My personal interest, of course, is music. I played examples from the classical world of Beethoven through to Shoenberg. I also threw in some popular music, from Elvis Presley to the White Stripes. Many Elvis songs tells a narrative story, with a beginning, middle, and end. Many White Stripes songs, in contrast, feature lyrics that are fragmentary and somewhat surrealist. Also, the White Stripes are more likely to employ a yelling, shouting style of singing compared to Elvis’s croon.

But these facts are only the start of aesthetics. One might say, “I like that particular song because it is slow and pretty.” It’s easy to agree on the nature of the music, but the tricky thing is to determine the “why” in your taste for slow and pretty music.

And of course, it is okay to like both Leonardo and Picasso, Elvis and the White Stripes. Some people even like broccoli on their pizza.

Here are a few pictures from the day. One thing we all learned is that I point, point, point way too much!

Differences between portraits

Do you prefer straight lines and symmetry, or wavy countours?

The post New Lecture on Aesthetics appeared first on Richard D. Russell.

First is the song cycle for soprano and piano trio, Three Partings. The texts are by Lord Byron and you may find more information about the piece here on my website.
It was performed/recorded February 24, 2015 at Saint Peter’s Church at Citigroup Center. The performers are Sofia Dimitrova, soprano; Stanichka Dimitrova, violin; James Waldo, cello; Michael Brofman, piano.

Next is NeverSummer, which began as a small trio quite a few years ago, but has been orchestrated for a chamber orchestra. It was performed by the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey under the baton of Robert W. Butts on April 1, 2015 at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Look for another performance by this ensemble in early August.

If you do not see the videos posted below, you may click here to view them on the website.

[youtubegallery cols=2]
So we’ll go no more a-roving|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17F0fW1MSuU
When we two parted|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q0KPLXB33I
On this day…|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB5sPM1YE38
NeverSummer|http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRD0J_IIxnI
[/youtubegallery]

The post Videos of recent performances appeared first on Richard D. Russell.

The Bell and Barter Theatre has a dramatic facade!

On June 5, 6, and 7th, The Bell and Barter Theatre of Rockaway, NJ, will be presenting a production of It Takes A Rainbow, an original musical I wrote with book writer and lyricist Emily Clare Thompson. Auditions were held last week and rehearsals begin on April 13.

This is exciting news for us as this is the first production of one of our shows that is being produced independently of our involvement. That is, we are not directing or rehearsing or making costumes or…the list goes on and on! It’s also a validation of the strength of the show. We know it’s great, but it’s nice to know others do, too.

The post “It Takes A Rainbow” at the Bell and Barter Theater this June appeared first on Richard D. Russell.

Every composer knows it is a rare and wonderful experience to have an entire orchestra premiere his or her piece. This piece has had a very long gestation, having originally been written for a small ensemble of 4 players, but I could never “get it right.” It turns out that what the piece needed was to be orchestrated, and, at the invitation of the conductor, that’s what I did. Also on the program were compositions by Dr. Butts, Vaclav Kucera, and Ting Ho.

Before my piece was performed, I got up to say a few words about the composition. It is named for a mountain range in the Colorado Rockies, and the word simply captivated me and made me want to represent it in musical form.

Here are several pictures from the rehearsal as well as the performance.

The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey

Robert Butts conducts the rehearsal

The crowd enters the Jim Wise Theatre of NJIT

Richard D. Russell introduces his piece as Robert Butts looks on

The performance

The post NeverSummer Orchestra Premiere appeared first on Richard D. Russell.

Here are several pictures from the show; click for a larger view.

A rehearsal

The view from the piano

Emily Thompson directing, with Rich Lovallo at the piano

Theodore at the museum

The muses step out of the painting

Two of the nine muses

“Can’t You See The Beauty of the Stars?”

The principal falls under the spell of the muses

The cast takes a bow

The post Success for “To A Muse” appeared first on Richard D. Russell.

It will be interesting to report to professional educators the kinds of feedback I receive from the youngsters who hear my talk!

More information by clicking on this flier, or click here.

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Christmas Composer Quest

This update is late in arriving, but this New Year holiday season I’ve been reminded that I did a podcast interview with composer and music producer Charlie McCarron a long, long time ago. Charlie contacted me about using an excerpt from our 2013 interview for a year-end podcast dubbed “Merry Podmas.” He wanted to focus on some of the best pieces of advice he has received from his interviews with many different composers.

In my case, he focused on my thoughts about musical “boxiness.” That interview can be listened to in your browser here:
http://charliemccarron.com/mediaftp/composerquest/composer-quest-109-merry-podmas.mp3

I come in at about 7:55 into the podcast, but the whole episode is valuable for all composers to listen to.

Charlie McCarron

Composer Richard Russell is a philosopher at heart. In his mission to become a better composer, he went back to school to study the big questions surrounding aesthetics, music, and beauty. He has also dug into both existential and practical composing topics in his podcast Creativity & Composition (one of my favorites).

I’m pleased to bring you this Composer Quest podcast interview with Richard, in which we discuss everything from feminist musicology to Plato to getting performance royalties from ASCAP.

To hear that original interview, head over to:
http://www.charliemccarron.com/2013/11/philosophies-of-music-composition-with-richard-russell/

And browse around Charlie’s other podcasts. They are all worth listening to!

The post Composing Interview with Composer Quest’s Charlie McCarron appeared first on Richard D. Russell.

Everyone seems to agree this is the most charming (and commercially viable!) musical yet to come from these collaborators.

For those who need a reminder: “It Takes A Rainbow” is a simple show for a younger group. The cur­tain rises on a vil­lage of brown lizards who are safe and warm at home, “Where All is Brown.” Sev­eral lizards decide to explore the out­side world, where they find red frogs (“When You’re Seein’ Red”), orange and yel­low frogs (“Cit­rine Samba”) and so on. One by one the lizards change color. They learn that dif­fer­ence is noth­ing to fear. They return home to teach the king and queen that “It Takes A Rainbow.”

It’s a great lit­tle show, about 45 min­utes long, and was a big hit with stu­dents, teach­ers, and par­ents. The stag­ing, while sim­ple, was exceed­ingly effec­tive, espe­cially the cos­tumes!

Here are sev­eral pic­tures from the new production. Click the image (within your browser) to enlarge.

Always a big crowd for the Thompson/Russell productions!

Queen Wamvua explains the world beyond the bonny brown bog.

…turning…RED!

The little brown lizards cast off in seek of new colors!

Searching high! Searching low!

King Upinde and Queen Wamvua are transformed: It takes a rainbow!

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