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The marimba is one of the most beautiful instruments in the world. Today in its repertoire, players must be skilled enough to play with two mallets in each hand (one held like a drum stick, the other usually held between the middle and ring finger). When you hear a master play the instrument, it's not just the beautiful expressiveness that can be created out of the the wooden bars, but also the sight too see a musician dance across the instrument.
On December 13th and 14th, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will be joined by marimba master Nakura Makoto for the U.S. premiere of Pierre Jalbert's Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra. The program also includes Strauss' Serenade for Winds and Haydn's Symphony No. 31 in D major, “Hornsignal.”
To understand a little about Makoto's mastery of playing with four mallets--two in each hand--check this audio sample out (this will not be the piece being performed at the concert):
LAist is happy to be giving away four pairs of tickets to the Saturday, December 13th concert at the Alex Theatre in Glendale (they play Royce Hall at UCLA on the 14th).
All you have to do to enter the contest is comment on this post, following the guidelines below, telling us who your favorite composer(s) is. For us, a current theme in our iTunes library these days is the Estonian composer Arvo Part. For you maybe it will be more traditional with the likes of Mozart or Brahms. Whoever it may be, share it with us and we hope to see you at the LA Chamber Orchestra.
Here's how the contest works:
- Enter the contest by making a comment on this post. Comments must fit the criteria, stated below.
- The criteria of the comment is that you tells us who your favorite composer or composers are.
- The contest closes at 11:59:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9, 2008.
- Four of qualifying entries will be randomly selected to receive a pair of tickets to the December 13th show at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. They will be notified via the e-mail connected to their LAist.com login. They must confirm the receipt of the e-mail by 12:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 10, 2008 or the tickets will be released to another winner.
- Tickets will be held at the will-call pick up at the event
Good luck!
Photo by Christian Steiner
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Zach Behrens and Arvo Part?? *swoon* Let's try Philip Glass operas, Shostakovich Symphonies and Stravinsky chamber music. For more Marimba goodness, try albums "Marimba When" and "Bach on Marimba."
I remember Red Fish Blue Fish playing Xenakis 'Persephassa' at MOCA. Hard to top...
Phillip Glass, especially in Koyaanisqatsi
That clip is blowing my mind.
On one end of the spectrum, Mal Waldron. On the other, Gustav Mahler. I would be hard pressed to chose between the two.
Jean Sibelius is definitely my current favorite. I just found Finlandia on vinyl! Going to this concert would be sweet, especially since I used to play percussion and its a day after my birthday.
sibelius is my favorite too! i first heard his work at a free daytime concert at WDCH, and fell for it hard. had to go out and buy a cd of finlandia soon afterwards. it may have even been later that same day.
the marimba clip is absolutely amazing.
Oh, nothing gets me going like a good Leonard Bernstein composition!
I love listening to Gershwin. Just hearing the opening to Rhapsody in Blue gives me the chills.
And the bando in me just loves a Sousa march or one of Holst's Suites for Band.
Chopin is definiately my favorite composer, with Leonard Bernstein, being a close second.
Haydn. Little ado about much.
Carter Burwell...Twilight score, so great
I like me some Erik Satie.
satie is good!
but i'd have to say j.s. bach for me.
though that clip was impressive, i doubt he would take me away from my ultimate idiophone crush, andrei pushkarev on the vibes. his variations on bach's inventions...mmmmm
I love me some Steve Reich.
philip glass!!! in particular the hours and mishima soundtracks (as well as metamorphosis)
chopin's nocturnes
schubert's impromptus
gonzales' solo piano
a little debussy, mahler, strauss, & rachmaninoff
beethoven's everything (esp symphony 7, 2nd movement)
eleni karaindrou's soundtracks
love arvo part as well, and shostakovich's jazz album
and speaking of jazz....
moondog, duke ellington, miles davis, fats waller, i shouldnt get into jazz i will go on forever...
and since the subject is marimba, arthur lyman for sure
and les baxter!
Milosz Magin's Five Preludes for Piano
My 1st roommate in NYC played the marimba.
Chopin, hands down. But I notice someone has mentioned Duke Ellington, can't go wrong with him :]
Beethoven's 9'th... that get's me through the maddening traffic on the 405 on my way to school.. without it, I'd probably go crazy.
Elgar, for them good ol' "Enigma Variations."
Gershwin!
First time commenting. I'm a big fan of Brahms, Dvorak (No. 9 specifically), anything by Mahler, Mendelssohn, Paganini, Saint-Saens, Shostakovich, and Wagner.
brahms. hadyn. other ones...
Raymond Wong Ying-Wah
Classic 2.0 Glass, Sondheim, Bernstein.....
Classic 1.0 Tschaikovsky, Sousa,
No mention of Mozart yet! I've also been into Rachmaninoff since I was 12 and looked like young David Helfgott at the beginning of "Shine."