Your Classical Coffee Break

We're taking a brief hiatus, and hope to be back by June. You can still contact us at mauriceriverpress.com. Thanks for your support. Stay well.

This coffee break wraps up the discussion on hidden messages or symbols in music. In a whirlwind, we check out the music of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Modest Mussorgsky, and Mr. Somers himself to investigate the story behind the music. Sometimes the message is an homage to another composer and sometimes it is a thumbing the nose to critics. We also check out some sudden and surprising endings. "Niagara Falls, slowly I turned, step by step..." contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break circles back to Bach, always a wonderful thing, to explore additional hidden signatures in his Mass in B Minor. We listen to the Credo, Gloria, 0 and Et in terra pax to hear how the structure of the composition reflects his religious beliefs. Mr. Somers switches focus to The Magic Flute to dissect how the composition reflects Mozart's belief in Freemasonry. We sample Mozart's Symphony #39 and investigate the significance of this piece written in E Flat. Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues its discussion about composers hidden signals or messages (Easter Eggs) in their compositions. We take a close look at JS Bach and the Art of the Fugue and listen to his signature name in the piece. We question why he often used the numbers 14 or 41 as another way of identifying him as composer in St. Matthew Passion. Why was the note E so important to this piece? And why does he use the technique of "crossing voices" in the Passion? And what are all the hidden signifiers in his Mass in B minor? All questions will be answered...or at least some. Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

Was there a message hidden in a phrase of Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6 in B Minor? Was there a connection with this hidden phrase and the composer's death only 9 days after he conducted the piece? This coffee break tries to answer those questions as well as investigate the unique signature hidden in Sibelius' Finlandia and Symphony #2. Take a listen to the Hi-Phi Nation podcast that spurred this discussion: https://hiphination.org/season-3-episodes/s3-episode-9-the-illusionist-jun-8-2019/

This coffee break wraps up our discussion on the challenges of appreciating opera. This time we listen to music which helps underscore the action and see how it adds another layer to the opera experience by listening to excerpts from Bellini's Norma. We briefly discuss Wagner's philosophy of the balance of the orchestra and singers' voices before we hunker down with an except from Brunhilde's Immolation. We wrap up with 5 operas that opera haters should check out. Here's Renee Fleming in an aria from A Streetcar Named Desire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGOgXaTgbCw contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues discussing the challenges to opera attendance. On the list for this show--Ticket price. The overwhelming spectacle of opera can't be conjured on the cheap. We listen to the magnificence of Verdi's Don Carlos and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurberg and discuss how to get a bang for your buck. check out Sing Faster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tPOQKRwdIM&list=PLiVY2xDbxwG_r_eJHUXacSXZHZZQ0Fnl9 contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

The length of time of a performance is one of many reasons to avoid opera in this day and age. After we sneak a peek at how opera is used in some movies, this coffee break examines the length of time that opera takes to perform. We look at Mozart's Don Giovanni and the scope and complexities of producing an opera. A dense and emotional script, the high level of difficulty in performance, and the large stage with dramatic, bigger than life staging are just a few. Can any of this be abbreviated and still deliver the punch? contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

Opera! Haters gonna hate. Mark Twain once said, "I know of no agony comparable to the listening to an unfamiliar opera… that sort of intense but incoherent noise which always so reminds me of the time the orphan asylum burned down.” Mr. Herron's response was not as fierce but he brought along a list of reasons why opera can oftentimes feel unapproachable. Mr. Somers, a fan, breaks down the mystery of opera, this time with examples of English language operas from Barber, Westergaard, and Copland. He even sneaks in a track of an English translation of The Valkyrie. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

