Sunday, December 25, 2016

KLEM AM

Getting a Handel on Christmas...


That one came highly recommended by Sixty Grit and MamaM -- two of the straightest shooters at Lem's.

Here's the thing: Handel is gorgeous but above all -- baroque. I crave simplicity. Musically, I actually liked three-man power trios better than The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Maybe that's why I like small molecule chemistry better that molecular biology. Simplicity. Less is more.

Consider the following video that I found, researching a post a few nights ago:


What daunting challenges that musician faces! Four keyboards and more foot pedals than a centipede could master -- and yet somehow he does. Why was that instrument perfected for a soloist?  Why didn't organists have footmen, much like a locomotive engineer had a fireman? Because they could?

I suppose that next you'll tell me that the pipe organ soloist evolved specifically to play baroque music.

Merry Christmas, All!

17 comments:

ndspinelli said...

There are a few songs that send a chill down my spine. This is one of them. Merry Christmas to all.

edutcher said...

Merry Christmas to all the Lemmings, we few, we happy few, we band of brothers (and sisters), we Basket of Deplorables.

rhhardin said...

Hoffnung organist.

The keyboards are all the same but you usually set them up with different stops (pipe attachments)

ndspinelli said...

ed, I think you'll agree, the "Basket of Deplorables" quote was an early Christmas gift.

rhhardin said...

I liked the Leonard Berstein Messiah, which I heard a lot in college from the next room and seemed to set the standard.

The Hogwart, um no it's Hogwood, Messiah is a new favorite, differing in a few notes here and there which I always notice; but a great introduction.

A similar thing with Kreb's L'Orfeo, which I heard over and over in high school since I did homework to it; and the modern Jordi Savall one, which I notice every different note of.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

As soon as I read Getting a Handel on Christmas I knew it was šŸ„ chick.

ndspinelli said...

My grand-daughter and I just watched the Three Tenors doing Christmas songs, recorded in 1999. The girl LOVES music.

AllenS said...

I'm not sure if others have seen this video of a 10 year old Irish autistic girl singing, but it's totally really, really very good.

LINK VIDEO


Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Merry Christmas everyone. Even you, dear Ed.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Merry Christmas, Chicken and Nick and the rest!

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Here's the thing: Handel is gorgeous but above all -- baroque. I crave simplicity.

Do fewer instruments = less harmonics or timbre? I think you can hear these things more clearly with fewer voices or just an organ.

deborah said...

Merry Christmas all.

AllenS said...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

deborah said...

Allen, thanks for that, a beautiful video.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Merry Christmas to all of Lem's lemmings and especially Lem, Chip and the co-bloggers!

deborah said...

Merry Christmas to you, AJ...and thanks for the shout-out ;)

Methadras said...

Merry belated christmas to all of you guys. Sorry, I was out of touch for a bit. Had to deal with a bit of an emergency, but all is good and I hope you all had a wonderful christmas.