There are some 27 piano concertos by Mozart. The first one of any importance is concerto number nine in E-flat, K 271. This concerto was composed for a French woman, Mlle Jeunehomme. Charles Rosen, a man whom I respect greatly, calls this concerto the first masterpiece in the classical style. The first movement is unusual [...]

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steaming night with y’er ol’ Bruce Conte at Taboan, Matina Town Square Imagine for a moment you are painting a canvass, and your idol artist—say Van Gogh—walks in out of nowhere, picks a brush, and draws a figure on your canvass—with your permission of course. Or imagine playing the CD of your favorite Enya all [...]

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Two weeks ago, few privileged Davao City denizens had the precious luck of watching three Korean world music artists perform three songs at Taboan, Matina Town Square, Davao City. The group was led by the frail-looking Kang San-eh, famous Korean composer, singer, and guitarist who was, at that time, suffering from mild colds.Apparently, a filmmaking [...]

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Last week, six theatre artists gathered at Taboan, Matina Town Square, Davao City for our almost-nightly rounds of Red Horse and San Mig Lite. Before dancing to the 80s upbeats of one of my favorite pop bands Top Secret, we decided, by some divine prodding, to discuss Mindanao’s music celebrities. In other words, nanglibak.But let [...]

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I would love to have been a fly on the wall during the piano-playing contest between Muzio Clementi and Wolfgang A. Mozart. It would be even more interesting if I could speak German, and thus understand what was said, but it would be so cool just to hear them both play. Both were composers who [...]

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It is without a doubt that the invention of the radio had a profound impact on popular music both in Europe and in America, but especially in America, because of the way our heterogeneous culture was affected by the ability of each ethnic group to easily hear the music of other ethnic groups by simply [...]

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The following is a description of the genesis of the Beatles song “A Day in the Life.” I based it on what I have read about the song, what I gathered from watching “The Beatles Anthology” and from looking at the score and listening to the song. And yes, I have the actual score, not [...]

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What a sad figure Joseph Haydn was in in old age. During his last five years he was too feeble even to sit at the piano and play, and he was one of those composers who liked to compose at the piano. In his last five years he said that he had music in his [...]

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