We are going backwards in this coffee break. For the past few shows we have heard how composers have expanded the sound of previous composer's works. This time we start off with a larger version of Carmina Burana then go smaller. Orff's disciple Wilhelm Killmayer in 1956 created a reduced version for soloists, SATB mixed choirs. children's choir, two pianos and six percussion (timpani+5). This version, authorized by Orff himself, allowed smaller ensembles the opportunity to perform the piece. We also sneak in Mozart's and Goosen's variations of Handel's Messiah. Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues the exploration of how Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition launches the piece into a different realm of sound. But does Ravel's version really give the sense of claustrophobic catacombs or is he going after a whole new meaning? We also take a listen to different versions of the Baba Yaga piece and review the differences in sounds. Lastly we stop at the great gate of Kiev (Kyiv) and examine the power in both renditions. Seriously, how great is that gate?) contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break revisits the idea of composers reworking and revitalizing works of composers long-dead. More than 50 years after Offenbach's death, his Barcarolle from Tales of Hoffmann was reworked by Manuel Rosenthal for Diaghelev Ballet Russes. We check out both versions. Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition was orchestrated by Maurice Ravel in 1922 and gave it a grandeur and depth beyond the original. Take a listen. contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break explores how composers update their own or other composers' work to expand on themes or sometimes change the piece completely. Mr. Somers discusses his piano work Christmas Pastorale and how 48 years later arranged it to include viola. Modest Mussorgsky rearranged his 1867's St. John's Eve of Bald Mountain to be included in his 1880 The Fair at Sorochynsti, Six years later Rimsky-Korsakov rearranged it into the more familiar Fantasy Night on Bald Mountain. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break wraps up the discussion on the use of silence and pauses to dramatically frame music. We delve into Carl Orff's Carmina Burana masterpiece which warns about the power of luck and fate. Mahler's 10th Symphony shows how the bass drum harkens death and the importance of silence at the ending of his 9th Symphony. But we end with the Sibelius' glorious silence. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues its wordy discussion about the power of silence in music. We listen to a Bach piece (CPE Bach, that is) that illustrates the importance of cadence points in creating drama and surprise. Is there a joke hidden in a Haydn composition when a breath is taken? We check it out. Can music be like a pointillist painting? There's a Haydn piano piece that says it's so. And we get the backstory on the Farewell Symphony. Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

Music grows out of the silence that precedes it, so says Mr. Somers in this discussion how silence, or hesitation, can make a piece of music extraordinary. We listen to the Mahler's Third Symphony to hear how pauses can make the musical experience so powerful. Beethoven was a master of using pauses as emphatic gestures, particularly in his 7th Symphony and Egmont Overture. Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com Read the New York Times story: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/arts/music/silence-classical-music.html

This coffee break complete the exploration of how composers supported themselves while chasing their passion of music. Debussy lived in a Russia as a piano teacher in the house of a patron. Dvorak had to move to England to get fair compensation for his compositions. Wagner was chased by his creditors while writing his complex pieces. And after writing Findlandia, Sibelius received a lifetime stipend. A nice gig if you can get it. Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

YCCB continues its review of the economic life of composers and musicians. We look at Bizet who struggled financially most of his life and even was a music transcriber to support himself. Sadly for him, the popularity of his music came after his passing. Brahms made a good living from his piano performances, perhaps because he composed music that he could master. We delve into Brahms relationship with the Schumanns and find out that Robert Schumann edited a newspaper to pay the bills. And Borodin had to choose between being a chemist or composer. He chose to become a chemist! Mr. Herron regrets his error in stating that the song "Tonight We Love" was based on Borodin's music. It was taken from Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues the discussion of how the greats of classical music made a living. We discuss how the the size and complexity of the new compositions made the creation of the conductor a necessity--a new job was formed. Louis Spohr, a composer and violinist, became so frustrated with musicians' confusion with the Beethoven Symphony #9 that he helped create the the modern concept of the conductor and became one of the first. Mendelssohn, Berlioz, and Mahler followed suit and conducted their own pieces. Berlioz also became a tremendous marketer of his own works. And, we take the time to give a tribute to the great Jessye Norman, an American opera singer and recitalist. Here's the book about first night that Mr. Somers referred, First Nights: Five Musical Premiers by Thomas Forrest Kelly. Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues the discussion on how classical composers and musicians made a living. We followed the trail of patronage by the Church and by royalty, but support of artists developed in other areas. Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Concerto was commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni personally, not as an officer of the Church. Handel worked extensively on commission, his Coronation Anthem an example, and became an independent impresario, his opera Rinaldo, an example. Beethoven, too, accepted commissions and wrote pieces to generate income from sheet music sales, Six Bagatelles and the Lovely Lass of Inverness. Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

