Music
Reviews of my favorite music. Sources: Artists' Websites and Wikipedia
Artist: Secret Garden
Dreamcatcher is a greatest hits package from the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden released in 2000 in the United Kingdom, in 2001 in the United States, and with a special Australian tour edition released in 2004. The group consists of Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry and the Norwegian composer/pianist Rolf Løvland. Their instrumental song "Nocturne" won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995 and the band has gone on to sell 3 million albums. In 2001, the album reached number 4 on the Billboard New Age chart. The Australian tour edition released in 2004 topped the classical music chart in that country and made the top 50 of the album charts in March 2004. The album cover features a recoloured photograph of the Eilean Donan castle.
Favorite song: Passacaglia
Irina Bogushevskaya is unique Russian singer working in a unique genre: she sings light, some romantic but very smart songs in cabaret and chanson style. These songs are not similar bard songs or "prison chanson" ones - she managed to create her own original style. Also it should be said she writes texts herself. It's a really good music as it turns to us.
Favorite song: Rio-Rita
Artist:Pink Martini
Pink Martini is a 12-member "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon, formed in 1994 by pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale. They draw inspiration from music from all over the world - crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop. Band leader, Thomas Lauderdale describes the band's sound as "music of the world without being world music. If the United Nations had a house band in 1962 hopefully Pink Martini would be that band. My hope is that we're creating exquisite musical wallpaper which can be turned up or down, and played on almost any occasion, from background music to a love affair to vacuuming around the house."
Favorite song: Sympathique
Composer:Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music. The great majority of Chopin's compositions were written for the piano as solo instrument; all of his extant works feature the piano in one way or another. They are technically demanding, but emphasize nuance and expressive depth. Arthur Rubinstein said the following about Chopin's music and its universality: "Chopin was a genius of universal appeal. His music conquers the most diverse audiences. When the first notes of Chopin sound through the concert hall there is a happy sigh of recognition. All over the world men and women know his music. They love it. They are moved by it. Yet it is not "Romantic music" in the Byronic sense. It does not tell stories or paint pictures. It is expressive and personal, but still a pure art. Even in this abstract atomic age, where emotion is not fashionable, Chopin endures. His music is the universal language of human communication. When I play Chopin I know I speak directly to the hearts of people!"
Favorite composition: Waltz No 7 in C Sharp Minor, Op 65.