Joseph Stevenson at the All Music Guide writes about Nino Rota's Trombone Concerto (1966), "With his lyrical gift, dramatic flair, and grasp of the tragic and comic (often at the same time), Nino Rota in an earlier age could have become a leading opera composer. He did write some excellent operas, but gained his greatest fame and his finest opportunities for theatrical expression as the favored composer of film director Federico Fellini. His 1966 Trombone Concerto exhibits one of the most amazing characteristics of Rota's music: it is such attractive and easy-to-listen-to music that the listener is apt to mistake it for a conventional work of no great depth. But a little more attention reveals a subtle depth, with hidden feelings and a little irony, particularly in the way some seemingly banal moments add a sense of the pressures of modern life." Watch a performance of the first movement of Rota's Trombone Concerto by trombonist Domingo Pagliuca and Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuelar . . . it's one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.

Bonjour Tristesse (Hello Sadness) is a 1958 film directed by Otto Preminger and based on a novel by Françoise Sagan. It stars David Niven and Jean Seberg as a playboy father and his somewhat meddlesome teenage daughter. Problems arise when Niven meets and falls for Deborah Kerr and Seberg attempts to break up the relationship. Almost sounds like it could be a Haley Mills Disney film, but when the novel was written in 1954 it was quite scandalous. The music for the film was composed by French composer Georges Auric. The Title Sequence for the film was designed by noted graphic designer Saul Bass. For those of you who have never heard of Saul Bass, this week we bring you his opening of Bonjour Tristesse . . . though you've probably seen his work in such classic films as The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Vertigo (1958), Anatomy of a Murder (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), West Side Story (1961), Cape Fear (1991) and Catch Me If You Can Opening (2002), among many others . . . this week's PYTHEAS SIGHTING.

Stephen Cohn is internationally recognized for his music for the concert stage, as well as his scores for feature films and television. His concert works have been performed and recorded by the world's finest chamber music ensembles in the United States and Europe, such as the Kansas City Symphony, Arditti Quartet, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chroma String Quartet. He has been Composer-in-Residence at The International Encounters of Catalonia in the south of France, and his commissions have been performed in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Brussels, France, and Prague. He has received an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Music", and his scores have been part of many award winning productions featuring such stars as Lily Tomlin, Joanne Woodward, Kathleen Quinlan, Colleen Dewhurst, William Shatner and Wallace Shawn. Listen to a performance of Stephen Cohn's Essay for Guitar written in 2008 . . . one of our PYTHEAS EARFULS this week.

Arvo Pärt began a "prismatic approach to musical construction" in his Für Elina (1976), a piece for solo piano which announced - quietly, thoughtfully, beautifully - the arrival of his "tintinnabuli style". Written originally as a gift for a young Estonian girl on her own in London, the work's modest means give little hint of the soul-searching that preceded its composition. About Für Elina, Pärt has said, "This was the first piece that was on a new plateau. It was here that I discovered the triad series, which I made my simple little guiding rule." Composition, for Pärt, had become a process of self-discovery, and his first requirement was clarity. (from Musicolog.com) - Watch, and bask in, a performance of Pärt's Für Elina . . . this week's FROM THE PYTHEAS ARCHIVES.

Explore, Listen and Enjoy!
Vinny Fuerst
Pytheas Center for Contemporary Music