Your Classical Coffee Break returns to the topic of what artists must do to support themselves. We listen to Giovanni Gabrieli's Canon in 12 in Echo and discuss his success in working within the Church structure. Then we turn to JS Bach and discuss how he made a living through playing the organ and composing. We listen to a number of Bach's pieces (Cantata #150, Concerto for 2 Violins, and St. Mathew Passion) and explore the various patronage positions he took to keep afloat. Was Bach such a groundbreaking composer that potential patrons just didn't get it? Art isn't easy. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break begins the discussion on how artists support themselves as they pursue their passion. To explore this subject, at least pertaining to Western Culture, Mr. Somers goes back 1,000 years to see how artistry and the Church were intertwined, when secular music evolved and who supported that evolution. We listen to music spanning at least 400 years, from Gregorian chants to Guillaume Du Fay's Mass for St. Anthony. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break follows the evolution of the twelve-tone movement right into the post-Webern period. First off, we listen to Eliot Carter's Concert for Orchestra and a composition by Milton Babbitt to hear how abstract the sound had become in reaction to Webern. Then we explore Leaves are Falling by Warren Benson and other compositions which take the sound in a different, anti-post-Webern, emotional direction. Art Isn't Easy. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break we take a listen to Alban Berg's startling opera Wozzeck, called an "emblematic opera of the 1920s, a harbinger of the unease and aching void of the 20thcentury, haunted by war and death, the misery of the human condition set to a music," as per Opera Online. We also listen to the works of Anton Webern and contrast his style and impact versus Alban Berg's. Here is a clip from Alban Berg's Wozzeck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8WeX8MrThU

This coffee break tries to find it's way home in the twelve tone composition world by listening to music by Arnold Schoenberg, particularly pieces that seem like waltzes and marches, and particularly his highly influential Pierrot Lunaire. We explore how these compositions don't have the foundations provided by major and minor keys. We listen to Alban Berg's Violin Concerto and its stirring connection to the lose of a loved one. contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

We put together two concerts of our choosing in this coffee break using Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Antheil's Ballet Mecanique as the main section. There are a number of factors to take into consideration: What other pieces of music do we include in the concert? Should the music be in the audience's comfort zone or should we challenge them with newer sounds? How do we keep the costs down especially if we are a per service orchestra? Do we have a budget for royalties for new music? How do we market to attract the most attendees? Nothing is easy. Welcome our new sponsor nKoda, 30 million pages of digital sheet music, at https://www.nkoda.com/ Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues its exploration of how different artists interpret the same music, starting out with the opera Verdi's Don Carlo, the scene -- Il Grande Inquistor! We hear how the scene is staged and what the artists emphasized to maximize the experience. We continue the analyses of artists' interpretation with three pieces composed by Mr. Somers and get a chance to dig deep and hear how individual musicians approach the works. Here's the staged Grande Inquistor scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pNxU4ck8BI Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

