20,000 vinyl LP 205: The Latin Rascals ~ 12" of Macho Mozart (Disco Daze 5)

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photos by Styrous®

The Latin Rascals ~ Macho Mozart

12" vinyl single album cover detail

On the 27th of January, in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. He composed music and performed before European royalty from the age of five.    

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, possibly by Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni; 

painted in 1763 on commission from Leopold Mozart

The Latin Rascals celebrated Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in 1986, with this 12" single, Macho Mozart, which was played at discos in New York and San Francisco. The song is based on the third movement, Alla turca, of the Piano Sonata No. 11 written by Mozart, in 1783, It is also known as the Turkish Rondo or The Turkish March.    
       

The Latin Rascals ~ Macho Mozart

12" vinyl single album front cover

        
   

The Latin Rascals is a duo organized by Tony Moran, a DJ, record producer, remixer, singer and songwriter, and Albert Cabrera in 1981.        

The Latin Rascals ~ Macho Mozart

12" vinyl single album back cover

Moran has worked with Madonna, George Michael, The Cover Girls, Laura Branigan, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Selena Gomez, Cher, Gloria Estefan and Donna Summer.          

The Latin Rascals ~ Macho Mozart

12" vinyl single album back cover detail

The Latin Rascals ~ Macho Mozart

12" vinyl single record

The Latin Rascals ~ Macho Mozart

12" vinyl single record label

        
   
Tracklist:

side 1:

A1     Macho Mozart (12" Version)     6:40
A2     Macho Mozart (Bonus)     2:17

side 2:

Macho Mozart (Dub 1)     7:47
B1     Macho Mozart (Dub 1)     7:47
B2     Macho Mozart (Dub 2)     5:10

Credits:

    Arranged By – A. Cabrera*, T. Moran*
    Co-producer – Gary Rottger
    Mixed By, Edited By – The Latin Rascals
    Producer – Latin Rascals Productions, Inc.*

Notes:

Another pressing exists with different labels (Side A and B instead of Side 1 and 2).

Contains arrangements of 'Rondo A La Turk' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Original Version on 'Bach To The Future'     

The Latin Rascals ‎– Macho Mozart
Label: Tin Pan Apple ‎– 885 567-1
Format: Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic
Style: Electro, Freestyle
     
       
Viewfinder links:       
 
Cher         
Disco Daze       
Aretha Franklin          
Madonna         
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart       
Donna Summer       
        
Net links:       
        
Cuepoint ~ How The Latin Rascals Mastered the Megamix     
Ring of Color ~ Latin Rascals       
     
YouTube links:       
      
The Latin Rascals ~ Macho Mozart      
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ~  
    Piano Sonata No. 11 (Rondo Alla Turca) The Turkish March   
       
          
           
   Styrous® ~ Monday, January 27, 2020     

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Maurice Ravel ~ Escalera á Lenin

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Today is the birthday of composer Maurice Ravel 

   
    
    
      
     
     
     

Maurice Ravel - 1925

photographer unknown

      

He was born, Joseph Maurice Ravel (French: [ʒozɛf mɔʁis ʁavɛl]) on March 7, 1875. He was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.     

My favorite work by him is the Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Infanta). It was originally written for solo piano in 1899 when he was studying composition at the Conservatoire de Paris under Gabriel Fauré. There is a recording from a piano roll of Ravel playing it on YouTube (link below). He also published an orchestrated version of the Pavane in 1910; it is scored for two flutes, oboe, two clarinets (in B-flat), two bassoons, two horns, harp, and strings. A typical performance of the piece lasts between six and seven minutes. It is a very melancholy, slow and incredibly beautiful piece of music (link below).  

However, it is his Bolero that has become the first thing that pops into the mind of people when they think of his music. That's too bad as his work was massive; it included chamber music, symphonies, operas, ballets, choral works and many other forms (link below). 

Bolero is a one-movement orchestral work composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein which premiered in 1928. It was one of the last pieces Ravel composed before illness forced him into retirement.     

While on vacation at St Jean-de-Luz, Ravel went to the piano and played a melody with one finger to his friend Gustave Samazeuilh, saying "Don't you think this theme has an insistent quality? I'm going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can." It was initially called Fandango, but its title was changed to "Boléro". According to Idries Shah, the main melody is adapted from a melody composed for and used in Sufi training.  
     
I think of Bolero, as the first real piece of Disco; the endless repetition of a simple music motif. A story I once heard was it was composed when Ravel spent a night in a hotel next to a sawmill; NOT true but makes for a great urban legend and I like it. As it is his most famous musical composition, his "trademark", I have decided to concentrate on it with an interesting film interpretation that utilized it.   
       
