I listen to very strange music sometimes. I have an old as dirt playlist called “Classical Music to Listen to While Studying.” I created it yeeaarrs ago. There were some interesting finds in this playlist that I’d like to share. These songs and pieces are very interesting compositions or arrangements. I put this list together here on IsaacDodd.com over a period of a few weeks, just pasting interesting pieces here and there as time permitted while studying, of songs I found were interesting.
1. Dale Kavanagh’s Tales of Greiffenberg, The Forest, Wind Dance
This is a 57-minute concert by Dale Kavanagh but Wind Dance is at the following times: 14:18 – 17:14. This is one of the most well-composed short compositions I’ve heard from the classical guitar. It’s too bad I haven’t found it anywhere else on the internet other than in this concert. Maybe she never recorded it for an album distribution. As I understand it so far from research, Dale Kavanagh is a very gifted interpreter who has a very great knowledge and command of the pieces she plays.
Joaquin Rodrigo’s Invocation et Danse
Here’s another piece that she plays in the same concert in the video above, Invocation et Danse, at times 18:18 – 25:38, played by Dale Kavanagh in a video by itself.
Heitor Villa-Lobos’s Guitar Concerto, 2nd Movement
In the 57-minute concert Dale Kavanagh decides on this piece to play after playing some of Lobos’s Etudes. The version above was an orchestral version of that. It’s beautiful when accompanied by an orchestra.
2. Leo Brouwer’s Etudes
Leo Brouwer’s Etude 6
Leo Brouwer’s Etude 11
These pieces are short and beautiful, a study on guitar by Leo Brouwer. They are very interesting to listen to. There’s an entire playlist by this guitarist on YouTube of these etudes, 1 through 12. Here are the most interesting ones.
3. Dale Kavanagh’s “Contemplation – A la Fueco”
This is a rendition of Dale Kavanagh’s piece, played by someone else (very nicely played). The full rendition can be seen played by Dale Kavanagh herself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP6xpIqtmG4
4.Ryuichi Sakamoto’s “Rio”
Ryuichi Sakamoto is the composer behind an interesting award-winning movie from the 80’s, The Last Emperor. He’s also a bridge between Western and Eastern Classical music, a genre called Neogeo.
5. Leonard Bernstein’s “Maria” from the classic movie, West Side Story
Beautiful Composition with a particularly unique arrangement from a classical guitarist I’m not familiar with. Leonard Bernstein is a marvelous composer. It’s misfortunate that he had an all-roads philosophy of life so I can’t recommend his life as a composer.
