and the conductor made such an impact with me, I could never forget his face and body language. And now thanks to the Internet I found the exact same version as I saw 23 years ago. It appeared it was the version played by the national Danish Symphony Orchestra and orchestrated by the famous Sergiu Celibidache. During the almost 20 minute video you only see Sergiu doing his thing, but you won’t get bored at all! What an expression! Amazing. This composition is probably the most erotic and energized classical piece I’ve ever heard.

So why this post today about classical music? Well, thanks to my sister who gave us the entry cards, we got to visit the Brabants Orchestra in the Frits Philips music hall, which is a piece of art by itself. The orchestra had organized a family concert where they would play the percussion concerto Veni Veni Emmanuel from the Scottish composer James MacMillan, which made a big impact on my son Rody. The second piece was the day and nightingale by Theo Loevendie where a story teller was telling the whole story to the children while being accompanied by the orchestra with the sounds. Amazing and very good musical translation of the fairy tale. Below a Dutch video about how Theo Loevendie created the music that goes with the story.