The 1990 film entitled, The Orchestra (YouTube link below), was conceived and directed by Zbig Rybczynski who won the 1982 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Tango. There were several segments to the film, Chopin Schubert, Mozart, Rossini and the last one, Ravel, was entitled, Escalera á Lenin (Vimeo link below).     

Zbig Rybczynski

photographer unknown

The segment is a musical interpretation of a political theme: Communism. Communism progressed one level at a time, but never got anywhere in the end, never reaching the mountain top. It portrays how communism failed to progress from one level to the next, always stuck on the same staircase (the segment was shot using one VERY long set of stairs with landings on the way). The actors do not go up to the next level of stairs but stop when they reach the top of the level they are on. A new set of performers takes over and the camera provides the illusion of progress but there is none, just endless repetition until the final collapse. The concept is brilliant!    

The music, Ravel's Bolero, was performed by the RIAS Symphony Orchestra, Berlin, conducted by Ferenc Fricsay. The film was produced by Stuart L. Weiss. The costumes were designed by Ed Falco and the computer designs were by Tara Brooke Weiss. The featured performers in the Bolero segment were Rafal Ney-Jaskulski, Meryl Newbern, Anatol Glushko and Drew Dix. The film was shot at The Zbig Vision Sgtudios in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

Ravel epilogue

In October 1932, Ravel suffered a blow to the head in a taxi accident. The injury was not thought serious at the time, but in a study for the British Medical Journal in 1988 the neurologist R. A. Henson concludes that it may have exacerbated an existing cerebral condition. In 1937, Ravel began to suffer pain from his condition, and was examined by Clovis Vincent, a well-known Paris neurosurgeon. Vincent advised surgical treatment. He thought a tumour unlikely, and expected to find ventricular dilatation that surgery might prevent from progressing. Ravel's brother Edouard accepted this advice; as Henson comments, the patient was in no state to express a considered view. After the operation there seemed to be an improvement in his condition, but it was short-lived, and he soon lapsed into a coma. He died on December 28, at the age of 62.     

Maurice Ravel, Boléro

for classical and fingerstyle guitar 

Strings by Mail

      

   
      
    
Viewfinder links:    
    
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart articles/mentions 
Maurice Ravel articles/mentions    
Gioachino Rossini articles/mentions       
     
Net links:    
     
Music of Ravel
Zbigniew Rybczyński      
        
YouTube & Vimeo links:    
     
RIAS Symphony Orchestra, Berlin ~ Escalera a Lenin 14 min. ,15 sec.    
The Orchestra (complete) 57 min., 14 sec.           
The Making of Zbig's "The Orchestra" 25 min., 03 sec.             
Pavane pour une infante défunte solo piano by Ravel      
Pavane pour une infante défunte orchestral version       

          
       
   
       

"The only love affair I have ever had was with music" 

                        ~ Maurice Ravel

      
    
    
Styrous® ~ Wednesday, March 7, 2018          

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Music Notes Articles

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Joan Sutherland articles/mentions

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Excerpts from Donizetti ~ La fille du régiment    Excerpts from Gounod ~ Faust   
Excerpts from Mozart ~ Don Giovanni

mentions:    
Victoria de los Ángeles at the Barcelona Olympics    
Leontyne Price ~ the ultimate Aida      

     
Dame Joan Sutherland - 1975     
photo by Allan Warren
        

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Music Notes Articles  
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101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 113: Joan Sutherland sings excerpts from Mozart ~ Don Giovanni

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 
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Don Giovanni

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I started the Vinyl LP series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl record albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. The 101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes series is an extension of that collection. Inquire for information here.   

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The first opera I ever saw was not actually a live production; it was a film. I remember it vividly! I saw it at a theater, the El Capitan, on Mission Street in San Francisco, California, in the late fifties. It was an ancient movie palace from the twenties that had seen better days and was in sad condition. It is no longer there; well, the external structure is there but it was gutted years ago and turned into a parking lot. The entrance to the lot was the original theater entrance. I was to move into my studio two blocks away fifteen or so years later. To the right of the theater you can see the sign for the Greek import store where I would buy those great albums from Greece    

El Capitan theater, San Francisco, CA

photo by Wendy Harman

I didn't even know what I was going to see. I was expecting a regular old movie but I was in for a gigantic surprise. It was a film of a 1954 stage production in Salzberg, Austria. This production of Don Giovanni was filmed in Salzburg’s open-air Felsenreitschule theatre as part of director Paul Czinner’s movement to preserve renowned theater performances for posterity. It was conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler and featured Cesare Siepi as Don Giovanni, Lisa della Casa as Donna Elvira, Elisabeth Grümmer as Donna Anna and Otto Edelmann as the Don's comic man servant (link to this film on YouTube below).    