We change topics with this coffee break by listening to how the conductor and/or musician interprets the composition and how that interpretation changes the musical experience. First, we listen to two different performances of Sibelius' Lemminkäinen Suite to determine how speed affects how the listener perceives the music. We stay with Sibelius and check in on two versions of The Tempest and listen for differences in tone. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues the exploration of music composed during the Third Reich by first listening to Werner Eck's ominous Waffentanz (Weapon Dance), a state-commissioned piece, and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Hans Pfitzner's career was stifled because his opposition to antisemitism; we listen to a piece of Symphony in C. Paul Hindemith escaped to Switzerland and had a career; we hear a bit of his Mathis Der Maler. We close our exploration with Richard Strauss who was able to compose extraordinary music while living in the throes of Nazism and listen to Die Liebe der Danae and Sonatina #2 in E Flat. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This somber edition continues the theme of composing music under authoritarian regimes, this time under the Third Reich. We listen to pieces written by numerous composers, some who survived World War II and some who did not. We begin with with Pavel Haas's powerful Study for Strings and then Hugo Distler's God is Our Sure Defense; neither composer survived though for different reasons. Next we listen to Kleines Konzert by Alfred Uhl, a composer and soldier who survived the war by working at a POW camp. Karl Amadeus Hartman was completely unknown during the war and later emerged as a major musical figure. We listen to his Concerto Funebre, as well as Anton Webern's Langsamer Satz, a composer who survived the war, but was killed accidentally soon after. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break ventures back into the stressful world of music composition under the political oppression of Stalin's Soviet Union. We listen to Prokofiev's Zdravitsa (A Toast in Honour of Stalin's 60th Birthday), which rides the boundary between great music and political pandering. Shostakovitch gets out of the political doghouse by writing a tribute to reforestation in a Song About Trees. After Stalin died, Shostakovitch was able to tell the truth about the horrors of Babi Yar in his Symphony #13. We close the coffee break with the compositions of Georgi Sviridov who could seemed to be able to be true to his style throughout the regime. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break begins our investigation of music composed under Russia's Soviet regime beginning with a piece by Kabalevsky, a simple, open composition which might be the Soviet ideal. We battle on the ice with Prokofiev's composition for Alexander Nevsky, the epic movie by Sergei Eisenstein--another piece vaunted by the Kremlin. But Prokofiev ran afoul of Premier Stalin with the sometimes dissonant, ethereal Cantata on the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution. Shostakovitch, too, was chastised by Stalin for his opera Lady Macbeth, which lacked simplicity and was immoral, not up to Soviet standards, according to the Kremlin. After Stalin's death, Shostakovitch composed String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110 which memorialized the terror under the Stalin regime. Listen to the full piece here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41HIXtBElH4 Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues with music infused with mechanical sounds beginning with Toccata for Percussion Instruments by Carlos Chaves. Then we veer into how traditional instruments can be used to make nontraditional sounds in the surprising String Quartet #1, "Protestation Quartet" by Gloria Coates. We push the sounds of artificially altered sounds in Christian Wolff's For Piano with Preparations. We sing the body electric with David Borden's hip moog-infused Droneland, then finish with the pulsating Piano Sonata no. 8 by Laurie Altman. Here is a discussion with the composer Laurie Altman with Clipper Erickson (the performer on the last piece) about the collaborative process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWh6u4zjAEk Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

The coffee break uses Georges Antheil's Ballet mécanique as a springboard to an exploration about movement in music. We backtrack to Honegger's Pacific 231 then listen to snippets of the rest of his Mouvement Symphonique, one movement composed to recreate the experience of playing rugby. We end on a surprising piece honoring steel manufacturing written by the great Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. Listen to the full piece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Fi0TwTsMY Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

Our journey continues on water by exploring the barcarolle, the traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style, listening to Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman and Wagner's Flying Dutchman. We come Down Jersey to listen to Mr. Somer's composition On the Cohansey then head out to the high seas with Britten's Billy Budd, Westergard's Moby Dick, and Richard Rodgers Victory at Sea. After we sail the Chesapeake (David Sampson) we take to the skies with Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and Dello Joio's Air Power: Mission in the Sky. Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

