Find, Listen Research

Berta Rojas

In the performance reviewed, Berta Rojas performs the Allegro from “La Catedral” by Agustin Barrios.

She is a guitarist well known for performing classical music. She is one of the top ranked female guitarists playing classical music today. Her outstanding technique with the guitar has earned her a place among the audience of classical music. She has performed on big stages all over the globe and has been features in several major television stations. She has also had the privilege to perform at the summit of the First Ladies of the Americas, where the then first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton attended.

Apart from building her artistic career, she is strongly committed to disseminating and furthering the classical guitar. She does this with the aim of promoting music from her country, Paraguay, and also Latin American Music. She also gives ongoing support to careers of young artists.

Berta Rojas gained her Music degree in Uruguay at the EScuela Universitaria de Musica. She studied with Abel Carlevaro, Violet de Msetral and Felipe Sosa. She later completed her masters of music degree at Peabody Institute under Mannuel Barrueco.

Berta Rojas studied with Felipe Sosa, Violet de Mestral and Abel Carlevaro, among others. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the Escuela Universitaria de Musica in Uruguay where she was a student of Eduardo Fernandez. She later earned a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Institute under the guidance of Manuel Barrueco.

Agustin barrios bio

According to Naxos, Agustin Barrios, the composer of Allegro from “La Catedral” being played by Rojas, is considered to be one of the greatest composers that ever lived by many. He lived his life from 1885 to 1944. He was a Paraguayan born in southern Paraguay.  His music is performed by major artists and is appreciated by worldwide. His work is folk music and classical guitar composition.

Barrios only had two years of formal education after completing two years of high school. He loved solely on music, playing the guitar and Making compositions. His life as a performer led him to shift from country to country. He spent long periods in Brazil, Uruguay, and El Salvador. Barrios became a fan of the famous Spanish composer and guitarist Francisco Tarrega after discovering his music in 1917.  He recognized his work and declared: “without Tarrega we wouldn’t be”. He continued to perform and enjoy music until he met his death in 1944.

In this classical performance, Rojas plays the music like it is her own composition. She hits the notes well using her undisputed talent. The cool music is well composed and lifts the listener away. She makes it glow with her feminine and delicate touch.

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma performs batch cello suite no 1 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Yo-Yo Ma is exclusively a Sony Classical artist who plays a 1733 Montagnana cello from Venice and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius. To date he has produced over 75 albums. He performs orchestra all over the world. According to yoyoma.com, Mr. Ma is one of the best selling classical artists in the world.  His records are usually among the top 15.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris in 1955 to Chinese parents.  He started studying the cello at the age of four. They later moved to New York where he spent most of his life. He was taught by Leonard Rose at the Julliard School and later studied traditional liberal arts. In 1976 he graduated at Harvard University.

Yoyoma.com shows that Mr. Ma has received numerous awards in his career including: “the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the Glenn Gould Prize (1999), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Dan David Prize (2006), the Sonning Prize (2006), the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award (2008), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010)”. He has had a flourishing career performing for eight American presidents including Obama’s Inaugural ceremony. Currently he is a UN Messenger of peace and also sits in the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Johann Sebastian Bach Bio

According to Shelokhonov, Johann Sebastian Bach was a violinist, composer, an organist, a violist and a harpsichordist. He was of German nationality and lived in the Baroque period. His style of music was mainly ornamented as was the style in the Baroque period.  He was born in the year 1685 in Eisenach and died in 1750. He was born to a musical family. His father was a musician and most of his uncles. He learnt to play the violin and the harpsichord. His brother was also a musician who introduced him to contemporary music.

He attended school at St Michael’s School in Luneburg where he graduated thereafter and became a music director as well as a composer. He is currently known as one of the greatest composers. Despite the recognition he was not recognized as much during his lifetime. His music is appreciated for its artistic beauty depth and technical command.

Yo-Yo Ma performs the batch cello suite no 1 with passion. He plays the cello swiftly producing soothing music that captures the audience. Coming from one instrument the music is extremely well done.

Lang Lang

The review features Lang Lang performing Nocturne by Chopin

Lang Lang is a Chinese pianist who was born on June 1982, in Shenyang China. He has been painted as the most successful pianist in the world by many people including the media. Genzel says that Mr. Lang’s fame: “has by far eclipsed that of most classical performers”. Mr. Lang was inspired to play the piano after hearing Franz Listzt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in then famous Tom and Jerry cartoon. This inspiration came at an early age of 2 years. He gave his first public performance at the age of 5 where he won the Shenyang Piano competition. He then entered Peking conservatory when he was nine. At the age of 11 while in Germany, he won an award at the fourth International young pianist Competition.  

