Milano Polizia… On the Beat!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Bach, AllegroWhen recording in public spaces, it’s important to keep a wary eye open for friendly cops…out on the beat!
Before finding a morning coffee, I gave this lively Bach Allegro a read-through in the wonderful Galleria shortly before these two helpful Polizia offered me directions to El Duomo. Hey, I was watching out for security and caffeine-deprived, so if my
La Poesia di Polizia (Poetry Police)
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Poem, Griffes (Introduction)It was hard to leave the acoustic playground of Milan’s famous Galleria, so after finding a café that was open so early – believe me, something at least as strong as a double espresso was badly needed – I set up to record right under the massive central dome.
Bach had sounded great in the space, but I really wanted
Octagonal Flute en Milano!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Bach, SarabandeA spontaneous drive to Milan at the end of my recent Swiss adventure came as a wonderful epiphany, and was the icing on the cake for a great trip! Early on the Sunday morning of the day that I was scheduled to depart, I was up and out of my hotel room, restless to check out some of the gorgeous
Postcard from Switzerland
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Romainmotier, Improv #1My friends had gone ahead and were sitting in the distant shadows, somewhere down this gently sloping main aisle, a path barely discernible to me as my eyes valiantly tried to adjust to the gloom. It was this central, downward slope that left a lingering impression perhaps even more than the incredible acoustics, as I found its incline pulled me
Classical Music Rave
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Phantom Concert 2My thanks to those brave souls who attended the second in a series of innovative infiltration concerts. The CBC thankfully was on the scene to capture the extraordinary acoustics and some audience feedback as the daring and rather audacious event unfolded.
This segment, recently aired on CBC’s Radio 2, wonderfully conveys the magic and nuance of hearing fine music performed in unusual, off-limits locations – especially when
Demolition Flute
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Craigie-Burn Wood, TradHere is another remarkable staggering recording made inside the National Rubber Industries factory as it was meeting its untimely demise last week. I’m glad that I could bear witness to the final days of this dinosaur of a building out in the the west end of Toronto, as described in the previous post.
There are more images and soundfiles, however this is the
Toronto’s Forgotten Tunnels
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Agra, Paul HornIt’s all about fascinating acoustics…great music and mystery…communing with a forgotten past….
And the forgotten tunnels under Toronto’s Casa Loma has it in spades!
Late one night, I made a few short recordings with friends in the secret tunnels under Casa Loma that were part of the original inspiration for my Urban Flute Project.
Oh, and did I mention it’s
Recording in a Haunted House
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
J.S. Bach, SarabandeMy thanks to everyone at Music By The Lake for a fantastic week of music-making in a beautiful setting – some readers may recognize this view from the second-floor of the Stone House where we had our flute masterclasses and ensemble coaching sessions.
MBTL was a great experience, and the enthusiasm of the flute students a true inspiration!
On the final day, after
Outlaw Flute – The Ballad of Jesse James
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Ballad of Jesse JamesI have no idea why, but at times I feel like a bit of an outlaw flutist!?
So you might imagine that I felt right at home playing in the Jesse James Museum while visiting Liberty, Missouri recently – such a renegade, asking if I could play my flute in the restored room that was the setting for the first
Postcard from Kansas
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Arlen & HarburgWith time on my hands waiting to board a flight back to Toronto from Kansas City MO how could I resist sounding the opening of this classic tune from The Wizard of Oz?
Hey, besides some pretty amazing mosaics in the flooring, they actually have tornado bunkers at the KC International – how cool is that?
Getting through
Taj Mahal, North American-style!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Paul Horn, Prologue/InsideNo, I didn’t play while sitting in the hot tub here, but it was this view as I listened to the ambient sound of the water in the deserted pool area that inspired me to set up and record a bit while the coast was clear.
At the tail end of a recent conference I had been attending up near the
You Raise Me Up, GWMC Choir, Guelph
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
You Raise Me Up, Rolf LovlandIn a break in my schedule last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Guelph-Wellington Men’s Club Choir up in Guelph – it was a gorgeous day, and it felt great to hit the open road and play hookey for the afternoon. I knew that I was in for a treat, having attended the GWMC Spring Luncheon