Our transportation music journey hits its stride by climbing onto a trolley, taking Le Metro, and hurtling the turnstile to jump a subway with pieces by Jacques Ibert, Amanda Harberg, and Mr. Somers. But we catch up with modernity by traveling by automobiles propelled by Gershwin, Copland, and Frances White. A quick jump into the way-back machine takes us to The Battle of Trenton, James Hewitt's composition of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. We're exhausted! contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

Classic music and rail travel developed throughout the Western world in parallel so perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that there is so much music inspired by the steam engine. This coffee break takes us back to the rails with polkas by Eduard and Johann Strauss. We check in on the conceptual and influential Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231 and circle back to Copland's John Henry, a steel-driving man. The journey ends with a brief listen to David Borden's Fog, Stars, Train, West Hill Lights, Etc., an electronica homage to rail travel. Here is a link to the whole work-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTzdHxbwTHw Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues the exploration of the music of travel, first by sleigh. We begin with a fun ride with Leroy Anderson and hear the similarities with Mozart's (Leopold) The Sleigh Ride. We tap into a Sibelius piece then travel into Mother Russia with Prokofiev and Sviridov. We put up our horses and continue the journey by steam engine with Revueltas, Dvorak,and Villa-Lobos with his wonderful O Trenzinho do Caipira. contact the show a yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

Music is not about the destination, but the journey, and this coffee break is all about the journey. We listen to music that traveling by foot, caravan, and horse composed by Mussorgsky, Respighi, Händel, and Sibelius. Warhorses Gallop by Yaoching Chan, performed on an erhu, is a wonderful representation of riding a hard-charging horse. And we finally hear what it sounds like when we ride our horse out of the Land of the Dead. contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com Listen to the full version of Warhorses Gallup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csDytjZQfaI

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage." - Lao Tzu This coffee break unabashedly continues its exploration of love songs, serenades, duets, and more written by the great composers. We dip into operas from Wagner, Mozart, Rossini and other showing how love can be expressed in so many ways. We linger a bit on The Barber of Seville before we move to pieces from Weber, Berlioz, and Verdi among others. A coffee break full of the strength and courage of love. Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ― Dr. Seuss. This coffee break discovers that there are many ways to say "I Love You" as we continue our exploration in the dreamy world of love songs. We start with instrumental pieces--first, light and yearning, then move into some songs composed for the dream world the of the cinema--Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, North By Northwest, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The love continues with solo songs of Faure, Kern, and Bernstein, and a quick dip into a Mozart opera. Contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriver.com

This coffee break delves into love as a many splendored thing and a source of inspiration for wonderful music. We begin with Roy Harris' Symphony No. 4 sense of the longing love of the one not here. We hear Harry Burleigh's maternal love for the Little Mother of Mine. Then we go way, way back to some secular, but not quite romantic, love songs of the 13th and 14th Centuries with composers Adam de la Halle and Guillaume de Machaut. Next we hear a mixture of 15th Century poetry of Christine de Pizan updated by musician Claire Gignac. We jump into the 16th Century with a Pierre Passereau piece then into the 17th Century with romantic to Reinhard Keiser's opera Croesus--"Love, what are you beginning?" We listen to a quick piece from Don Carlo Gesualdo then a dirty little ditty Matona mir cara by Orlando Lasso, which has been properly censored by the always proper Mr. Somers. contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break dips back in Bizet's Carmen, this time listening to the opera version rather than the orchestral version, the "Habanera" from act 1 and the "Toreador Song" from act 2, among the best known of all operatic arias, including a fast, fun quintet and the tragic last scene. We also listen to selections from his incidental music to Alphonse Daudet's play L'Arlésienne and a piece called Children's Games. Lots of wonderful music from a composer who had a tragically short life. We again apologize for the Bizet puns and promise we won't make any more. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