Joan Sutherland sings Mozart ~ Don Giovanni
reel-to-reel tape box 
photo by Styrous®

The complete title for Don Giovanni is, Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, literally The Rake Punished. It is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Da Ponte's libretto was billed, like many of its time, as dramma giocoso, a term that denotes a mixing of serious and comic action. Mozart entered the work into his catalogue as an opera buffa. Although sometimes classified as comic, it blends comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga (now called the Estates Theatre) on October 29, 1787.       

Joan Sutherland sings Mozart ~ Don Giovanni
reel-to-reel tape box back
photo by Styrous®

Don Giovanni is currently tenth on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide. It has also proved a fruitful subject for writers and philosophers. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer.       

Joan Sutherland sings Mozart ~ Don Giovanni
reel-to-reel tape box back detail
detail photo by Styrous®

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote a long essay in his book Enten – Eller in which he argues, writing under the pseudonym of his character "A" and quoting Charles Gounod, that Mozart's Don Giovanni is "a work without blemish, of uninterrupted perfection." The finale, in which Don Giovanni refuses to repent, has been a captivating philosophical and artistic topic for many writers including George Bernard Shaw, who in Man and Superman parodied the opera (with explicit mention of the Mozart score for the finale scene between the Commendatore and Don Giovanni). Gustave Flaubert called Don Giovanni, along with Hamlet and the sea, "the three finest things God ever made." E. T. A. Hoffmann also wrote a short story derived from the opera, Don Juan, in which the narrator meets Donna Anna and describes Don Juan as an aesthetic hero rebelling against God and society.    

In Nordic and Germanic languages, Leporello's "Catalogue Aria" provided the name "Leporello List" for fan-folded printed matter, as used for brochures, photo albums, computer printouts and other continuous stationery.   

Joan Sutherland sings Mozart ~ Don Giovanni
reel-to-reel tape box spine
detail photo by Styrous®

Joan Sutherland made her debut in Don Giovanni on July 26, 1958, with the Vancouver Opera, the largest opera company in western Canada. It was conducted by Berthold Goldschmidt.      

She was dubbed La Stupenda by a La Fenice audience in 1960 after a performance of the title role in Handel's Alcina.  

Her voice was described as "fresh," "silvery" and "bell-like" until 1963, Joan Sutherland's voice, later became "golden" and "warm", music critic John Yohalem writes it was like "molten honey caressing the line." In his book Voices, Singers and Critics, John Steane writes that "if the tonal spectrum ranges from bright to dark, Sutherland's place would be near the centre, which is no doubt another reason for her wide appeal." According to John Yohalem, "Her lower register was a cello register, Stradivarius-hued." Her voice was full and rounded even in her highest notes, which was brilliant, but sometimes "slightly acid."

Joan Sutherland sings Mozart ~ Don Giovanni
reel-to-reel tape box and reel
photo by Styrous®

Joan Sutherland sings Mozart ~ Don Giovanni
reel-to-reel tape box and libretto
photo by Styrous®

The synopsis

Don Giovanni, a young, arrogant, and sexually promiscuous nobleman, abuses and outrages everyone else in the cast, until he encounters something he cannot kill, beat up, dodge, or outwit. The infamous womanizer, makes one conquest after another until the ghost of Donna Anna's father, the Commendatore, (whom Giovanni killed) makes his appearance. The Commendatore offers Giovanni one last chance to repent for his multitudinious improprieties. He will not change his ways, so, he is dragged into hell by a horde of demons amid fire and smoke (link to complete synopsis below).       

The Libretto

Joan Sutherland sings Mozart ~ Don Giovanni
libretto
photo by Styrous®

Net Links:      

            

Don Giovanni ~ Synopsis         
Don Giovanni ~ Roles
          

Joan Sutherland sings Donizetti ~ La fille du régiment           
Joan Sutherland sings Gounod ~ Faust                    

                     

Mozart ~ Don Giovanni on YouTube:                   

                   

Don Giovanni, Furtwängler, Salzburg 1954 (complete opera)          

Don Giovanni - Commendatore scene (Furtwängler)                  

                    

                

The Joan Sutherland , Mozart ~ Don Giovanni reel-to-reel tape is for sale on eBay      

Styrous® ~ Thursday, October 29, 2015 

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