Mr. Lang rose to international fame at the age of 17. This was in1999 after he played the first Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He started to make world tours as he recorded albums. In 2001, he played at the Carnegie hall on April where the show was sold out.

His classical performances have faced praises as well as criticism from all over. His star became brighter after he appeared on a number of German television shows in 2006. Lang Lang plays classical music from famous composers like Chopin, Mozart, Liszt and Schuman. He features their work in his album titled Memory. He also performs soundtracks of the Banquet and the painted Veil by Alexander Desplat among others.

Chopin Bio

Lang Lang performs Nocturne by Chopin. According to 8notes.com, Chopin was born in 1810 in Zelazowa Wola in Poland and died 18 49 in Paris. He lived in the classical era. The Polish composer is famous for his piano works. He is described as a romantic composer who wrote absolute music like Nocturnes, Walzes, Impromptus, and Marzurkas. Chopin exclusively composed music for the piano. His musical career started when he was a child. At age 7 he had already composed polonaises. He was featured in Warsaw newspapers. He took piano lessons from the violinist Wojciech Zywny.

As a result of the Russian suppression, he migrated to Pairs. He lived on his compositions and giving piano lessons. Most of Chopin’s works are solo piano. In his 19 years in Paris, Chopin only gave 30 public performances.

Chopin’s style of music had a rhythmic sense; he used rubato and chromatic inflections. Most of his compositions have been known particularly because of their unique melodic shape and because of how easy they are to recognize. His piano works are often technically demanding, emphasizing nuance and expressive depth

From this performance, one can feel how the piece is slow and soft. It automatically carries you along arresting your attention. There is the romantic aspect in the music and the notes are smooth with varying speeds from slow and low notes to fast and high notes. The composition is well composed and Lang Lang performs it passionately.

Ana Vidovic

The performance being reviewed is Isaac Albeniz's Asturias which she performed in New York.

Anavidovic.com describes Ana Vidovic as an “extraordinary talent with formidable gifts taking her place amongst the elite musicians of the world today.”  She is a talented guitarist originating from a small town, Karlovac, in Croatia. She started playing the guitar at a tender age of 5. By the time she was 7 years old, she had performed on a public stage. At 11yrs she had gone international with performances in various countries. She broke a record when she was 13 by becoming the youngest student to study at the prominent academy of National Musical Academy located in Zagreb. Her impeccable reputation in Europe attracted an invitation to study at the Peabody Conservatory where she studied with Manuel Barrueco and graduated in 2005.  

Since her first appearance on a stage Ms. Vidovic has performed more than a thousand performances all over the globe in the major cities. Ms. Vidovic has won numerous awards from different countries such as first prizes in the Albert Augustine International Competition, Mauro Giuliani competition in Italy, Eurovision Competition for Young Artists among others. She is well known for playing classical compositions from famous composers like Torroba, Piazzolla and Pierre Bensusan, Stanley Myers, Agustin Barrios Mangoré, Villa-Lobos and Sergio Assad.

Isaac Albeniz’s bio

Isaac Albeniz is the composer of Aturi, the music being performed by Ms. Vidovic, was a Catalan pianist and composer from Spain. He lived most of his life in the 19^th century. He was born in Camprodon in 29 May 1860 and faced his death in 18^th May 1909. His style of composition was folk music idioms.  Most of them have been transcribed for performance by guitar, like the ones Ms. Vidovic plays.

He did his first performance at the age of four. At the age of 7, he passed his entrance exam to study piano at the Paris Conservatoire after taking lessons apparently from Francois Marmontel. His performance career started at the age of nine. It is alleged that he ran away from home at age 12 to America through Cuba. By the time he was 15 years he had performed worldwide. In 1883 he was inspired to write Spanish songs by Felip Pedrell. He went on to write songs like Chants d’Espagne, Asturia (Layenda) among others. Francisco Tarrega is noted to transcribe most of Albeniz’s compositions for guitar. He married one of his students and fathered three children. He wrote his last masterpiece, Iberia, in 1908 and died thereafter in 1909.

The music is quite classical. Ms. Vidovic plays the music with a lot of passion and brings it out in a way that captures the listeners. The flow of the notes is well organized making a good composition deserving the glory it is given.  

Most of the performances by the performers are non vocal. They are instrumental. Each performer plays the classical music compositions using his/ her instrument of choice.