YCCB apologizes for the Bizet pun, but we finally got it our of our systems. In this coffee break we explore the brief career of this French composer. Bizet struggled throughout his career to make a living. Berlioz hailed Bizet and said that he had a "masterpiece in him." He was right, but Bizet became famous weeks after his death. We listen to his long-lost symphony and, of course, selections of Carmen. What a great overture! We also learn a little bit about the origins of musical theater. contact the podcast at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

Berlioz wrote to a friend: "If I were threatened with the destruction of the whole of my works save one, I should crave mercy for the Messe des morts." This coffee break explores the power and drama of the Berlioz Requiem, written for a massive orchestra and chorus. But it is the Trojans, his most ambitious work, that many consider the summation of his entire artistic career. Based on Virgil's Aeneid this five-act opera underscores the composer's love of literature and his ability to write grand music. Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-4p4Nsh194

This coffee break digs deeper into the brilliant career of Hector Berlioz. A Shakeperean expert who read the Bard and English and French, he composed music for King Lear. But Hector was a wanderer and refused to be defined by any prexisting order of music. He delved into Lord Byron's Romanticism and produced the wonderful Harold in Italy, which reproduced his own travels in Italy. The piece, though lovely, was not virtuosic enough for Niccolò Paganini, for whom it was written. Yet it was cinematic before cinema. And what did Berlioz teach Wagner about leitmotif? contact the show at yccb@mauriceriver.com

It was only three years between Beethoven's last piece to Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique, but in many ways they were light years in mood, tempo, and technique. This coffee break explores Berlioz' free-flowing and emotional music. We follow his recurrent theme, his idée fixe that represented his love, into the fields to the guillotine to a witches' sabbath in this large orchestral piece which challenged the more conservative listener, but thrilled Franz List and other brilliant musicians. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

We continue training a young pianist to utilize full potential. We listen to a piece which requires a pianist to create two voices on the keyboard. How to toss the voices back and forth from each hand. How does one hand create two voices? We use a Mozart sonata to highlight the "sleight of hand" a master must utilize to hide the mastery. We talk about technique, practice, intelligence, memorization, textbook learning, and artistry and how they all combine to produce a performance of genius. We apologize for mentioning we have listeners in White House, England. The correct town is White Haven. Sorry. Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com.

This coffee break explores how to teach a promising student piano. Mr. Somers, a life-long teacher, discusses how he approaches teaching piano techniques and how his professional experience playing for the NJ Ballet helped expand his ability to teach others. We listen to some Bach and ask "How the music works?" Beyond the finger techniques, the teacher needs to direct the student to begin to understand the sense of the music and the composer's intention. Next we add complexity with a Robert Schumann piece. And the importance of the physical traits of the student's hands. And must we add that everyone who is "overnight success" must practice, practice, practice? contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com Your Classical Coffee Break is partially sponsored by CAS Music. Contact Chris Orazi for all your worldwide recording needs. casmusic.com/

We listen to the YCCB's version of John Cage's 4'33". Is there underpinning music surrounding us all the time? We listen to John Cage's lecture Composition as Process where he states that contemporary music is music that is NOW! How recording music freezes it, perhaps kills it. We are not afraid of silence during this podcast. Mr, Cage would be proud. We finish up with a wonderful percussion piece that shows the rich playfulness of his sound (or lack of). Lou Reed once said that John Cage taught him that EVERYTHING IS MUSIC. contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com Your Classical Coffee Break is partially sponsored by CAS Music. Contact Chris Orazi for all your worldwide recording needs. casmusic.com/

"I have nothing to say and I'm saying it," said John Cage. In this coffee break we listen to the compositions of the revolutionary John Cage. He used a a variety of every day objects--toy pianos, kitchen gadgets, metal sheets--to create "music." Chance and randomness were a part of his repertoire, even silence, all influenced by Asian influences and the harmony of nature. contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com Your Classical Coffee Break is partially sponsored by CAS Music. Contact Chris Orazi for all your worldwide recording needs. casmusic.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfP5OMCfiZs