John Williams: Raider of the Lost Art

Amid an era of so many emerging genres threatening to leave the orchestra behind in the pit, Williams, with his music for films like Indiana Jones and Star Wars (1977), truly could be understood as the modern saviour of orchestral film scoring, a raider of the lost art.

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Daniel CampoliComment
Royal Oak Rendezvous

In the midst of the evening as I sipped a pint and enjoyed a club sandwich, I fell into a reverie. I thought to myself, here alone I sit and listen to this music. Part of the backdrop, part of the ambience. Part of some remote feeling of life in the 1940s when you’d see Charlie Parker or the Duke at the club, where you went for a drink and the music in its younger years. My brown, leather shoes felt like someone else’s from a forgotten decade tapping away at the hardwood floor, and I felt free. More free than I had felt in a long time.

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Daniel CampoliComment
Koji Kondo: the Face of Early Game Music

As the first composer at Nintendo, Kondo paved the way for countless video game composers to follow. He set the standard and created a sound template that immortalized the essence of Nintendo. Early video game sound may have had its limitations, but Koji Kondo did not.

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Daniel CampoliComment
The Performer Breathes Life

Recently, upon practicing my piano repertoire, I was reviewing Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" and decided, for good measure, to listen to a few interpretations of it on YouTube by various performers. I came across an interesting recording that claimed, in the title, to be the great Debussy himself performing his own "Clair de Lune."

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Daniel CampoliComment
An Evening with Schumann, Beethoven and the National Arts Centre Orchestra

March 19th 2014 was an evening of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony at Ottawa's very own National Arts Centre performed by the venue's house orchestra, the NACO. Almost every seat in the cavernous concert hall was occupied as the audience eagerly awaited the conductor's appearance. The orchestra waited patiently. Clapping began with a trickle and became a flood as the the hall erupted with applause to the conductor striding into view with a smile on his face. After bowing and greeting the principal violinist, he took his place at the stand and cued the orchestra. The music had begun.

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Daniel CampoliComment